California satae legislature passes the ‘Kirpan bill’ to support Sikhs dress code
Most of us -from India or those of Indian origin- need no introduction to ‘kirpan’. It is a small blade that resembles a sword in shape, and is carried in a shoulder strap. It is one of the Sikh articles of faith, or a religious symbol that Sikhs wear after baptism. Over the years, many Sikhs have been questioned and arrested overseas for carrying a kirpan. The police, for example in USA, can compare the kirpan to carrying a concealed weapon if they don’t know the Sikh tradition.
In an effort to recognize the Sikh dress-code, the Californian state legislature unanimously passed a bill to train law enforcement personnel about Sikhs and the religious significance of ‘kirpans’.
Summary and the excerpts from the bill:
“SUMMARY:Requires the Commission on Peace Office Standards and Training (CPOST) to create and make available to all law enforcement agencies a training component on how to recognize and interact with a person carrying a “kirpan”.
Excerpts from the Bill:
“Sikh Americans form a vibrant, peaceful, and law-abiding part of the United States community. California was one of the first places that Sikhs settled in this country over 100 years ago. Today, California is home to a large number of the Nation’s 500,000 Sikhs….”
“Sikhs are mandated by their religion to keep five articles of faith on, or as part of, their person at all times. These articles of faith are physical manifestations and reminders of core Sikh spiritual values which include honesty, remembering God, and providing service to humanity….”
“A kirpan is a religious article resembling a sword, which is integral to the practice of the Sikh faith. The kirpan is carried in a shoulder strap known as a ‘gatra’, as mandated by the Sikh Code of Conduct. The kirpan acts as a constant reminder to its bearer of a Sikh’s solemn duty to protect the weak and promote justice for all. The kirpan is also an allusion to spiritual knowledge that “cuts through ignorance and sin….”
“In the years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, Sikhs have experienced an unprecedented increase in arrests for carrying kirpans….”
“….In each case (related to arrests made for carrying Kirpan…), prosecutors have either agreed not to bring charges or a judge has dismissed the case because they recognized the religious significance of-and benign intent in carrying the kirpan….”
“…when law enforcement agents arrest or detain individuals for carrying the kirpan (when its possession is in accordance with the Sikh faith), they unnecessarily burden state and local resources, not to mention humiliate Sikhs whose carrying of the kirpan has no criminal intent…”
Next Step:
The bill now goes to the California Governor Schwarzenegger for his signature. Once signed, it will become a part of the California law.
As you can see, the key intent of the bill is to raise awareness among the law enforcement authorities, and to train them to avoid useless arrests of law abiding Sikh individuals.
The chief of Akal Takht in Punjab, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, welcome the bill and praised the state of California for the historic move.
PS: See the latest development on the Sikh Kirpan bill on this follow-up article. The outcome is much different than expected.
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#1 by Raj1980 on September 18, 2009 - 1:19 PM
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GO USA
#2 by Don Laird on February 11, 2011 - 1:31 PM
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THANK GOD WE DON’T LIVE IN CALIFORNIA
QUEBEC BANS KIRPAN!!!!
RE: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/kirpan-puts-canada-on-brink-of-multiculturalism-debate-no-one-wants/article1903372/
Dear Mr. Ibbitson,
The only Canadians who don’t want a debate on multiculturalism are those Canadians who spit on their country, like you, and allow it to be overrun by those who come not to be Canadians…but to create little enclaves within our country, to destroy our heritage and culture, to use our country as a source of revenue and staging ground for terrorist actions, to use it as a base for drug importation and distribution, to demand change and accommodation for their every whim and desire. You, Mr Ibbitson, are little more than a piece of human garbage, just another cell in the arrogant, sneering Liberal politically correct multiculturist cancer that eats away at the heart of a once great country. As you piss on our traditions, our history and our heritage, you sell the very soul of this country to the lowest bidder, to the immigrant war criminal, to the immigrant terrorist, to the immigrant Aids carrier, to the immigrant who arrives at our borders with an extended hand, an overwhelming sense of entitlement and expectation based on nothing more than skin colour and the ability to fog a mirror.
