Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/933951
32 | Overdrive | February 2018 INTO THE LIMELIGHT "No one should have to face humili- ation because of their religious beliefs," said lead complainant Jagtar Singh Anandpuri. "I have been driving a truck for years, and I know there is nothing about my faith that interferes with my ability to do my job." Kaur says she's not heard of further complaints about hair testing obstacles since the case and supports companies that want to explore more extensive test- ing options, such as nail testing. "We are not asking the industry to weaken their testing or safety standards," she says. "We are just asking [them] to accommo- date religious articles of faith." While the FBI reports only seven doc- umented "hate crimes" against Sikhs in 2016, Kaur believes those numbers are higher because the FBI relies upon cases voluntarily reported by law enforce- ment. She says the Sikh Coalition alone received 15 such complaints in 2016 that the group investigated. Laramie, Wyoming-based small fleet owner-operator Mintu Pandher says the people he encounters throughout his travels treat him with respect. "I've been here for 17 years, and I've never had any issues," he says. Pandher stands out with the traditional Sikh turban and beard, though he often dons a hard hat when at a location requiring it. For Sikhs, a small minority in India, there is no "my country back home," he says. "If you live somewhere, you defend that place. … Since I'm living here, this is my land. It's a defensive instinct." Turbans were adopted as protective headgear in centuries past when Sikhs were warriors, fighting the Islamic Mughal empire invaders, he says. Pandher believes this to be a distinct dif- ference between American-Sikh culture and that of non-Sikh immigrants from other traditions. Relatively few Arab- Americans, for instance, wear the head- gear in the United States, he says. Sikhs are free to affiliate with any political party, and Khalsa believes his good relationship with former Indiana governor and current Vice President Mike Pence helps the Sikh community. Sikh leaders encourage their people to become active in their communities, and the ELD protests show how such efforts can help change attitudes. Scott Reed and Pennsylvania- headquartered Landis & Sons owner- operator Mike Landis say they walked away from the D.C. protests with a new appreciation for Sikh truckers. "I grew up with 9/11 happening when I was in high school," says Landis, HOW TRUCKING FITS ONE SIKH FAMILY By Todd Dills Owner-operator Binda Atwal jumped into trucking when pursuit of a law degree from San Joaquin College of Law stalled. He drove for a larger fleet for a year before buying the Kenworth pictured here and jumping on with a cousin, Sunny Atwal, and his ABT Inc. small family fleet. Binda's uncle, Sukh Atwal, is also an owner-operator involved in the four-truck company. Binda Atwal, unlike many in the Sikh community involved in trucking, was born and raised in the United States. His father had been a teacher in India's Punjab region before he came to the United States in 1983, after which Atwal was born in California. His college education and command of English were equal parts of the reason he came to deliver English speeches at the Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento sites of the October anti-electronic logging device mandate rallies. A video produced by the Bhandal Focus company featured part of his Fresno speech and ultimately went somewhat viral around the time of the efforts. (You can find it by searching Atwal's name at OverdriveOnline.com.) "I love trucking," Atwal says, but not so the ELD mandate and its introduction of mandated GPS tracking. "What's next? Driver-facing cameras?" With most of his entire life spent in the United States (he did spend a couple of years in India as a young man), Atwal has been "Westernized" more than many of his Sikh counterparts. "My hair is cut," he says. "I don't wear the ceremonial dag- ger. I don't wear a turban. Some people would say I'm not religious," but as with Americans who were raised as Christians but haven't seen the inside of a church in decades, Atwal carries core principles of the religion on which he was reared through his life in business. "Don't lie, don't steal, don't murder," he says, rattling off just a few of the central tenets that are similar to the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments. "I say my morning prayers and try to do right by everybody." His Westernization runs counter to a part of Sikh culture, which emphasizes standing out among the crowd. Before deciding to go trucking in 2015, he applied for work as a corrections officer. "I had a long beard, and my hair was long" before he made that application, Atwal says, but he felt he needed to appear more tradi- tionally professional and cut everything back. Trucking presented an opportunity he didn't see in other job fields. He could work for himself, for one. When he made the decision to go trucking, he was "slav- ing away" in a pizza kitchen with Tuesday and Wednesday as his weekend. "I had cousins and friends taking time off on the weekends," he says. Trucking, even with its unpredictable schedules, offered a more traditional rou- tine when he leased with ABT, with regular runs getting him back for the weekends. Ultimately, though, it's income potential he names as the principal attraction for his wife and two young children. Binda Atwal (left) purchased this 2016 Kenworth T680 in 2015, after about a year run- ning as a driver. Now leased in a family busi- ness, he hauls reefer freight from a home base in Fresno, California.