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Man's Racist Snapchat Story Targets Sleeping Sikh On Plane Flight

Sadly, reactions like this are all too common.
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By 

Senior Reporter, HuffPost

Sleeping on a plane is hard enough. It’s worse when a fellow passenger mocks you on Snapchat the whole time and suggests you’re a terrorist.

That’s what a Sikh worshipper en route to Indianapolis had to endure last week. Screenshots of the posts are sparking outrage on Twitter.

The prejudiced posts were made by an unidentified man, but were captured for posterity by Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, an assistant professor in the religion department at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

The photos can be seen in order below.

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Twitter

The xenophobic and racist remarks continued throughout the flight, unbeknownst to the sleeping Sikh

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Twitter
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Twitter

The Snapchat poster used every opportunity to create fear and conflict on the flight.

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Twitter

The flight apparently landed without incident, but Dr. Singh’s screenshots of the xenophobic remark’s are striking a chord on Twitter, having received more than 7,200 retweets and 8,600 likes since Thursday.

Singh said the types of reactions exemplified by the Snapchat poster are typical.

Still, he said tries not to let these experiences hobble him.

Although Sikhs number as many as 500,000 in the U.S. ― and an estimated 25 million worldwide ― they are regularly subjected to discrimination and occasionally the targets of hate crimes.

Part of the problem is that 60 percent of the U.S. public admit to knowing nothing at all about Sikh Americans, while 76 percent say they know at least something about Muslim Americans.

Additionally, only 11 percent of Americans associate the image of a turbaned man with Sikhism, while 20 percent incorrectly associate it with Islam.

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Before You Go

10 Books On The Sikh Faith
Adi Granth or Guru Granth Sahib(01 of10)
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The Adhi Granth, later known as the Guru Granth Sahib, is the central religious text of the Sikh faith. It is comprised of hymns describing the qualities of God, composed by early Sikh gurus. Our recommenders noted two different translations of the holy text, one by Gurbachan Singh Talib and another by Ernest Trumpp. (credit:Amazon)
The Sikhs(02 of10)
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The Sikhs by Patwant Singh is a detailed overview of Sikh history and tradition that reads like a captivating story. As Navdeep Singh, policy director of SALDEF, said: "Singh’s work remains one of the most accessible and researched books on the history and evolution of the Sikh community. He was writing a counter-narrative to balance depictions of Sikhs as a feared other and provided a more holistic and balanced discussion and representation of the community." (credit:Amazon)
Lost In History: 1984 Reconstructed(03 of10)
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Lost In History: 1984 Reconstructed by Gunisha Kaur investigates a period of attacks on Sikh houses of worship throughout the state of Punjab that included pogroms, police brutality and other assaults on Sikhs in India. "Dr. Gunisha Kaur explores the problems that set off this horrific part of modern day Indian history and how the world’s largest democracy responded to it," said Sumeet Kaur, communications manager for SALDEF. (credit:Amazon)
Jasmin's Summer Wish(04 of10)
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Jasmin's Summer Wish is a picture book by Liz Glines that tells the story of a group of children living in New York City and grappling with the realities of climate change. It is one of the first children's books to feature Sikh characters in an urban setting, according to Amazon. (credit:Amazon)
Garland Around My Neck(05 of10)
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Garland Around My Neck by Patwant Singh and Harinder Kaur Sekhon tells the story of remarkable humanitarian Puran Singh. The book "emphasizes his work with the disabled, destitute, and lower sections of society in the Amritsar area," and provides an "excellent [resource] on Sikh service and philanthropy," according to Amazon. (credit:Amazon)
Spirit Born People(06 of10)
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Spirit Born People is a book of lecture notes by Puran Singh first published in 1928. It served as a wake up call particularly for young Sikhs who had strayed from their faith. It also sought to revitalize and reinvigorate the tradition. (credit:Amazon)
The World According To Sikhi(07 of10)
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The World According To Sikhi by I.J. Singh, "examines the Sikh philosophy and applies it to the challenges of modern day society," said Sumeet Kaur. "While taking a closer look at these issues, Dr. Singh offers unique ways for Sikhs and non-Sikhs to find answers to life’s questions for him or herself." (credit:Amazon)
The Name Of My Beloved(08 of10)
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The Name Of My Beloved is a translation of Sikh scriptures by Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh. "This is a great introduction for a non-Sikh looking to begin a study of Sikh scripture," said Sona S. Kaur, communications director for SALDEF. (credit:Amazon)
Making Ethnic Choices: California's Punjabi Mexican Americans(09 of10)
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Making Ethnic Choices by Karen Leonard explores the hardships faced by early Sikh and Punjabi migrants to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Amazon writes: "Using written sources and numerous interviews, [Leonard] invokes gender, generation, class, religion, language, and the dramatic political changes of the 1940s in South Asia and the United States to show how individual and group perceptions of ethnic identity have changed among Punjabi Mexican Americans in rural California." (credit:Amazon)
A History Of The Sikhs(10 of10)
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A History Of The Sikhs writtenby Khushwant Singh in two volumes fulfills the promise of its title. First published in 1963, the text provides a sweeping overview of Sikh history and tradition. (credit:Amazon)
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