Sikh and ye shall find

I went to my local bar last night to have a few beers, and a Sikh and what appeared to be three Middle Eastern men sat down at the table next to me. Sikhs are easily identified by their dastar (turban) and beard. With everything going on in the news, I wanted to tell them I was a good guy. I was on their side. I supported refugees in the US. But then I thought to myself… wait… different region of the world, different ideologies, don’t be so racist! Am I that much of a racist asshole to think that just because they don’t “look like an American” should look, that they don’t live a completely normal American life?

Although the intentions were in the right place,  I feel they were misguided. I’m sorry to have confused Sikhs with Muslims (two very different ideologies). But throughout the night, I couldn’t get it out of my mind that I wanted to chat with them and let them know I wasn’t one of those jackasses who persecutes them… who doesn’t think they’re terrorists. Was I a victim of profiling? Seeking them out, even just to tell them I supported them?

Would they have been offended or gracious? I’ll never know. I decided to let them drink their beers in peace and let them enjoy their evening. But I went home with this gnawing feeling in my gut that I wanted to talk to them. Maybe they have no care for current events to even want to discuss with outsiders how they are made to feel in our country.

Maybe, in my own way, I was just trying to fight racial stereotypes the way the Sikh Camptain America does in New York. Great article by the BBC on why he does what he does. Check it out!  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30941638