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Restaurant to face $10,000 fine for rejecting Sikh


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Mandeep Singh Chahil, left, said this picture was taken at Applebee’s before going to Max’s Ocean Front at Beach Place. He’s with his friends Sukhpal Singh Saini, center, and Kamaljit Singh Saini Sukhpal entered the club with his cap on, Chahil said.

(Photo courtesy of Mandeep Singh Chahil)

Lauderdale restaurant may face $10,000 fine for rejecting Sikh with turban

By Tanya Weinberg and Lisa J. Huriash

Staff Writers

Posted March 25 2004

The humiliation began for spring breaker Mandeep Chahil with the words "take it off."

He tried to explain his turban is not a hat; it's required by his Sikh religion. But staff at Max's Ocean Front at Beach Place in Fort Lauderdale insisted on a no-hat rule and kicked him out Friday night. After he and his friends continued to argue with security guards outside, police arrested Chahil and charged him with trespassing.

According to civil-rights attorneys, it may be the restaurant that broke the law.

Under Florida's new civil-rights law, a business can be fined $10,000 for refusing to serve a person for reasons relating to religion. Federal civil-rights laws also apply.

But many employers do not understand these laws, and fewer know about the Sikh religion and its requirements. The religion forbids men to cut their hair or beards, and requires them to cover their hair to keep it clean and honor God.

"They wouldn't even listen to me. I was saying it was a religious thing; it's not a hat. I can't take it off. It's like taki

ng my head off, it's part of my body," Chahil said.

Now back at George Washington University, he is still smarting over his Fort Lauderdale experience and the memory of passers-by congratulating police on his arrest, he said, "like I was Osama bin Laden."

Manager Kevin Nelson stands by Max's handling of the incident.

"Our policy is no hats for men. No hats of any kind: skullcaps, headbands, no baseball caps, no parrot headgear. All gentlemen have to remove their hats. If they get past the door and then put their hats back on, and refuse to adhere to our policy, they are excused, they are removed from the establishment," Nelson said.

Exceptions are sometimes made during dining hours, Nelson said. But once the nightclub heats up, the staff makes sure everyone adheres to the rule to avoid problems with unruly customers who might object.

"If we made an exception, we'd have every single person with some type [of excuse] putting their hat back on. Then I'd have every kid with a Yankee baseball hat wearing it for `religious reasons.' I've had people try to play the religion card."

The difference between a baseball cap and a turban or yarmulke worn for religious reasons is palpably obvious, said Howard Simon, Florida director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"It's not that they can't make a distinction, you've got to be dense not to. It's that they refused to make that distinction and thereby they're being pretty dismissive of somebody's religion," Simon said. "And when they're barring entry because they're being dismissive of someone's religion, then they're running smack into the civil rights laws."

Nelson said Max's owner may be open to amending his no-hats policy if it somehow violates the law. "But basically, my understanding is that alcoholic establishments have the right to refuse service to anyone," he said.

"It all depends," said Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, who last

year pushed for the new civil rights law. "They're not allowed to discriminate. And anything that shows a pattern or practice of discrimination against any group, any religion, any ethnicity, any race, is inappropriate."

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, discrimination and hate-crime complaints to the 8-year-old Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force, or SMART, shot up among the nation's 500,000 Sikhs, who are often mistaken for Muslims.

The Washington-based group has documented 300 incidents, 180 of them in the first six months following the attacks. In the months following the attacks, two Sikh men were murdered in hate crimes where the perpetrators associated their appearance with radical Muslims.

Incidents have tapered off, but remain much more common than before 9/11, said Manjit Singh, SMART's president. About 20 of the documented incidents involve a Sikh who was refused service at a public business on the basis of his appearance.

"These incidents are underreported because many people in the community don't realize it's against the law to prevent people from entering the establishment," Singh said.

Both SMART and the New York-based Sikh Coalition have found that businesses will usually amend their policy once they understand how civil rights laws apply. SMART has also trained law enforcement officers in Sikh awareness and next week, a local Sikh leader will hold a similar session at the Broward Sheriff's Office.

