BBC Explict Racism towards Sikhs - Act Now

[West London Singh]

^ I can't begin to explain irony in humour to you. Frankly, it's not something that's explainable. You either get it or you don't. If you can't understand how the remark is cleverly designed to make the racist republican look like the fool he is, then there's nothing i can say to you. By complaining about something that wasn't even designed to offend us....but designed to offend the person that did offend us....we'll just be showing ourselves to be not clever enough to be able to spot basic irony in humour. Like I said before, there are plenty of our enemies that already portray us as simpletons. We don't need to add fuel to the fire.

[Guest Paneer Monster]

1. Sikhs are grossly underrepresented by the BBC

2. The BBC has previously reported inaccurate information about our Satguru Sahibaan, such as the 5th Guru Sahib's 'role in history has served as a dividing line between the Sikh and Muslim communities across the subcontinent' and others...

3. The BBC uses the term 'Asian' selectively. When Pakistani Muslims commit crimes the BBC refers to them as ‘Asians’ in news reports. When cut-haired punjabis commit crimes, BBC feels it is necessary to mention they are Sikh (sometimes up to 4 times in a single article) thus linking the term ‘Sikh’ to the crime in question. The BBC have also gone as far as to use images of the Sikh insignia (The Khanda) when reporting cases of rape. This is highly inappropriate, and has never been done before with any other faith group. Never has the BBC linked any faith community so strongly to criminal activity.

4. In October 2009 thousands of Muslims attended a protest, Muslims stormed a starbucks (as they are owned by jews) and physically attacked the police. These Muslim youth were wearing traditional Saudi Aribain attire, some had Islamic themed bandanas on their heads and others with the pakistani flag on their backs. The BBC reported that these were ‘Asians’ who stormed starbucks. In 2005 the BBC covered a story on a controversial play called ‘bezti’. At this play, there were several protests, which came to a head when some drunken westernised punjabis (evidently with cut hair) disrupted the peace and smashed the Birmingham rep theatre. Not only did the BBC report that 'Sikhs' stormed a theatre, they also unfairly made this the headline of all related news articles. Never would this have happened if the play was offensive to some members of the Islamic community. Further the Islamic protest was referred to by the BBC as a Gaza protest by "Asians".

After complaining to the BBC they poorly justified this by saying:

"I assure you that in no way is our use of the term "Asian" intended to be disparaging towards any group of people, rather we feel this is a term that the majority of our audience use to describe Muslims."

On this basis, is it correct to refer to black people as niggers? Muslims as pakis and Sikhs as rag head / towel heads?

5. The EDL has expressed again and again it is against Islamic Extremism. The BBC continuously report that there is a conflict between the English Defence League and ‘Asians’. This is unfair to the Asian community on the whole.

6. In may 2004 a Muslim caller telephoned the BBC Asian Network and claimed Guru Nanak Sahib is proved to be 'Shaytan' live on air. A Sikh caller telephoned in and complained (live) to sonia deol. Rather then disconnect the offending muslim caller, the Sikh caller was disconnected. Now imagine, what would happen if a caller claimed on live BBC radio that mohammed (the prophet of islam) is proved to be paedophile?. I am sure not only would the caller be immediately disconnected but muslims would go on a world wide rampage which inevitably would not be complete without the burning of effigies at the very least.

　

There is no doubt the BBC is bias towards Muslims and against Sikhs. Some other incidents have been detailed here

　

Why does this happen?

… In my opinion, Sikhs are seen as easy targets. We have virtually no representation on both a national and international scale. When we do raise issues, such as the Chris Addison incident, we are told to ‘have a sence of homour’ by our members of our own community.

Empathy is key here. We are all human. With freedom of speech comes responsibility otherwise whats to stop someone from being outright racist?. If someone causes offence they should take responsibility for it. It is wholly innapropiate to put the blame on those who have been offended.

Before racism is being reinforced on national TV, it should first be clearly akhnowledged that Sikhs suffer racial abuse as we have a distinct visible identity. When Sikhs are called 'towel heads', 'rag heads', 'turbanator', 'afghani <banned word filter activated>', 'bin ladin' etc etc on the streets, the last thing we want to see is such a serious issue made into a joke on national tv infront of a laughing audience, particularly when the BBC is responsible as we pay the BBC yearly via our tv liscences. Would the audience have found it funny if Chris Addison said 'its not monkey, its nigger?' Would the audience have found it funny if a joke was made out of the survivors of 7/7?

