I'd really like someone to take this. No hurry.
Eric Ferkenhoff
From: Mark Reading-Smith <Ma...@sikhcoalition.org>
To: ef...@me.com
Date: Saturday, December 6, 2014 at 8:42:52 AM
Subject: Reports on New Racial Profiling Guidance Shocking to Sikh CommunityFor Immediate Release
Press Contact: Mark Reading-Smith
Media & Communications Director, The Sikh Coalition
Ma...@sikhcoalition.org, 202-380-8489
Reports on New Racial Profiling Guidance Shocking to Sikh Community
December 6, 2014 (New York, NY) - The Sikh Coalition is shocked to read recent reports that soon-to-be released federal guidance on racial profiling may allow the Department of Homeland Security and FBI to continue to profile law-abiding Americans solely on the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity, and national origin.
"Having a particular skin color, religious belief, or last name is not a crime," said Rajdeep Singh, Director of Law and Policy at the Sikh Coalition. "This is not a 50-50 issue. The Obama Administration can either ban profiling or allow it. It sounds like they're committed to allowing it."
The Department of Justice last released racial profiling guidance in 2003. That guidance has been riddled with loopholes that gave federal law enforcement agencies a blank check to profile with impunity. The guidance has been used to enable FBI mapping of ethnic and religious communities, interrogation of Muslims at border checkpoints, and profiling of travelers by the TSA at American airports.
For the past six years Attorney General Eric Holder’s public commitment has been to fix the guidance because of these problems.
“Assuming that the reports on the new guidance are accurate, the message this continues to send is that certain communities are suspect, and we worry this will lead to more hate crime and discrimination,” said Rajdeep. “This would not be the legacy Attorney General Holder aimed to leave.”
The Sikh Coalition represents hate crime clients throughout the United States and successfully pushed for policy changes that led to the FBI tracking hate crimes against the Sikh community in 2013. In response to persistent complaints of profiling from turbaned Sikhs at American airports, the Sikh Coalition in April 2012 launched a free smartphone app called FlyRights. The app allows travelers of any background to file an official complaint with the TSA.
To interview or to speak on background today with Sikh Coalition experts please contact Mark Reading-Smith. The Sikh Coalition is the largest Sikh American civil liberties organization in the United States and has been working to combat issues of racial profiling since 2001.
Eric Ferkenhoff
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