National Affairs: Kes? Yes~ (The Way It Was In 1952)

[spnadmin]

National Affairs: Kes? Yes!

National Affairs: Kes? Yes! - TIME





Kes? Yes! As one of the few Sikhs ever born in Boston, 22-year-old Walter Israel NeHalsingh speaks English with a Back Bay accent and has dropped many of his warrior caste's ancient ways. Walter's India-born father is a Harvard man, and Walter is a graduate of Tufts. It seemed only logical to cease wearing kachh (pants cut off at the knee), kara (iron bangles on the wrist) and a kirpan (a small dagger). But Walter has always observed two of the five "Ks" dictated by his religion: he wears kes (unshorn hair) and carries a khanga (a ceremonial comb).


When he was drafted into the Army, Walter wrote President Truman for permission to keep his long hair. The Army, after due deliberation, agreed not to dis-kes him. Last week, as a basic trainee at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Walter was absolutely the only private in the U.S. Army with hair 37 inches long. Sikhs serving in British forces wear their hair in turbans, but Private NeHalsingh wears his locks in a horsetail down his back—an arrangement which enables him to get a steel helmet over his head. Nobody laughs. Said Sergeant John J. Quigley last week of Warrior NeHalsingh: "A good soldier if I ever saw one."

Read more: National Affairs: Kes? Yes! - TIME
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[spnadmin]

So why did the US government go backwards in its time machine on this one? If it wasn't an issue then why is it an issue now?

:welcome:

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Narayanjot ji,

Guru Fateh

Very good question.....

 

[spnadmin]

Tejwant ji

There is actually an answer to the question buried in the background to the story about the 2 Singhs, a doctor and a dentist, for whom Sikh Coalition is fighting right now. One battle actually won, and one in the hopper.

This change to no kesh is actually very recent. Very recent.

 

[kds1980]

So why did the US government go backwards in its time machine on this one? If it wasn't an issue then why is it an issue now?

:welcome:

The rise of militant Atheism and fanatic islam are two reasons for this.Like muslims militant Atheists too has hidden dreams of destroying all Religions.
Because of Day and night attacks by jihadi's people all over the world have started feeling that all religions are bad.It is one of the main reason that today religious freedom is curbed in the name of secularism.Could anybody explain why their is mass hysteria after 9/11 on religious symbols?

 

[spnadmin]

kanwardeep singh ji

You are hot on the trail of the answer.

 

[Mai Harinder Kaur]

So why did the US government go backwards in its time machine on this one? If it wasn't an issue then why is it an issue now?

:welcome:

Hippies, Narayanjot ji. Hippies!

Of course, I am a Canadian who has been a guest in the USA for a number of years and I am reluctant to espouse any criticism against the late, beloved Ronald Reagan., but I have made a couple of observations.

First, the ban was imposed during the conservative Republican administration of Ronald Reagan.

Second, the aforementioned Ronald Reagan repeatedly expressed his disdain for long-haired hippies during his tenure as governor of California. More than once, he voiced his opinion that they should be forcibly shorn, preferably at induction (by draft) into the US Army.

Might not Reaganthought equate long-hair on men with hippies alone and so, in his mind, Sikhs are somehow in league with hippies and therefore are really in need of a haircut?

Just a thought that has been spinning in the cavernous recesses of my brain for a few years

:happykaur:.

 

[spnadmin]

That is the answer. Kes was not banned prior to the Reagan Administration. Keshdhari Sikhs who were already in the US armed forces at that time were however permitted to keep their kesh.

Sikhs were permitted to wear turbans and uncut hair until the policy was changed during the Reagan administration, but even then exceptions were made, according to the group.
http://www.military.com/news/article/sikhs-want-dod-turban-hair-bans-lifted.html

It did not have anything to do with "hippies" IMHO but we can look it up.

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Interesting historical note. Dr. Bhagat Singh Thind was the first keshdhari Sikh in dastar to serve in the US forces. He was later refused US Citizenship in the State of California, but subsequently granted citizenship in the State of New York. Dr. Thind received the doctorate of philosophy, and was to go onto become a philosopher of Sant Mat.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Dr. Thind became the first Indian Sikh to be inducted in the US Army during World War I. He was stationed at Camp Lewis in Astoria, Oregon. He was inducted into the Army on July 22, 1918. He was later released via Honorable Discharge on December 16, 1918.[/FONT]"

Pics of Dr. Thind attached to this post.

 

[Mai Harinder Kaur]

And, I, in spite of their many foibles and missteps, have always had a sort of affection for the hippies, occasionally, even referring to myself jokingly as an aging Sikh hippie.

(However, I married my son's father before I became pregnant and totally eschewed drugs. :whisling: )

 

[Tejwant Singh]

I miss my bell bottoms and long flowing hair and beard walking around Carnaby Street in London some days when I felt the hippie aura from the within.