New York, June 07, 2004
Kevin Harrington, who
also calls himself Sathari Singh, adopted more than 25 years ago after
a Roman Catholic childhood. Brother Harrington 53 yrs old, a Sikh,
who has been operating trains for two decades, was told by his supervisor
that he must wear a NYC Transit hat. "He was asking me about
my turban," said Harrington, who wears a blue turban to match
his NYC Transit uniform.
In 20 years working under the city, he'd helped evacuate
trains, had mayors as passengers and received a Metropolitan Transportation
Authority commendation for service. A week later, Harrington received
disquieting news: NYC Transit was reassigning him to work in a subway
yard for violating NYC Transit's policy on employee uniforms
Harrington said his hourly wage might not change,
but he considers yard work a demotion. Overtime pay is limited and
travel time to work could be longer than the short distance between
his home and the Woodlawn station, where the No. 4 line starts
."I'm very angry. I feel it's a betrayal on their
part, and I consider it a violation of my freedom of religion,"
the paper quoted Kevin as saying. He said that he wore a turban when
he was hired, when he was promoted to motorman from cleaner and for
every trip he had taken on the rails. He wonders whether he has been
swept up in a wave of bias unleashed by the Sept. 11 attacks from
people who mistake Sikhs for Muslims or if NYC Transit brass has become
less tolerant.