Deljit Singh,Britain
As a model pupil I never got into trouble with the
teachers and prided myself on never getting summoned to the headmaster’s office
for punishment – apart from that one time in 1977 when I was 15 years old
because of an incident in a classroom.
Bullying and racism even back in the 1970’s wasn’t the
exclusive domain of boys as some girls could be equally as unpleasant and
nasty. I had to endure a small group of girls in my class who would call
me Paki, towelhead, badhead and other racist names.
I pretty
much kept out of their way but then on particular day as we returned to the
classroom from lunch one of these girls came up behind me and ripped my turban
off my head and ran to the window which she tried to open so she could throw it
out of the window. As I sprinted towards her to get my turban back, one
of her gang tripped me so I fell forward face first bashing my face on the
floor. I had been bought up never to hit girls but as I was now in pain,
and with other pupils laughing at me, my anger got the better of me, so I
lashed out. I picked up the nearest thing to me, a chair and threw it at
the girl holding my turban, it hit her on the arm and she dropped my turban on
the floor so I was able to pick it up. She swore at me and ran towards me
but in her haste she tripped over the chair and went sprawling to the ground
just as I had done. By now the furore hadn’t gone unnoticed and a teacher
stepped in to separate us as once she was off the floor she and her friends
started physically attacking me.
Given the
opportunity to retie my turban, both she and I were marched to the headmaster’s
office and told to explain ourselves. As the girl was incandescent with
rage, she was sent outside to calm down while I was spoken to.
Unbeknownst to me or the headmaster she’d phoned her father from the call box
in reception and he arrived a short while later. As I left the
headmaster’s office to go and wait in reception after explaining myself, the girl
pointed me out to her father who immediately started threatening me. He
was calmed down by staff and then he and his daughter went into the
headmaster’s office so she could have her say.
Deljit Singh
I had
thought about calling my father too but I felt so ashamed of myself for getting
into trouble, getting him involved would only add to my shame so I decided
against it. I was only waiting about fifteen minutes but it felt like a
lifetime especially when the headmaster came out of his office and disappeared
into another room and then back to his office and gave me no eye contact.
I was fearing the worst when I was called back into his office and stood to one
side away from the girl and her father, who was now calmer but staring at me
with malicious intent...
.Before
the girl and her father had time to reply ;he asked her father how he would
have felt if a boy, any boy had put their hands on his daughter in what would
be a sexual assault, and whether or not he’d report it to the police. The
father nodded his head and shrank back into his chair.
The
headmaster then announced that if it was left up to him his decision would be
to expel the girl from school for her racist assault, but with that said he
wasn’t the one that had been assaulted, so it shouldn’t be down to him. I
was taken aback when he turned to me and said; “Well, Deljit, what do you think should happen?”
So now it was down to me to play Solomon and do the
right thing. As the girl was now tearing up and her father was ashen
faced I turned to the headmaster and replied. “I don’t want to ruin anyone’s
life, so can she stay in school if she and her friends who I know don’t like me
just leave me alone, and I’ll stay away from them too. If they do that then I’d
rather not take this any further, is that alright?”
The room fell silent as he looked down at his desk and
he looked at the girl and asked; “Are you willing to do that or not?”.
She nodded and her father promised she would and even mouthed the words thank
you in my direction. The headmaster agreed to honour my decision and
warned the girl if she, her friends or anyone else did anything like this he
would take more drastic action.
After the girl and her father left, the headmaster
turned to me and said, “I’m sorry I put you on the spot but I know how you are
and I knew you’d do the right thing for all concerned. After all Sikhism talks about the welfare of all”. I
replied, “Yes, sir, Sarbat Ka Bhalla, is what
we say to do right by everyone”. “What you did in forgiving her makes you
a credit to the Sikh faith Deljit, I’m very proud of you young man”...
Del Singh's Speech at Black Lives Matter Protest Event in Peterborough
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