UNC slammed for detaining Sikh student for carrying 'kirpan', a sheathed dagger central to his religion
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: Officials at the University of North Carolina faced backlash after a Sikh student was detained for wearing a religious item that was perceived as a threat.
The incident reportedly took place on Thursday, September 22, in a student union building at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A video of the incident posted the following day on Twitter has gone viral and been viewed millions of times. It showed the unnamed student being held for wearing a Kirpan — a curved dagger — that is one of five symbols central to the expression of faith for some Sikhs. It is usually blunt and sewn into the sheath.
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“It’s really unfortunate that we’re here in 2022 and still having these issues,” Kiran Kaur Gill, executive director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), told USA Today. “It’s a way of practicing and showing faith. A lot of times you can’t even remove them from the sheath.” Data provided by the Sikh Coalition — a New York City-based community advocacy agency — indicates that about 500,000 Sikh Americans live in the US. The community has notably been a target of several hate crimes. In April 2021, four Sikhs were shot and killed in a mass shooting that claimed eight lives at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The student in question posted a video of the incident on Twitter, showing him wearing a turban while sitting across from another student in a communal area of the university's student center with the sheathed kirpan strapped around his shoulder. He wrote that he "wasn't going to post" the clip as he didn't think he would receive any support from university officials. “I was told someone called 911 and reported me, and I got cuffed for ‘resisting’ because I refused to let the officer take my kirpan out,” he added.
I wasn’t going to post this, but I don’t think I will receive any support from @unccharlotte . I was told someone called 911 and reported me, and I got cuffed for “resisting” because I refused to let the officer take my kirpan out of the miyaan. @CLTNinerNews pic.twitter.com/Vk9b0Tspvm
— امآن وڑائچ (@thatsamaan) September 23, 2022
An officer is seen trying to pull the kirpan out while telling the student, "You can't have this." The student responds with his arms raised, “OK, but you can’t take it off me. You want me to take the whole thing off?” He reiterates the question when the officer does not respond but is yanked up by one arm and told to "stand up for a second." The student complies with the command while saying, "What are you doing to me, bro?" The officer then proceeds to cuff the student's arms behind his back and tells him, “OK, so right now you’re just being detained."
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After the video sparked considerable outrage, the university issued a statement on Friday, Sept 23, with the University Chancellor Sharon Gaber and Chief Diversity Officer Brandon Wolfe apologizing for the incident. They said police were only responding to a 911 report of someone with a knife in the school building. “Police officers responded to the scene and engaged the individual in question,” the statement read. “During this interaction, the individual was placed in handcuffs while officers took possession of the object.”
Authorities eventually concluded that the knife was indeed a kirpan, one of the five articles in the Sikh faith meant to show one's devotion. According to USA Today, these include "kesh, or unshorn hair, conveying spirituality, or a connectedness with God; kara, a steel bracelet, a reminder to do right in one’s daily actions; kanga, a small comb signifying cleanliness; and kachera, an undergarment symbolizing discipline."