Our new guests, armed with the mantra of most newcomers and given licence with the full support of contemptible souls like you, treat us daily to tongue lashings and shrieks of “intolerance”, “racism”, “human rights” ad infinitum, ad nauseaum. You turn a blind eye as our immigration system is manipulated and made a mockery of with Asians in Halloween masks, billionaire tyrants, anchor babies and specious refugee claims. These ‘New Canadians”…they bring their petty tribal wars and grudges, they bring the revolting and deviant facets of their cultures like child brides (pedophiles), genital mutilation, slavery, wife burning, the identification and abortion of female foetuses and the wrapping of women in sackcloth. All of this and still, Mr. Ibbitson, you look away, turning your toe in the dirt mumbling “cultural diversity, human rights and tolerance”
They become Canadians of Convenience living in war zones and using their citizenship as a “get out of jail fee” card should life in war zones ‘neath tyrants become too difficult. Witness the recent events in Lebanon and now Egypt as they squeal to the international press when, as Hyphenated-Canadians, playing the Immigrant New Canadian Race Card, they demand first class airline tickets home at the expense of the Canadian taxpayer……these “New Canadians”, they come not to embrace Canada but to strip mine this country for their own pleasure and gain at the expense of the original citizens.
(yeah yeah yeah….I know….now you’re going to remind me about the “original citizens”…the Indians….well, try reading the book “Riddle of the Bones” by Roger Downey”….funny thing that…..skull of a man….8000 years old…and he’s…….wait for it!!!!………WHITE!!!!!!!….YUP CAUCASIAN!!!!!….YUP…… there goes every land claim and land claim cheque…….indian leaders, glorified panhandlers the lot….note the recent revelations of Chief Shirley Clarke of the Glooscap band in Nova Scotia, 950,000 dollars in annual salary for the stewardship of 300 souls……nothing like skin colour and liberal sentimentality to fatten a bank account not to mention getting a good table in the local bistro)
Mr. Ibbitson, your message to immigrants is quite clear…..
WELCOME TO CANADA, DO AS YOU PLEASE, WHEN YOU PLEASE, TO WHOM YOU PLEASE, WITH COMPLETE IMPUNITY AND IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION, BRING WITH YOU SICKNESS AND DISEASE AND A LONG CRIMINAL RECORD THAT SHOULD INCLUDE WAR CRIMES AND LEISURELY ATTEMPTS AT MASS MURDER AND GENOCIDE AND IF YOU’RE SHORT OF CASH WE’LL HELP FUND IT WITH TAXPAYERS DOLLARS!!!
But, if you hadn’t noticed Mr. Ibbitson……the times they are achanging…..the pendulum swings back…..the winds of change are afoot in the United States, Europe and here in Canada…..leaders of nations around the world have admitted that multiculturalism is a murderous and miserable failure that has done almost irreparable harm to their countries…..can you feel the breath of the storm on your neck Mr. Ibbitson………does it frighten you??….can you feel the anger of those who extended hands of generosity and kindness only to be spit upon and have those hands bitten…..this outrageous and injurious immigrant ingratitude fully supported, nay, diligently cultivated by hand wringing uber-sensitive politically correct perm-apologists like yourself who, saddled with a terminal case of post imperialist white guilt, find offence and some sort of “ism” in everything from breakfast cereal to long distance calling plans. Mr. Ibbitson, you are an endangered species….soon to be run into corners like vermin and…….and……and……..well Mr. Ibbitson, use your imagination as to what follows. In the end it will be not a day too soon and good riddance say I and a great many Canadians. As for the looming debate on multiculturalism, bring it on, the sooner the better.
I have a Western Union for you Mr Ibbitson, this is not the country for an immigrant, any immigrant, if he chooses the divisive and destructive course of action he has. He can go back to his own country and I will purchase the ticket. Considering your manifest hatred of this nation perhaps we can make that a passage for two.
In closing Mr. Ibbitson, perhaps you feel your role as journalist is to provoke thought and dialogue, I strongly suggest you mark very carefully the degree of provocation you incur. Your vomitous screed spewed from the bully pulpit of a national newspaper may be welcome fare for thoughtful tete-a-tete in the local Starbucks but there are many who, with a long memory, find your avocation of every ungrateful immigrants fancy and whims to be the treacherous promotion of treason.
Just a couple of thoughts…..
(amounting to nothing more than the hateful, intolerant, narrow minded, genocidal, racist, misogynist, self serving, malignant propaganda of another monstrous, indian abusing, immigrant hating, redneck, Western Canadian Conservative, oppressive, land stealing, dream-catcher destroying, happy hunting ground plundering White Devil….who, considering his refusal to continue funding the criminal and outrageous actions of our “New Canadian Immigrants”, must be a closet Neo-Nazi who not only doesn’t buy his coffee at Starbucks but burns crosses on the weekend and kicks his dog…….what a bastard I am!!)
Regards,
Don Laird
Edson, Alberta