South Florida is home to about 500 Sikh families who attend Gurdwara, a Sikh temple, in Cooper City.

The night Chahil got arrested, his South Florida host, Sukhpal Singh, 24, was taking him around. Singh said he also had his hair wrapped, but in a bandana, covered by a backward baseball cap.

"The reason I wear a bandana is that people down here can be pretty cruel and I try to blend in," said Singh, owner of a Coral Gables restaurant.

He said he was in the bathroom when his friend got kicked out. Outs

ide, Singh said he was the one who continued to argue with Beach Place security guards who told Chahil to leave the premises. Then Fort Lauderdale police arrived and arrested Chahil for trespassing. The department provided a police report but declined to respond to Chahil and Singh's allegations that officers were physically rough.

"He got shoved against the car and I was like this is wrong, he's a skinny kid and they shouldn't even be doing that," Singh said. "Everyone was against him that night. It seemed like they'd never even seen a guy with a turban before. South Florida's supposed to be a very diverse place, and yet this is all happening to my friend from out of town who is just trying to have a fun time."

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ooooh that is really sad..the Singh should be allowed to enter the restaurant and get drunk....oooooh how sad that he was not allowed. B)

and the Kamaljit guy to right...it is only me or does he look like a gay...now i have nothing against gays and all, but it is a funny pic. ohmy.gif

lolI tihnk I agree with u here :@tongue.gif

Can't believe after not being allowed tro enter the clubb and get drunk,

he STILL dones't get hnat its a hukam :@ @

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Was it simply a restaurant or some night club where girls do weird stuff on the stage arond that danda jiha... i don't know what u call it...

If it were a night club or a dancing club, this guys should have never even thought of entering this DIRTY place.

He knows that he is not allowed to take off his turban, but doesn't he know that he is not allowed to enter these places either????

bhul chuk di khima...

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Wow.

After reading this article I expected some sort of not sympathy, but outrage at least. It doesn't matter WHERE THE HELL HE'S GOING, he should not be discriminated against. Why are you all so prejudiced? It doesn't matter who it is, what they

're doing, an injustice is an injustice.

For so-called "sikhs" you have pretty narrow-minded thought proccesses. And by the way, it isn't nescecarry to go to a club to get drunk, he could just be going to hang out with friends...people do do that.

and now....lets have you all tell me why i'm wrong and why i'm the worst sikh born =)

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I agree with Ravneet kaur ji

Comeon guys, somebody is commenting on pic, somebody is saying why the hell they were going??

Hold on.....and think it over, i also wear turban and i also go to diso'z so i'm not a good sikh....My good points are washed away coz i go to discz...hai naa....

The post is here, not to comment why they were going to night club, but is for the ill treatment met to Chahal.

Personally, i feel sad and angry for the incidence....not for that they were going in some disc or nite club..but for the TURBAN ISSUE.

And i felt really sad, that none of above commented on that issue...

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and the Kamaljit guy to right...it is only me or does he look like a gay...now i have nothing against gays and all, but it is a funny pic.  ohmy.gif

:@

I agree that is definately some GAY pose!

and as for the comments made by Ravneet..

NO ONE is supporting discrimination of a turban. I can guarantee that much. Let me just clarify that sticking to the fundamentals of a religion does not make you narrow minded. The fact remains that Chahal was also disgracing Guru Sahib's crown by going to that club regardless of whether he meant to drink or not.

The respect for you crown (i.e. your dastar) sikhi and rehat should go above all else.

And no, that is not narrow mindedness, that is the way it is. Guru Sahib gave us this nashani and said 'khalsa mero roop hai kaas'. I highly doubt guru sahib would walk into a club to socialise so I can't see any justifications for anyone else wearing Guru Sahib's crown to do the same.

Had Chahal been going anywhere else and been refused entry, then I <admin-profanity filter activated>

ure you he would have had the sympathy of this forum.

Guru Sahib works in mysterious way, maybe he was refused entry because guru sahib did not want his crown disgraced. Only Guru sahib knows...

Bhul Chuk Maaf!

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