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N
E W S May 19, 2003: D.C. When Congressman Joe Wilson (R- SC) went on the House floor on March 19, 2003 and remarked "Young Sikh boys are suffering from physical abuse, harassment, and verbal taunting in some American schools," those words could not have come at a better time for Jaspal Singh. Jaspal Singh has been on a mission to find justice for his son, Kabir Singh, who was bullied so badly that the boy left the country. The incident occurred in February, 2003, when Kabir was walking up the stairwell of Marlboro Middle School, NJ. A boy came up from behind and struck him in the head. Kabir was hurt badly. He could not balance properly. When he managed to make it to his class and tell his teacher, instead of sending him to the school nurse, the teacher forced him to take a 45 minute quiz first. Kabir was then sent to the principle's office,
and on his way, he was attacked again by the same kids. When Kabir finally
made it to the principle's office, no one sent him to the school nurse
for evaluation or treatment. Kabir's family was never notified, instead,
the family of the student who struck him was notified and he was taken
home. Kabir called his father to pick him up from school early. When his father arrived, Kabir burst into tears. At home he rested, but when he got up, he could not balance properly. His father took him to the doctor and his medical record shows that Kabir sustained head injuries. Kabir had an earlier incident of harassment
in November, 2002. In that incident he came home after school and went
straight to his room, he did not have dinner. Most kids in middle and
high schools are reluctant to talk to their families about problems in
school. Only after prying by his father did Kabir tell his family what
had happened at school that day. The school officials were unresponsive at
first when Jaspal Singh confronted them. School officials put the blame
on Kabir. Jaspal Singh says that the school would not disclose whether
they conducted an investigation of the incident nor would they disclose
whether the offenders received any disciplinary action. Afraid for his son and without any support
from the school or the community, Jaspal Singh called the Sikh Coalition.
The Coalition sent a letter to the school which then started an investigation
into the incident and ended up reversing its position of finding Kabir
Singh as the student who instigated the violence. Singh said that it was
the first time that Marlboro Middle School reversed its position in fifteen
years. A month later, in a meeting with the Sikh Coalition present, the
school agreed to make some positive changes, although the principal maintained
that he "could not guarantee the safety." Singh was still afraid for his son. He said
that "you never know what they [the students] can conjure up to cause
him harm or put him in trouble." The family chose not to press charges against
the students who committed the acts. "What good will that do?"
asked Jaspal Singh. "Those kids may get a criminal record and they
will become even more hateful. The best thing for those kids is for someone
to talk to them and find out why they did what they did." Singh does not believe in punishment, but
he did wish that the school and the parents of the kids who harassed his
son had apologized to him and his family. "I don't understand why
it is so hard for people in the United States to say sorry?" he said. In March, Singh heard
of the supportive remarks made by Congressman Joe Wilson on the House
floor which were aired on C-SPAN. Singh personally called the Congressman's
office to thank him. That was when he got in touch with Dino Teppara,
a staffer at the Congressman's office. Teppara got Singh in touch with
SMART (Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Taskforce). In the weeks that followed, Singh was making
the effort of educating the local community. He told the news publication
"Newstranscript"
that administrators had been very positive and had worked with them [the
family] to implement positive changes including: presentation by Savraj
Singh of SMART to middle school students; a review of the student handbook
to clarify the "no hats" issue and to clearly prohibit behaviors
such as harassment and discrimination; a request to the Monmouth County
Prosecutor's Office to offer a program to students and faculty on bias
and related issues; presentation of the issues to the Administrative Council;
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Marc Gaswirth assuring that at regular faculty
meetings at each school this issue is addressed by the principal; and
the creation of scripted tolerance discussions to be led by teachers through
the social studies classes. School officials maintain that their bottom
line is academic achievement, "but that is not enough," says
Singh. In today's atmosphere, marred by terrorism and war, Sikh kids are
especially venerable to hate crimes. Schools should protect Sikh kids,
he added, they cannot learn if they are constantly worried about harassment.
When asked what prompted him to make the
remarks, Congressman Wilson said that he was told of the problems Sikh
kids were facing in schools by his staffer, Dino Teppara, and he could
not let that slide. Teppara also works with the Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.
Congressman Wilson recently became the Republican Chairman of the Caucus.
The Congressman recalled stories his father told him of fighting alongside
Indian troops in Japan during World War II. On May 16, 2003, Jaspal Singh filed a complaint
with US department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, for Marlboro
Middle School to be investigated regarding Kabir. "I hope the findings
of this investigation bring to light the larger problems that exist for
our children in today's world environment. Members of Congress can use
this documented record to push for the changes needed to ensure that the
Department of Education, by which ever means, ensures that Schools in
the USA are accountable, implement, enforce, and police these policies
(example Zero Tolerance). An independent body must monitor the schools
to make sure that these good policies do work and are not seen as items
to fulfill required guidelines." related:
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Jaspal
Singh (pic, far right) came to Washington D.C. along with his supporter
Satinder Singh of the Sikh Sabha Gurdwara, NJ, on May 15, 2003. They and
representatives of various Sikh organizations (SMART, Kaur Foundation,
Sikh Dharma and United Sikhs) thanked Congressman Wilson for speaking
out on behalf of Sikh kids. Jaspal Singh took the opportunity to personally
tell the story of his son and asked the Congressman to continue his pursuit
of eliminating hate crimes in schools. He requested that "the education
system should do something on a federal level to implement and enforce
a safe environment for students." The Congressman indicated that
he would continue the effort and work with SMART on the issue.