Indian American Sikh Mocked on California-bound Plane, Called ‘Bin Laden’

Indian American passenger Darshan Singh, who was on board a JetBlue flight from New York to California in November, was filmed by a co-passenger while he was sleeping on the flight, who then posted the video on YouTube titled, “Would You Feel Safe,” and captioned the footage as Flying with Bin Laden.”

The 39-second clip of Singh, a California resident who is a Sikh American, went viral garnering over 100,000 views since it was posted on YouTube Dec. 9.

According to the Sikh advocacy group, United Sikhs, Singh did not exchange words with the man sitting next to him and was surprised when he saw his video online.

Singh’s 20-year-old daughter Prabneet Kaur informed the group that a video of her father sleeping on the JetBlue flight, which was recorded by the man sitting next to him, was circulating on the internet, said Manwinder Singh, director with United Sikhs.

“This act of ignorance is the latest in a series of anti-Sikh hostility in the days following the horrific shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. on Dec. 2,” he said.

“On Dec. 6, a Gurudwara was vandalized with an anti-ISIS graffiti. On the same day, four Sikh men were stopped from entering a football game because of their turbans,” said Manwinder Singh, adding, “Sikh Americans have long been the target of racially motivated violence and discrimination in the United States. Although the majority of anti-Sikh hostility and hate crimes occurred post 9/11, Sikhs continue to be the target of racially motivated violence.”

“On Mar. 5, 2013, a Sikh American owned convenience store was set on fire in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This incident occurred less than a month after a Florida Sikh was shot while driving. On Feb. 23, 2013, Mr. Kanwaljit Singh was traveling home with his 13-year-old son when individuals in a black truck fired six shots at his car,” he said.

Jaspreet Kaur, staff attorney, United Sikhs, said, “Incidents like this are shocking. No one, Sikh, Muslim, or otherwise should be afraid to travel. These types of incidents only weaken the fabric of our nation.”

“It is everyone’s responsibility to be aware of acts of ignorance around them, and to report them when they see them. Only then can we unify ourselves against hate, ignorance and discrimination.”

The organization said they were working towards getting the video removed and raising awareness of such ignorance.