“What was the point in taking me to the private room,” Brampton-based Jasmeet Singh, who’s known on the internet as “JusReign”, asked on Twitter, slamming the TSA for not accommodating his request for a mirror after he “cooperated” with their search.
SAN FRANCISCO – An Indo-Canadian-Sikh comedian was forced to take off his turban here during a security check, weeks after a Sikh-American actor was barred from boarding a flight in Mexico for refusing to take off his turban.
Brampton-based Jasmeet Singh, who’s known on the internet as “JusReign”, posted about the incident on Twitter, New York Daily reported.
“So the (agents) made me take off my turban in extra screening or they said I wouldn’t be able to be let through to catch my flight,” he tweeted.
“After finding absolutely nothing wrong because a turban is just cloth and the whole thing is stupid I ask for a mirror to tie it back again.
“The agent tells me there are no mirrors and that I can just walk down the terminal to the nearest restroom without my turban on,” Singh tweeted.
Turbans are mandatory in public for Sikh men, and are worn to protect the hair as well as to convey a sense of identity.
On February 9, Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh-American actor, model and designer was barred from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York after he refused to remove his turban during a security check, drawing swift condemnation from the fashion community.
Later, Mexico’s flag carrier apologised to the 41-year-old actor saying it “recognises and is proud of the diversity of its passengers”.
“I wasn’t trying to be a civil rights activist — but if something comes up right in front of me, I can’t walk away from it,” Ahluwalia said following his ordeal.
Singh tweeted he was taken into a private screening room where he was body searched and his turban put through the x-ray machine.
“What was the point in taking me to the private room,” Singh asked on Twitter, slamming the TSA for not accommodating his request for a mirror after he “cooperated” with their search.
Singh mentions that he has had other friends who have decided not to wear their turbans to the airport, in order to prevent these types of instances from happening. But he stressed that he’ll continue to wear his.
The TSA has not commented on the incident.
