Sikh musician racially profiled at restaurant

HOUSTON — A Sikh American musician has claimed that he was racially profiled while having lunch at a restaurant in Orlando, Florida, when a ‘concerned citizen’ called the police to look into his ‘suspicious container’ that actually contained his bamboo flutes.

Neelamjit Dhillon was having a late lunch at a local restaurant with a friend when the police responded to a call about a suspicious container at the restaurant.

“A concerned citizen called the police to investigate me while having lunch because of my suspicious container. Just my bamboo flutes,” Dhillon wrote in an Instagram post about the June 28 incident.

Dhillon moved to the Orlando area from Los Angeles to work as a performer and an Indian music director on Disney’s Animal Kingdom show, “Jungle Book Alive.”

While outside on a phone call, Dhillon says a smiling and an apologetic police officer approached him. “A police officer was walking towards me, put out his hand and shook my hand, and right away he said, ‘I need to have chat with you. Can we have a discreet conversation back at your table?’’ said Dhillon.

Confused, Dhillon complied. Back at the table, the officer explained that someone unaffiliated with the restaurant had called the police to report a suspicious man carrying a “suspicious container.”

And it turned out, the suspicious container he was a carrying was actually a case for his bamboo flutes–one of the many instruments Dhillon plays professionally.

Dhillon, who carries his flutes in a case designed to hold blueprints, showed the flutes to the officer, who apologized for the trouble and left.

Dhillon said it wasn’t the first time a member of his community has been judged or profiled as a possible Muslim terrorist based on his experience as a Sikh.