NBC- An East Bay woman visited a Dick’s Sporting Goods last week and asked a store employee about buying eight boxes of ammunition for her AR-15. Two days later, on Friday, Sim Sangha received an unwelcome visit by two police officers.
"I don't know if it's [because of] my skin color or that I’m Indian," she said. "I'm not a Muslim, but even if I were, that's no reason to call police to my home, instantly." Sangha, a firearms instructor, didn’t buy ammunition for her rifle – the same kind used to gun down 14 people and injure 17 others in San Bernardino – and left instead with an exercise mask. "They singled me out," Sangha said. "They singled me out because of the way I look." "I feel like I was racially profiled," she said. "I've had friends buy bulk ammo and they've never had police show up at their door." Alright Sim, let me clear up this confusion for you, you were discriminated against. I'd love to spin this and fabricate some other explanation, but honesty is the best policy. If you weren't Indian there wouldn't have been cops at your door. That's partially because of the racial tension that exists after the San Bernardino shootings, but it's also because no one, including Dick's employees, has ever seen an Indian firearms instructor. Isn't that good news!?! You were only partially racial profiled, the rest was merely occupational profiling! I actually feel bad for the minimum wage worker whose pushing Under Armour compression shorts as an after school job. He just didn't want to see the sweet Middle Eastern woman he had an educated conversation with about heavy artillery being hauled off to prison as she openly endorsed the Jihadist movement. Ehhh, okay fine, that sounded pretty bad, but hear me out. I just went through the list of reasons an Indian woman would need ammunition for an AR-15, and #1 isn't exactly working in Sim's favor. Being a Indian firearms instructor is kind of like being a white basketball player or a straight man in the fashion industry. People are going to doubt you. You are going to have a few more hills to climb to prove yourself. We are a progressive society, or at least we like to think we are most of the time. I firmly believe that anyone can be whatever they want to be, but sometimes extenuating circumstances like gender, intelligence, talent, or a radical terrorist organization sharing your skin color are going to stand in the way of those dreams. You're not the first female to be looking up at a glass ceiling. You're just the first one that had law enforcement staring back down at you through it. Don't fret. You can still become the best sharpshooter on the gun range. As long as you understand that with that comes a little bit of skepticism.
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