80 Friday, October 29, 1982
- THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Sikhs and Jews Discussed in British Law Suit
C-D
Judicial Argumentation on Racism, Ethnic Rules
Mandla v Lee
Sikhs did not constitute a
"racial group" defined by re-
ferrence to "ethnic or na,
tional origins" within the
meaning of the Race Rela-
tions Act 1976 and the
headmaster of a school who
required that a Sikh boy
should remove his turban
and cut his hair before being
admitted as a pupil was not
guilty of unlawful discrimi-
nation.
The Court of Appeals ex-
pressed disquiet at events
leading to the Commission
of Racial Equality support-
ing a claim of unlawful dis-
crimination at a school de-
monstrably conducted har-
moniously on a multiracial
basis.
The Court of Appeals
dismissed an appeal by
plaintiffs, Sewa Singh
Mandla and his son Gurin-
der Singh Mandla (an in-
fant suing by his father and
next friend) against the
dismissal by Judge Gosling
at Birmingham County
Court on Dec. 10, 1980, for
their claim, inter alia, for a.
declaration that the defen-
dants, Mr. A.G. Dowell-Lee
and Park Grove Private
School Ltd, Birmingham, of
which Mr. Dowell-Lee was
headmaster, had committed
an act of unlawful discrimi-
nation against them within
the meaning of the 1976
Act.
Section 3 of the 1976
Act provides: "(1) ... 'ra-
cial grounds' means any
of the following grounds,
namely color, race na-
tionality or ethnic or na-
tional origins; 'racial
group' means a group of
persons defined by refer-
ence to color, race na-
tionality or ethnic or na-
tional origins ..."
The Master of the Rolls
said that Mr. Mandla was a
•Sikh and a solicitor practic-
ing in Birmingham, In 1978
he applied- to send his son
Gurinder, then aged 13, to
Park Grove School, a pri-
.vate school of high- reputa-
tion which took boys of all
races.
There were 305 boys, over
200 were English but there
were many others including
five Sikhs, 34 Hindus, six
Negroes, 16 Persians and
seven Chinese.
The headmaster asked
Mr. Mandla whether he
would consent to his son
removing his turban and
cutting his hair. Mr. Man-
dla said "No." The head-
master then wrote to Mr.
Mandla saying that he had
reluctantly concluded that
the school rules with regard
to uniform could not be re-
laxed.
Mr. Mandla found an-
other school for his son
where he was allowed to
wear a turban but he re-
ported the headmaster to
the Commission for Ra-
cial Equality.
The commission took the
matter up and pursued the
headma'ster relentlessly.
He said that the boy had not
been rejected because he
was a Sikh since the school
did not make racial distinc-
tions; it was the turban that
was rejected. The commis-
sion interviewed and de-
manded information from
the headmaster. They as-
sisted Mr. Mandla's pro-
ceedings in the Birming-
ham County Court which
after five days the judge had
dismissed.
The point of great interest
was what was a "racial
group" within the 1976 Act?
If the Sikhs were a "racial
group" not one was allowed
to discriminate against any
of their members in the im-
portant fields of education
and employment.
The definition in section
(14 ,,,_was very carefully
framed. It did not include
religion or politics or cul-
ture. One could discrimi-
nate as much as one wed
against Roman Catholics Or
communists or "hippies"
without being in breach of
the law.
But one must not dis-
criminate against a man
because of his color or his
race or his nationality or
his "ethnic or national
origin." It was most per-
suasively said that the
Sikhs were a group of
persons "defined by
reference to ethnic ori-
gins."
The word "ethnic" was
derived from the Greek
word "ethnos" which meant
"heathen." It was so used to
devote the non-Israelitish
nations, the Gentiles, in the
translation of the Old Tes-
tament Hebrew into Greek,
the Septuagint.
In 1934 the Concise Ox-
ford Dictionary gave
"ethnic" what to his Lord-
ship was the correct mean-
ing "pertaining to race." In
1972 a supplement to the
Oxford English Dictionary
cited a reference to the "spe-
cial type of ethnic grouping
of which the Jews form the
best known example." The
reference-to the Jews gave a
clue to the meaning of
"ethnic."
