ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. — A Halifax County man was turned away from a local mission when he refused to remove his turban while trying to make a donation.
When Gary Khera, went with his wife to the Union Mission on Roanoke Avenue to make a donation, a staffer asked him to remove his turban.
“She said, ‘Sir, you have to take your turban off. This is the United States,’” Khera recounted. “That made me a little upset. I am a United States citizen.”
Khera, citing his religious beliefs, declined. He is a Sikh with dual U.S. and Indian citizenship. Followers of Sikhism do not cut their hair, and men commonly wear long beards and turbans.
That’s fucked up.
Filed under: Religion | Tagged: charity, citizen, donation, gary khere, halifax, north carolina, Religion, sikh, union mission
As a former Executive Director of this very mission I must say I am appalled by the behavior of the mission staffer and it’s current executive director “Rev.” Ron Weeks. The missions stance on this whole situation is not in keeping with the humility that the Christian faith teaches nor is it in keeping with the historical behavior of the way Rescue Missions have behaved in terms of uniting with the community to rescue the poor and needy. People went hungry because of the pride of this director. There are more important things to choose battles over and in these difficult economic times, Rescue Missions need all the help they can get as donations surely are on a decrease because Americans have less money in their pockets to feed their own families let alone help people that can’t feed themselves. Rev. Weeks should be grateful for any support of well meaning people in his community that have and want to continue to support the Missions cause.