Faith

Hate Crimes? Since 9/11, Sikhs Say They’ve Been Attacked More Than 700 Times

ELK GROVE, Calif. (The Blaze/AP) — Kamaljit Atwal’s neighborhood seems like an unlikely place for a hate crime. His street in this Sacramento suburb seems a model of diversity.

Atwal and his family are one of two Sikh families on the block from India. On Atwal’s street alone, there’s a Vietnamese family, a Mexican family, a black woman and a white man.

But in March, Atwal’s 78-year-old father Gurmej Atwal and his 67-year-old friend Surinder Singh were shot and killed while taking an afternoon stroll in the neighborhood.

Atwal and his fellow Sikhs in the area wonder if the same ugliness that has brought violence to other Sikhs is the reason why.

The men had long beards and were wearing turbans, both traditional symbols of their religion. Police are investigating whether their killing was a hate crime.

“It’s a complete case of mistaken identity,” said Rajdeep Singh of the Washington, D.C.-based Sikh Coalition, which is the largest Sikh civil rights group in the U.S. “When people look at me with a turban and beard, the first thing that comes to mind is, `That guy looks like Osama bin Laden.’ ”

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Sikhs have reported a rise in bias attacks, both verbal and physical, against them. The backlash that hit Muslims across the country has expanded to include them and their faith as well, with some assuming the sight of a long beard and turbaned head can only mean one thing.

Kamajit Atwal said life used to be peaceful for him, his wife and their three children since moving to his quiet suburban block in 2003. Crime has gone down for four years in a row, in Elk Grove, where about 54 percent of its 153,000 residents are nonwhite.

Atwal keeps a framed photo of his father on the fireplace mantel, not far from where the retired Indian civil servant once enjoyed his tea. Almost every day, Gurmej Atwal and his friend drank tea together, took a walk and met with other Sikh retirees in a nearby park.

“My gut is that it was a hate crime,” said Atwal. He said that other elderly Sikhs are so afraid of being out in public since the shootings that they no longer socialize in the park.

Mayor Steve Detrick said he’s not convinced the double shooting is a hate crime because the area has a history of accepting others.

“Elk Grove is probably one of the most accepting about racial and religious diversity in the country,” he said. “I think somebody looked at these guys as an easy target. They were gunned down by cowards.”

Amar Shergill, a Sikh and Sacramento attorney who lives in Elk Grove, said the problem is not Elk Grove’s. When people – including some politicians – try to stigmatize all Muslims as anti-American, Shergill said, all people who look different are targeted unfairly.

“When the process becomes radicalized, that’s when the disturbed actors take out on Sikhs and Muslims and people who are perceived to be Muslims,” he said.

Singh said there’s just not enough awareness of Sikhism, which is 500 years old and is the world’s fifth largest religion with 18 million adherents. The faith, which originated in the Indian region of Punjab, draws from Hinduism and Islamic Sufism and the faithful believe in karmic cycles of rebirth, similar to Buddhists – and adherents stress that Sikhism is a distinct and separate religion.

Prior to 2001, Sikhs say, people were merely curious about the turbans and why adherents don’t cut their hair. After Sept. 11, some people felt that Sikhs were the enemy.

Sikhs are members of a monotheistic religion (Sikhism) that was founded in India and that is sometimes confused with Islam based on the traditional garb often worn by adherents.

The Sikh Coalition said there have been at least 700 attacks or bias-related incidents against Sikhs since Sept. 11 in the U.S.

Federal officials, however, have tracked hate crimes against Sikhs in one category, along with crimes against Muslims, Arab-Americans and South Asians – groups that have experienced discrimination since 2001.

In 2000, there were 28 anti-Islamic hate crime cases reported to the FBI, Department of Justice statistics show. A year later, there were 481. Since then, the numbers of reported cases have declined to 107 in 2009, the most recent year the statistics are available.

Sikh leaders sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in January asking him to track crimes against Sikhs separately.

Federal officials said Monday they are continuing to count Sikhs in the “anti-Islamic” hate crime category if the perpetrator indicated a bias toward Muslims.

The coalition will hold meetings in New York on July 30 and in San Francisco on Aug. 27 so Sikhs can talk about bias and discrimination in the last decade. Videos of the meetings will be sent to lawmakers and police agencies. The coalition is also spearheading an effort this summer to stop bullying of Sikh children in schools after kids reported that other students tried to forcibly cut their hair, set their turbans on fire or attack them.

