A Sikh humanitarian campaigner Ravi Singh has been allegedly racially targeted in Austria after a women security staffer at the Vienna international airport joked about finding a bomb in his turban.
The incident happened while Singh was on his way to the United Kingdom on Friday after helping Yazidi women who were enslaved by the ISIS in Iraq.
Singh, the founder of the Khalsa Aid was changing flights at the airport when the security staff swabbed his turban. He then walked through the metal detector without setting it off, but a member of staff then insisted on giving his headdress an additional scan with a handheld device. When he asked if there was a problem, one of the security workers said: “Yes, we found explosives”, it said.
In spite of feeling hurt by the jibe, Singh says education is a much better way forward than punishment. “If I made that comment I would be thrown in jail. I was so upset,” Singh said.
He said the member of staff was “smirking” when she first passed the comment but got “very upset” and went “very red” with embarrassment when Singh challenged her. She said, “no I will not apologize.”
Singh asserted: “I want an apology now.”
He said that he forgives the woman who made the remark and has asked airport management if he can sit down to calmly teach her about his faith.
He added, “I would not feel good if the person was sacked. You can’t answer hate with hate, it will never work. You will only fuel more hate.”
Jasveer Singh, of the Sikh Press Association, said, “There is a long held conflation by many in the Western world between the physical appearance of a Sikh and that of a terrorist.”
“It seems anyone with a beard or brown skin or a head-covering can find themselves labeled as ignorantly as Ravi Singh was. The fact many Sikhs have all three is why we so commonly face the brunt of this racist and ignorant mindset.”
Responding to Singh on Twitter, a spokesperson for the Vienna Airport said they are investigating the incident. “We apologize for the incident, this does not match our understanding of customer service.”
Singh had been on his second visit to Iraq in three weeks, as part of a new project helping Yazidi women who were captured by ISIS.