Please note, i do not agree with any of the examples given above, every human being has the right to be respected.

[Paneer Monster]

I sent this complaint to the BBC in early November last year. Despite sending prompts for a response on two separate occasions, BBC have still failed to do so.

Below is the initial complaint I wrote. Did any other sangat make a complaint? and if so, could you kindly post the responses here with dates and reference numbers if applicable.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to make an official complaint against your racist ‘presenter’ Chris Addison’s derogatory terms specifically targeting turban wearing Sikhs. These highly offensive and dehumanising terms were casually aired on your show ‘Have I Got News For You.’. The actual show in question was broadcast on BBC 1 at 9pm on Thursday 4th November 2010.

Currently, the Sikh community are heavily under represented and are rarely positively acknowledged by the BBC which is disheartening to say the least considering Sikhs have made such a valuable contribution in many respects to Britain, a country which many Sikhs have fought for, died for and consider as their home.

On the show Chris Addison eagerly says: “did you hear what the political opponent said of Nikki Haley who’s the victorious republican candidate for the governor of Florida, who’s of Sikh origin?” …

Paul Merton replied: “Some distrusts of the foreign.” …

After Chris Addison established the republican candidate was a Sikh, Chris Addison retorted: “well yup, you’ve put your finger pretty… pretty near it. He said “we’ve already got one rag-head in the White House. We don’t want another one in the governor’s mansion” (and then showed the quote to the viewers). Chris Addison then felt the need to add: “its towel head”…. (While grinning) and then finished his verbal attack with “dickhead”. I was stunned on viewing this racist rant. Furthermore not one of the other presenters on the show objected to Chris Addison’s insults as they looked on in agreement.

I, along with many other Sikhs of a young and mature outlook have previously expressed our disappointment in the BBC in terms of biased reporting for instance; when covering negative news articles the BBC allows selective use of the term ‘Asian’ where the behaviour of specific religious groups are being called in to question, however not so long ago, the Sikh symbol ‘khanda’ was specifically linked to a disturbing rape case that actually had nothing to do with the Sikh faith. The fact remains that the BBC have grossly misrepresented Sikhs by focusing on the Sikh Symbol in cases that are non Sikh related such as this one [complaint ref: T2009110600KAS010Z6946038]. Additionally this reference number highlights an ongoing problem where a significant amount of racism against other minority ethnic groups has been allowed to fester on the BBC internet message boards.

Sikhs have a distinct identity, in fact most consider that Sikhs are the most distinctive faith community in the UK largely because of their physical appearance; keeping unshorn hair and wearing a turban as required by the faith. Because of this many Sikhs suffer racial abuse frequently (in comparison to other minorities). Despite being the fifth largest world religion, Sikhs are certainly underrepresented on both a national and international scale. Perhaps this is why the BBC considers the Sikh community as an easy target. Racist comments such as those broadcasted on 4th November actually send a clear message that at is appropriate to call Sikhs ‘Rag heads’ and ‘Towel Heads’, and also that it is hilarious to do so. It is sad that these slurs were said in the first instance, it is sadder that they were found funny, and it is saddest that no person intervened or commented against these racist slurs.

In summary, the BBC has explicitly reinforced racism towards the Sikh community. The viewer can not help but wonder if these spiteful and outright racist comments were purposely made to coincide with Sikh festival of Bandi Shhorh Diwas (otherwise known as Diwali) considering the initial comments that were made about Nikki Haley made headlines July 2010. It is extremely demoralising to learn that in 2010 racism is being promoted by the BBC.

If the BBC considers this complaint as serious, I would like to know; what actions the BBC will take to ensure to ensure it does not allow such racist comments to be broadcast in the future? And also, what will the BBC do to repair the damage it has done to the Sikh community?

I eagarly await a response,

Tirath Singh

[11Gurus1Jot]

west london singh just because you think other communities are okay with racist jokes targeted towards them doesnt mean sikhs have to start tolerating such jokes.turban jokes are offensive they will always be. gore dont understand what our dastaars mean to us.. thats because our own people start to disrespect dastaars and sikhi look at hard"kaur" look at those people that tie a pagh and lie on the roads drunk..

why do we try to fit in the society so much or learn the "society standards" why cant we be different and change the society as well..