Cases such as Clayton v
Ramsden ([1943] AC 320)
and Re Tuck's Settlement
Trust ([1978] Ch 49) indi-
cated that when it was said
of the Jews that they were
an "ethnic group" it meant
Editor's note: Disputes have arisen in U.S.
courts over the right of Jews to wear the yar-
mulke while fulfilling their duties in various jobs
or as members of the military forces. A similar
case arose in England over the right of a Sikh to
wear the turban in private school. The parent of a
boy who was denied that right raised the issue in
the courts. The judicial deliberations raised the
issue of racism and it was contrasted with dis-
cussions over ethnic rights. The very interesting
case was described in an article, reproduced here,
in the London Times Law Report, under the title
"Sikhs Not a Racial Group for Discrimination
Act." The Jewish News is indebted to Federal
Judge Avern Cohn for calling our attention to this
important report.
that the group as a whole
shared a common char-
acteristic which was a racial
characteristic.
The statute used the
word "ethnic" in the con-
text of "origins." The
word "origin" when used
of a person meant "des-
cent" "parentage": ...
So the word "origins"
connoted a group which had
a common racial char-
acteristic.
The word "defined" in the
statute showed that the
group must be distin-
guished from another group
by some definable char-
acteristic. Jews were not to
be distinguished by their
national origins: their one
definable characteristic was
a racial characteristic. His
Lordship had no doubt that
in using the words "ethnic
origins," Parliament had in
mind primarily the Jews.
There must be no dis-
crimination against the
Jews in England. Anti-
Semitism, which had pro-
duced great evils elsewhere
must not be allowed here.
"Sikh" came from the
Sanskrit word for "disci-
ple." Sikhs were the dis-
ciples or followers of
Guru Nanak who was
born in 1469. There were
about 15 million Sikhs
most of whom lived in the
Punjab.
There was no difference
in language or blood which
distinguished the Sikhs
from the other people in
India who were largely the
product of successive inva-
tions which had swept into
the country. .
The Sikhs did-not recog-
nize any distinction of race
between them and the other
Indian people.
Guru Nanak had founded
a religious sect. A series of
Gurus had followed him and
early in . the 19th Century
the tenth had turned the
Sikhs into a community. He
laid down rules by which
the hair was not to be cut
and was to be covered by a
turban.
By adopting that uni-
form the Sikhs made
their communal affilia-
tion very clear. But they
remained a religious sect.
Professor Bowles of Syra-
cuse University, New York,
had said that the difference
between Muslims, Sikhs
and Hindus was mainly cul-
tural, not biological.
His Lordship agreed with
Judge Gosling that the
Sikhs were not a "racial
group": they could not be de-
fined by reference to their'
ethnic or national origins.
No doubt they were a dis-
tinct community, just as
other religious and cultural
communities. But that was
not enough.
The Sikhs were a fine
community upholding the
highest standards but they
were not a "racial group." It
was not unlawful to dis-
criminate against them.
The headmaster had
not discriminated
against the Sikhs at all.
He was not unfair or un-
reasonable and had not
been at fault in any way.
His Lordship would ex-
press some regret that the
Commission of Racial .
Equality had thought it -
right to take up the case
against the headmaster.
The race and sex discrinii-
nation statutes were dif-
ficult to understand and
apply. They should not be
used so as to interfere with
the discretion of schools and
colleges in the proper man-
agement of their affairs.
The appeal should be
dismissed.
Lord Justice Oliver,
agreeing, said that the case
raised directly for decision
the question whether Sikhs
as such were a racial group
in the sense in which that
term was defined in section
3 (1) of the 1976 Act.
Although Sikhism had,
like other movements,
started life as a purely
religious teaching it had
evolved into a political
movement as , well, sym-
bolizing resistance to the
Mogul invaders of the
Punjab.
It would be a misuse of
language to say that the
Sikhs were a group defined
by their national origins.
Their customs were by no
means common to all Sikhs.
A substantial proportion
did not assume the turban.
The evidence was there
were two sects with differ-
ing customs.
