(Washington, DC) - U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, R. Alexander Acosta, recently issued a letter calling on school officials to ensure that Sikh, South Asian, Arab, and Muslim students are free from bias-related attacks.

The letter was issued as a result of a recommendation by Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee President Mary Rose Oakar at a meeting hosted by the Assistant Attorney General on August 17. The Sikh Coalition's Legal Director provided examples of harassment of Sikh school children at the August 17 meeting while supporting the recommendation.

"In California, a high school teacher allegedly grabbed a Sikh student's beard, pulled it, and accused him of being a member of the Taliban… such incidents are inconsistent with federal law and should not be tolerated."
                                                                                       ----R. Alexander Acosta, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights

The letter narrates incidents of violence against Arab, Muslim, and Sikh students, including an incident in which a teacher grabbed a Sikh student's beard and accused him of being a part of the Taliban. It makes clear that such incidents violate federal law. The letter was sent to the heads of all fifty state departments of education.

The Coalition would like to thank Assistant Attorney General Acosta and Shaarik Zafar, the Justice Department's Special Counsel for Post 9-11 National Origin Discrimination for working with it and other community-based organizations to issue the letter.