If I was a Women (Kaur) I would be so offended by Hard Kaur (everything about her on every level is wrong). When you look at what the Kaurs did in Human History, and look at what that lady, who calls herself 'hard Kaur', has done the to reputation of the name 'Kaur' it's very very very hard not to feel very very Sad !

[malkeet]

paaji, i found this website, please direct the complaint to the relevant body (if you havent already?)

http://mediastandardstrust.org/resources/contact-a-regulatory-body/

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC. It is operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and aims to act in the best interests of licence fee payers. The BBC Trust accepts complaints on issues such as editorial content, fair trading, television licensing, digital switchover and others. Complaints about editorial content are measured against the BBC’s editorial guidelines.

vjkk vjkf

[sikhhunter]

Nikki Haley? Come on guys? A woman who turned her back on sikhi to hook up with a white man and anglizcise her name ? She is reported to have loads of affairs too. Hardly an example for young sikh women - just let her face the crap by her self, lets see how her methodist belief will help her

[Paneer Monster]

thanks malkeet singh

[SINGHREET]

ALL YOU BEING PASSIVE THINK OF YOUR CHILDREN AND YOUR POSITIONS AT WORK AND HOW THESE TWO ARE AFFECTED BY YOUR PASSIVITY AND NAIVE DIPLOMACY. THE FOLLOWING WAS SENT BY ME TO THE BBC:-

"TOWEL HEAD" COMMENT AND REFERENCE TO "RAG HEAD" COMMENT MADE BY PRESENTER..

I KNOW YOU HAVE RECEIVED COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS MATTER AND I'VE READ YOUR REPLIES POSTED ON THE INTERNET, FRANKLY WHICH ARE MUNDANE AND PASSIVE!

WHETHER OR NOT THE INTENTION WAS A RACIST ONE THE FACT IS YOUR PRESENTER USED THESE WORDS AS IF THEY WERE NORMAL EVERY DAY LANGUAGE, ENCOURAGING A RACIST VIEWER TO LAUGH UNCONTROBALLY AT A RACIST GLORY OF THE COUNTRY WITHOUT CONSIDERATION THAT THESE WORDS MAYBE REPLICATED IN SOCIETY SUCH AS IN SCHOOLS-RACISTS TAUGHTS FOR PUPILS WHO WEAR TURBANS, IN THE STREET- ABUSE BEING GIVEN TO TURBAN WEARERS BY PASSER-BYS, IN PUBLIC SOCIAL PLACES SUCH AS CLUBS & PUBS CAUSING FIGHTS ETC.

BASICALLY BY MAKING THESE WORDS PART OF A SARCASTIC JOKE/JOKE, "USING THEM" HAS CONDONED THEM AS ACCEPTABLE.

AS FOR YOUR PASSIVE STANCE ON THIS ISSUE, I WARN YOU TO PICK UP YOUR PACE TO BRING JUSTICE TO THE ISSUE OR THE SIKH COMMUNITY MAY TAKE THIS MATTER TO A COURT OF LAW FOR USING LANGUAGE THAT ENCOURAGES RACISM IN THE COUNTRY RATHER THAN RID IT OF 'IT'- WHICH PRETTY MUCH AMOUNTS TO "INCITEMENT TO RACIAL HATRED"....

HERE IS A BIT OF EDUCATION FOR YOURSELVES...

THE TURBAN FOR SIKHS STANDS FOR/SIGNIFIES THE RESPECT HONOUR DIGNITY AND IDENTITY (BEING OF THE SIKH RACE) OF THAT BEING IE. THE SELF-RESPECT OF THAT BEING IS BEING WORN ON THEIR HEAD SO IF YOU ARE MOCKING IT, YOU AUTOMATICALLY MOCK A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF A PERSON AND THE PERSON THEMSELF!

[Matheen]

HAve you seen the date of the original post?

[SINGHREET]

HAve you seen the date of the original post?

YES, ORIGINALLY, THIS CLIP WAS SHOWN BACK IN LAST NOVEMBER AND THEN HAS BEEN RE-SHOWN AGAIN ON NATIONAL TELEVISION FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC VIEWING JULY WITHOUT ANY EDIT/CUT OUTS..