Sheriff’s forum salutes diversity
Fort Bend’s top cop leads effort to help bridge cultural gaps
A man with a red tilak in the middle of his forehead. A woman in a white hijab. A man in cowboy boots. A pair in turbans, one pink, the other red.
The crowd of more than 100 people at Fort Bend County Sheriff ’s Office’s “Diversity and Living Together” session Thursday afternoon reflected the various cross-sections of the community that most residents know well and take pride in. Fort Bend is considered one of the most diverse counties in the country.
“Boy, I love this area, you know?” Hindu speaker Kalpesh Patel said to the crowd. “Everyone is so welcoming.”
Sheriff Troy Nehls called it a blessing to live in a place so diverse and commended efforts to bridge cultural gaps — but said even more could be done.
To help on that front, the forum included presentations from Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, intended to shed light on beliefs that might be unfamiliar to some. More than 50 people from the sheriff ’s department attended. A native of Wisconsin, Nehls said he doubted he was the only one who at times found himself with questions.
What does the turban represent? The red dot? If a deputy gets a call for service and sees a line of shoes outside of the door, should the deputy take his or her shoes off?
“Ramadan: Can’t spell it, but I know it exists here in Fort Bend County,” Nehls said. “We’re going to get a groundfloor approach on what some of those things mean.”
Fort Bend County is home to more than 700,000 and growing. Census data from 2010 described the racial makeup as 22 percent black, 17 percent Asian, 24 percent Hispanic or Latino and 36 percent white.
Attendee Shirley Grass, a First Colony resident, said she lives on an international cul-desac with neighbors who are Indian, Filipino and Middle Eastern. On her evening walks, she smells foods from all around the world.
“It’s wonderful,” Grass said. “I want to go up and knock on the door.”
Grass said she believes greater understanding will help create a more peaceful world. She took notes as the event progressed.
Explaining traditions
One by one, speakers offered overviews of their religions and traditions. They summarized clothing worn, holidays celebrated and ways their faiths are practiced.
Speaking as the “token Sikh,” resident Manpreet Kaur thanked Nehls for reaching out — a rarity, she said, among leaders in law enforcement.
A Bellaire resident, Kaur’s parents had been one of 15 Sikh families who first moved to the Houston area and planted roots. Now more than 1,500 Sikh families live here, she said, with one of two worship spaces located in Fort Bend.
Kaur explained that turbans represented an article of faith. Long hair also could carry a religious importance, she explained, untying hers from a bun to show that it fell past her waist.
Fort Bend attorney Amit Misra said Hindus similarly began to arrive in the 1960s “and it’s been a growing community since.” From his perspective, the tradition had become well integrated into society. At least three Hindu temples exist in Fort Bend County.
“A lot of aspects of Hindu culture you actually already know,” he said.
He noted that the festival known as Holi is celebrated each year at the Fort Bend County fairgrounds. As for the red dot, he said, some Hindus wear it daily. Others only do on certain occasions.
Amina Ishaq, a Muslim, took the podium wearing a white head scarf. She expected people in the crowd would have questions about it, she said. In PTO meetings at her daughter’s school in Lamar CISD, she said it drew glares.
The mother has grown accustomed to the stares. She learned to change perceptions, explaining to some that head scarves do not mean Mulsim women are subject to repression, she said. But it wasn’t always easy. She recalled another instance, when a woman asked how she felt about the terrorist attack in San Bernardino.
“I was like, ‘Oh gosh, now I have to defend myself again,’ ” she said.
‘Beginning of something’
Ishaq asked the woman why their feelings would differ. To Ishaq, her sadness about those who died was just as strong.
Incidents such as this are not unheard of in Fort Bend, where change is not always well received. At times, the diversity can lead to clashes, such as in the case of a young woman in Sugar Land who earlier this year said a man taunted her and her family when she passed him wearing her hijab.
A business owner also made national news when he held pig races to protest a planned Islamic center that opened next door in Katy in 2015.
For Nehls, events such as the one Thursday felt deeply meaningful in a place where diversity is there to stay.
“This is the beginning of something,” he said.