Screening turbans

In August, the U.S. airport security screening process changed to allow inspection of headgear, one form of which is the turban. Sikh turbans are perhaps the most common examples we see.

The Hundustan Times in New airport turban checks upset Sikhs in US paints a picture suggesting a great deal of difficulty being experienced by the Sikhs:

Sikh organisations in the US have received dozens of complaints from community members saying they were told to remove their turbans at airports for security checks in the wake of a new rule that subjects air travellers wearing head covering to additional screening.

Some of the comments are pretty strong:

"The federal government has equated our most precious article of faith with terrorism," said Amardeep Singh, the executive director of the Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group for Sikhs.

"To send a message that the turban is dangerous sends the wrong message to society," Singh told the New York Times.

Of the estimated 280,000 Sikhs in the U.S., 3,498 have signed a protest petition as of this blog posting. The primary problem is removal of the turban in public, which is viewed as offensive by the Sikh faith.

"For a Sikh man, that's like being strip-searched," Singh was quoted as saying by Mercury News.

"It's like asking a woman to take off her blouse in public," he said. "It's that bad," said J.P Singh, president of the Sikh Centre of the San Francisco Bay Area in El Sobrante.

The Times of India in Turban patting, Sikhs win privacy rights in US published several days before the Hundustan Times piece says:

The Sikh community in the United States has reluctantly accepted new airport security procedures that involve mandatory "pat down" of turbans after administration officials agreed that passengers had the right to a private area for any secondary checks.

Following talks between Sikh activists and officials of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a Sikh group issued an advisory to the community alerting it to expect secondary screening of turbans but counseling that they have a right to private screening in the event of a pat-down of turban.

Again, the key point here is the availability of private areas where turbans can be inspected, if necessary.

Even if it's demeaning to remove a turban in front of other people, it's hard to argue that you should get a free religious pass through airport security. Probably other religions and belief systems have aspects that are troublesome from a security standpoint, but you shouldn't be subjected to public humiliation. Just do it behind a curtain.

When issues like this come up, it can be a great opportunity to learn something and be a little less ignorant. From Wikipedia, we learn that:

Middle Eastern, Central Asian, South Asian, Islamic, and Sikh turban wearers usually wind their turban anew for each wearing, using long strips of cloth. The cloth is usually five meters or less. However, some elaborate South Asian turbans may be permanently formed and sewn to a foundation.

Also that:

In Western countries such as the United States, Canada, Europe, etc., men seen wearing turbans in public are likely to be Sikhs, who wear turbans to cover the long uncut hair worn as a sign of their commitment to the Sikh faith.

Moving to the Wikipedia Sikhism page, we have:

Sikhism is a religion that began in fifteenth century Northern India with the teachings of Nanak and nine successive human gurus.

Sikhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world, and is generally considered the fifth largest organized religion, depending on how one defines an "organized religion".

Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God. The followers of Sikhism are ordained to follow the teachings of the ten Sikh gurus, or enlightened leaders, as well as the holy scripture—the Gurū Granth Sāhib—which includes the selected works of many authors from diverse socioeconomic and religious backgrounds.

Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs (students or disciples) and number over 23 million across the world. However, most Sikhs live in the state of Punjab in India; prior to partition, millions of Sikhs lived in what is now the Punjab province of Pakistan.

That's the end of this little attempt to make the unknown a little more understood. You can certainly do additional personal research if you like. But from an aviation security standpoint, there is no reason we cannot accommodate our differences and religious beliefs, with maybe a little flexibility.

The petition to the TSA is still active, by the way. At the petition site, you can of course read the petition, you can sign it and add your own comments, and you can actually see the names and comments of those who have signed it. Reading those comments is perhaps the most instructive element of the petition.

Other references from the Sikh Coalition:

Sikh Turbans Will Be Subjected to Heightened Scrutiny at U.S. Airports, Aug 19, 2007

TSA Releases Statement on New Airport Screening Procedures, Aug 23, 2007

Coalition Calls on Community to Sign Petition to TSA and Document Airport Turban Screening
Experience, Aug 24, 2007

TSA Head Contacts the Sikh Coalition, Aug 30, 2007