Darshpreet Singh
Basketball is a very popular game in America. When a Sikh Darshpreet Singh started playing this game,
he had to face the racist meme. However, he did not give in. He believed that everyone had the right to
follow his religion as well as to fulfil his ambition. Like two Indian players, who had agreed to play without
Turbans, by tieing their hair back, he did not agree and advocated for his right to play with his Turban.
Ultimately, FIVA accepted his request and he became the first Turbaned Sikh American Basketball Player
to play with his Turban. He was helped by Sikh Organisations and his friends who propagated in his favour
on the Internet. They challenged the racist attitude on the part of the authorities and made him an Internet
Hero. One of his friends Greg Worthington – a student of educational policy and planning at the University
of Texas – took to Facebook and , in a sensational post, highlighted “why this s**t isn’t funny.” He wrote:”
I know this guy and his name’s not ‘Muhammad’ He’s not Arab, he’s Punjabi. He’s not even muslim, he’s a
Sikh. His name is Darsh Singh and he’s a US Citizen, born and bred. That jersey he’ wearing in this pic., it
currently sits in a Simthsonian Museum in Washington, DC because he made US history as the NCAA’s first
turbaned Sikh-American basketball player for Trinity Unversity in my hometown of San Antonio”.
