On what was a historic day for Houston, Texas, Harris County Judge Manpreet Monica Singh, of Indian origin, became the first female Sikh judge in the US, reported ABC 13
Texas [US]: On what was a historic day for Houston, Texas, Harris County Judge Manpreet Monica Singh, of Indian origin, became the first female Sikh judge in the US, reported ABC 13.
โMama we made it! It is a โtrue honorโ to rep the people of Harris County as a Sikh civil court judge. Thank you to everyone for making this a historic moment, one that someday wonโt be an uncommon event โ because there will be a judiciary that includes countless Sikh people and other minorities. Iโm ready to put my 2 decades of experience to good use,โ wrote Manpreet Monica Singh in a Facebook post. She was born and raised in Houston and now lives in Bellaire with her husband and two children.
An attorney for 20 years, Monica has been involved in many civil rights organisations at the local, state and national levels.
โIt means a lot to me because I represent H-town the most, so for it to be us, Iโm happy for it,โ she said.
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Judge Ravi Sandill, the stateโs first South Asian judge, presided over the ceremony in a packed courtroom last Friday, reported ABC 13.
โItโs a really big moment for the Sikh community,โ Sandill said adding, โWhen they see someone of colour, someone a little different, they know that possibility is available to them. Manpreet is not only an ambassador for Sikhs but also for all women of colour.โ
Sikhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world. There are an estimated 500,000 Sikhs in the US, with 20,000 Sikhs just in the Houston area, reported ABC 13.
However, there wasnโt a female Sikh judge in the country before Manpreet.
โI thought it was important for kids, as they go through their education, that they could see that thereโs a possibility for professions that we never had access to before,โ Singh said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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