Mother of all Twitter comebacks: Sikh scholar in Texas gets even with racists

New York : Simran Jeet Singh, a Sikh scholar of religion, has wit and his mother on his side when he deals with racists on Twitter who attack him for his turban.
Singh, a professor of religion at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, is followed by more than 45,000 people on Twitter. The 33-year-old is also an activist against racism and a writer.
Living in New York with his wife and daughter, Singh speaks regularly in media on issues of hate violence, diversity, inclusion, civil rights and religion.
On December 5, commenting on the approval of Trump administration’s travel ban on eight Muslim nations, Singh tweeted, “Last week the US President shared anti-Muslim hate videos. Today the Supreme Court approved the Muslim ban. This is how hate gets normalized. We must all resist together. #NoMuslimBanEver”
After sharing his thoughts on Twitter, Singh got trolled with racial attacks.
“It’s right. It’s constitutional. You don’t like it? Leave,” one of users commented on Singh’s #NoMuslimBanEver tweet.
Singh, however, managed to take on the hated messages without anger.
The next day, Singh tweeted back to the trollers: “My mom just joined Twitter and saw all the racist messages where people tell me to ‘go home’ and ‘go back’ to where I came from. She wanted me to thank you all. She really wants me to move back to Texas.”
Singh’s response was praised, with people sharing their support to him. His tweet was liked by over 1.5 lakh users and shared 27,000 times.
“I’m with your mom, Simran. We need you home here in San Antonio. If it takes a resolution, I can get to work on that!” Mayor of San Antonio Ron Nirenberg commented on Singh’s tweet.
“Seriously I don’t know you, I don’t follow you, but you’re welcome to pursue the same American dream I am pursuing. That I fought for and friends of mine died for. Those who tell you that seem to have forgotten what being American is…,” user named Bryan French commented on Singh’s tweet.
Another user named Jessamyn West commented said: “I am sorry people are jerks. I am happy you have a sense of humor about it, and a good mom.”Singh, who grew up in South Texas, says his parents taught him to deal with prejudice without losing his temper.
“My three brothers and I were some of the only kids with turbans when we grew up in south Texas. Our parents always taught us that negative incidents always provided opportunities for positive outcomes,” he told Buzzfeed. “Humor’s been a helpful tool for us because it helps us deal with the ugliness in a way that’s soulful and enriching,” Singh said.