“Suddenly, our life has changed,” said Rana Singh Sodhi, the brother of a man who was murdered outside of his Arizona gas station five days after Sept. 11. “We didn’t have any issue before 9/11.”

Sodhi said that he and his family have stopped going camping in isolated areas because they fear what will happen.

The man who was convicted of killing Sodhi’s brother expressed anger over Sept. 11 and before the murder, had told his wife that “all Arabs should be shot.”

In 2004, vandals scrawled the words “It’s not your country” in blue spray paint on the wall of a Sikh temple in Fresno. No one has been arrested in that case.

In 2010, a Sikh cabdriver was beaten by two men in Sacramento – located in a region with more Sikh residents than any in the nation. During the attack, one of the men called the cab driver “Osama bin Laden,” and the cab driver repeatedly told the assailants that he wasn’t Muslim, authorities said. In early June, Pedro Ramirez was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the attack a second man was sentenced to a year in jail.

On Memorial Day of this year, four weeks after the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a Sikh man who is a subway employee in New York said he was punched in the mouth by a man who called him “the brother of Osama.”

No one has been arrested.

Comments (73)

1 2
  • Bernard
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:30pm

    That is why Hinduism considers Ignorance the greatest evil. The Sikh religion was created in response to Muslim intolerance. It is a religion that borrows the best from both Hinduism and Islam. But the Mogul empire found this new faith an abomination and set to destroy it.
    This once peaceful religion changed under Guru Nanak who then made it into a martial faith requiring the followers to where a turban (the use similar to a helmet), not to cut one’s hair except with a special knife on certain days. to hold a kirti (the Hindu warrior sword), and wear jumper shorts, a bangle, and a beard.
    This “bridge” religion never mended the fence between Islam and Hinduism. Instead it created a martial faith. When India got her independence and the partition of India took place, it was the Sikhs more than the Hindus who slaughtered Muslims in the most vicious manner.
    Case example: The death trains: trains carrying Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus to India were often ambushed and all the passengers killed. It was common place to see Sikhs with bloodied swords held by their mouths, waiting for the next train load of Muslims to arrive to do this horrendous act.
    To this day, in the Punjab, Hindu families give their first born son to convert to Sikhism as a jester of it’s original purpose. The state of Punjab suffered the most since that state was equally divided between India and Pakistan. Only the state of Bengal equaled the suffering of this division.

    Report Post »  
    • chazman
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 4:42pm

      Let’s not forget that Sikhs attack and kill Christians in Eastern India, and burn churches to the ground.
      They are not innocent of committing atrocities.

       
    • 8listener8
      Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:51pm

      i few things i would like to clarify…..1. Sikhism did not come into existence in response to Muslim intolerance……it came into existence in order to show humans a path to god which balanced both spirituality and a human living a normal life…….Yes, Guru Nanak Dev Ji did try to bridge the gap between not jus Hindus and Muslims but between all religions of the world by making people understand that god is 1
      2. Sikhs did not start wearing swords till the 5th guru (Sikhism has 10 gurus)……and it was always meant to have the martial concept in it…..the martial concept din just bulge in…i mean what is a man who believes in god if he can’t even protect an innocent or even himself……the concept was that a a preacher of god should not be on the mercy of others when it comes to his or som1 elsez protection.
      3. Sikhs are never allowed to cut there hair…i don’t know from where you came to know about the special knife and special day thing
      4. Yea I agree that what Sikhs did during partition was wrong and there is no explanation to killing innocent people, protecting whom is one of the basic principles of Sikhism….but do note that the same kind of scenario was of the trains that came from the other side of the border and that around 90% of Punjab went to the other side during partition…..people do retaliate when something like this happens…and examples exist even today
      5. Chazman….i have never heard of that before..can you provide me with a link..??

      Report Post »  
  • SREGN
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:34pm

    Easy to tell the difference. The Sikhs aren’t wearing bomb-vests.

    Report Post »  
  • calyptratus
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:13pm

    This is all Dick Turban’s fault

    Report Post » calyptratus  
  • Mil-Dot
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 12:33pm

    Can you believe that there are Americans stupid enough to think that an Indian (Sikh) is a Muslim and should be harrassed? Can you get any more r@TARDED

    Report Post »  
    • Stophate
      Posted on July 19, 2011 at 5:25am

      Doesn’t matter what race or religion you are, you should not be harrassed!