The statute directed at-
tention not to membership
of an ethnic group but
membership- - of a- group
which was described by
reference to its ethnic ori-
gins. In its popular meaning
"ethnic" involved a racial
concept — something with
which members of the group
were born. No one in ordi-
nary speech would describe
a member of the Church of
England or the Conserva-
tive Party as a member of an
ethnic group.
Mr. Dowell-Lee's objec-
tion to the wearing of the
turban at school was be-
cause he felt it accen-
tuated those religious
and social distinctions
which he desired to
minimize; Several Sikhs
at the school did not in-
sist on wearing their dis-
tinctive religious
headgear.
Lord Justice. Kerr, also
-
-
agreeing, said that adhe-
rents of a certain religion or
creed were not, as such,
within the definition of "ra-
cial group" in section 3. Dis-
crimination was not prohib-
ited by the Act in relation to
re _ ligious belief or practices.
Nothing in the Act pre-
cluded schools and other es-
tablishments only to admit
persons of a particular reli-
gion, whether Christian,
Muslim, Jewish, etc; or to
exclude particular reli-
gions, or to admit
exclude persons of particu-
lar denominations.
If people wished to insist
on wearing bathing suits,
they could not reasonably
insist on admission to a
nudist colony; people who
passionately believed in
nudism could not complain
if they were not accepted on
ordinary bathing beaches.
The definition of a
group by reference to its
"ethnic origin" required
the investigation of the
"ethnic" ancestry and
provenance of the group
in question, whether the
group
had
char-
acteristics primarily
"pertaining to race."
On the evidence the Sikhs -/
did not constitute a "racial
group defined by ethnic or
national origins." Sikhism
was.a religion with highly
developed political and so-
cial overtones among its
adherents and contents.
Sikhs and Sikhism did
not fall withint the 1976 Act
at all, any more than mem-
bers of the Church of
England, Catholics, Mus- (1: 1
lims, Quakers or Jehovah
Witnesses or any other
groups which were only dis-
tinctive because they
adhered to distinct reli-
gious, political or social.be-
liefs and customs.
There had been no basis
for the harassment of the
headmaster. The commis-
sion seemed to have created
racial discord where there
had been none before.
C=„7-s",
New Technology, Israeli Prof.
Turn Galilee Soil Into Farmland
Ravina, who is an the staff
of the Technion's depart-
ment of building materials.
HAIFA — Israel may
Prof. Ravina's re-
have no oil supplies, little search into the use of
water and very poor quality marginal soils will make
soil, but it does have a available abundant
wealth of scientists who rocky mountainside ;;Ind
devote their skills to getting in the Galilee which of-
around these limitations.
fers only 30 centimeters
One of them is 46-year- (12 inches) of topsoil.
old Prof. Israela Ravina, a
"Up until now, suveryors
specialist in soil physics and have ruled out such areas,
the first female dean of the because of the need for a
Agricultural Engineering minimum of 60 centimet-
Faculty of the Technion, ers (24 inches) of soil. We
who says that rocky terrain have carried out`our own
with thin topsoil can pro- survey of those lands which
duce healthy crops.
were considered uncultiva-
The Israel-educated sci- ble but which farmers went
entist, a native of Tel Aviv, ahead and worked anyway,
has a long list of publica- with success," explained
tions and talks at interna- Prof. Ravina.
tional congresses ta her cre-
"Until recently, farmers
dit, as well as a stint at the used a rotor machine to re-
Soil Institute in Teheran in move rocks from a depth of
1974. A mother of three, she 60-70 centimeters of soil,
4 married to Dr. Dan the minimum thought
By PHILIPPA MARCUS
Israel Government
Tourist Office
necessary for farming,"
Ravina points out. "Once
the rocks were removed,
however, the amount of
rockless soil was less than
60 centimeters and it was
necessary to repeat the
process. This is an expen-
sive process, consuming fuel
and time."
The solution, according to
the professor, is frequent
use of drip irrigation so that
the plants are not depen-
dent in a reservoir of water
and nutrients in the soil.
Drip irrigation, a system of
controlled water applica-
tion through small plastic
hoses, is recommended two
to three times a week, but
not more than once a day.
The problem of anchor-
ing roots can be solved,
says Ravina, by select-
ing plants with deeper
roots, which can pene-
trate the rocks.