As the trucker shortage becomes more of an issue, minority groups like Sikh immigrants and their North American born children are taking up the profession.
California alone is home to tens of thousands of truckers who trace their heritage to India and the state is home to half of all Sikhs in the U.S.ย In Canada, Sikhs represent approximately 20% of the commercial drivers within the trucking community centring in the Greater Vancouver Area and Brampton, Ontario.ย
Over the last decade or so, Punjabis have launched trucking schools, truck companies, truck washes, trucker temples, and no-frills Indian restaurants modelled after truck stops back home, where Sikhs from the state of Punjab dominate the industry.
The growth of Sikhs in trucking is clearly evident both in and out of their community. At Gurdwara (Sikh temples) in Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Riverside, the majority of worshipers are truck drivers, as is the case on Dixie Road in the Greater Toronto Area.ย
โYou used to see a guy with a turban and you would get excited,โ says Pal, a Sikh trucker, who has been trucking for 15 years. โToday, you go to some stops and can convince yourself you are in India.โ
โPunjabis are filling the gap,โ says Raman Dhillon, a former driver who founded the North American Punjabi Trucking Association last year.
โThirty years ago, it was hard to get into trucking because there were so few people like us in the business who could help you,โ says Rashpal Dhindsa, a former trucker who runs Fontana-based Dhindsa Group of Companies, one of the oldest Sikh-owned U.S. trucking companies.
Even with all the growth, there are still two sides to being a Sikh driver socially in 2019. On one hand, itโs great to see people of many different backgrounds coming together to do a job that in certain respects is the lifeblood of America, and has been for many generations.
On the other hand, Palโs is aware of the hatred and ignorance that exists.
For Pal, suspicious glances are common, so are the truckers who think heโs new to the business or doesnโt speak English. None of it fazes him.
Pal spoke to a time when he was paying his bill at a gas station and a man in the store shouted at customers, โget out, heโs going to blow up this place!โ
โI will not fight you,โ Pal calmly replied.
Even though these encounters are rare, Pal is always wary of the danger that could arise if they escalate.
Some of the most violent attacks on Sikhs this century have been at the hands of people who mistook them for Muslims or Arabs, including the case of a turban-wearing Sikh man in Arizona who was shot dead by a gunman four days after the Sept. 11 attacks.
โEverybody relates to us through Osama bin Laden because we look the same,โ he says, driving across the plains toward the Texas Panhandle. โOr they think because my English sounds different that I am not smart.โ
โI know who I am,โ Pal says.
Sikhs are joining the trucking industry in droves and theyโre helping to close the trucking gap, turning perceived negatives to positives.ย ย
