On November 13, a video was leaked showing the incessant tormentation of a Sikh boy by his peers at Charlton School, Telford. In it, he is tackled to the floor, beaten and stripped of his turban. The video has since gone viral, garnering widespread public attention and outrage.
The turban is worn by Sikhs and holds a spiritual significance to one who wears it. This identity was stripped ,in the most ruthless of ways, from the boy by his peers. The immense disrespect to not only his faith, but his own being is shocking and unacceptable, on every level.
A statement released by the police said, "We’re aware of a video circulating on social media of a boy being attacked by two other boys. This is clearly an incredibly distressing incident. We are treating this as a hate crime and with the utmost seriousness.”
A police investigation is underway and the key perpetrators have been identified.
Eshervir Jhooti, a 14 year old student, had this to say : “As a Sikh girl, the video honestly disgusted me and my whole family. The extremity of discrimination and abuse toward Sikhs has become so normalised and common. Hopefully a punishment will be set forward, and the trauma that they have caused is resolved. I do hope for a change but after seeing this video it has completely changed my view”
The event shares striking similarities with what happened to Vijay Singh, a 13 year old Sikh boy from Manchester. He suffered from racist physical and verbal abuse from his peers at school everyday. Sadly, this culminated in Vijay Singh taking his own life in 1996.
The Charlton School incident has left not only the Sikh community, but also more generally the wider population horrified and confused. Shockingly, the media coverage that the story received has been insufficient. Awareness must continue to be raised and justice must be served.
This incident is just a glimpse into the broken reality of the country home to one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, London. It’s appalling that although ,when it comes to racism, it is commonly said that times have changed, have they really changed? Have we learnt from the past?
