PENNSYLVANIA- Passersby in a shopping center in Northampton County immediately called the police on a Sikh man, thinking he was Muslim because of the kirpan he was carrying. 

Harpreet Singh Khalsa, 33, said he was the victim of racial profiling, but police believed that the people who called did the right thing.

They received many calls about a ‘Muslim man’ walking around the Bethlehem Square Shopping Center with a “large knife” or “sword”.

Officers found Khalsa sitting inside a van that was parked in the fire lane.

“The cops surrounded me and told me to put my hands on my head,” Khalsa said.

However, the visitor from Maryland, was not carrying a sword or knife. He was wearing a kirpan, one of the main practices of the Sikh faith.

“To have a caller in the first place is pointing to racism, clearly racism,” he said.

The police did not charge Khalsa, and his kirpan was returned to him. But, the man explained that the way he was treated was “un-American.” He said he does not plan to visit again.