      Report Post »  
  • DeepSouthernMan
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 12:24pm

    The Sikhs are good, law-abiding people. I’ve known several. What a shame.

    Report Post »  
  • CulperGang
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:27am

    Multi-culturism DOES NOT WORK. Go home. Come visit, then go home.

    Blame the government for not protecting the US citizens from Muslims; as a result “citizens” lash out.
    Best bet is go home where you maybe safer with your own kind.
    While Americans are not safe with all these muslims running amongst the populous, because government won’t close the borders to them, nobody is REALLY safe. NOBODY.
    Thank the US govenment for your “assault.”

    Report Post » CulperGang  
    • Stophate
      Posted on July 19, 2011 at 5:30am

      It’s people like you that make me sick. You are among the Many dumbasses who think that white men own America. Sorry to break it to you, but they don’t! Are you ready for a homosexual Hispanic guy become president of America? Because it may just happen. As far as Muslims go, not all Muslims are terriorists, and not all terriorists are Muslims. Muslim citizens have the right to be in this country just as much as anyone else! What was the border patrol doing when you came in? Surely, ignorant people like you making up America’s population, is not helping!

      Report Post »  
  • Lloyd Drako
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:22am

    OK, a beard and a turban = Sikh. But will someone please tell us how to identify a Muslim so we can concentrate our hateful assaults on them and not on innocent Sikhs?

    Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
    • calyptratus
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:16pm

      You tell by the smell

      Report Post » calyptratus  
    • Stophate
      Posted on July 19, 2011 at 5:34am

      Nice goal in life, to assult human beings! I hope you don’t have children, that’s the last thing this country needs is for you to contribute to the gene pool! Idiot

      Report Post »  
    • 8listener8
      Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:54pm

      Come on guys why do you need to assault somebody…..n jus for your knowledge most Muslims living abroad and even in a lot of Muslim countries are actually clean shave and Muslims don’t keep hair…

      Report Post »  
  • SueDinNY
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:17am

    You would have thought this would be brought to light before now – it’s been 10 years. Could be where they live also. California – just sayin’.

    Report Post »  
  • Vital
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:07am

    ellen=rev wright, is kinda backward thinking

    Report Post » Vital  
  • SgtB
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:47am

    To ROSE-ELLEN,

    Rose, do you have any idea of what you speak? You claim that the world sees us in a negative light because of the Gulf War. My guess is that you weren’t in my platoon at MCRD San Diego with Javed, a Kuwait born immigrant who saw the US military, specifically Marines, save his country from further attack and invasion by a brutal Iraqi dictator. He felt so strongly about what we had done for his country that he decided he had to repay the debt by serving in our military. He may have had the nickname of terrorist recruit, but he was and always will be a brother in arms to me. I would imagine there are others who feel similarly to how he does.

    Also, you disapprove of our backing of the expansion of Israel. Israel exists because the Nazi’s destroyed any chance of them returning home after WWII and who would want to when their neighbors had been part of a mass conspiracy to commit genocide against them. So Israel, which was not claimed by any governing body was founded and became the home of Jewish refugees. The subsequent expansion has occurred mainly because of territory gained when Israel defended itself from attack by Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The land that Israel gained in defending itself is completely justifiable to me and to most Americans.

    In conclusion Rose, go suck an egg you crazy liberal moonbat.

    Report Post » SgtB  
  • timej31
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:35am

    These guys are NOT Muslims in fact they are sworn enemies.

    Report Post » timej31  
  • HorseCrazy
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:15am

    Sikhs, very easy to differentiate between muslims and in general a peaeful people. We have several turban wearing sikhs serving at our local army base. Anyone going around randomly doing hateful & illegal things to one another needs to go to jail. I am tired of hate crime laws since a crime is a crime and doesnt need an added name to make it bad.

    Report Post »  
    • Banshee34
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:35am

      How does one differentiate? Seriously want to know!! And I agree with the hate crimes vs crimes… doesn’t matter why, a crime is a crime.

      Report Post » Banshee34  
  • NSDQ
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:15am

    Are you a troll or an idiot, I guessing troll since you made no case just name calling and a link to disinformation. SIKH ARE NOT MUSLIMS nor do they originate from them they are closer to being the Indian (Dot not Feather) equivalent of Freemasons.

    Report Post » NSDQ  
  • rightwingheroes
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:10am

    and since we are all equal, how is it possible to have a hate crime? hypocrites.

    Report Post »  
    • sWampy
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:19am

      Hate crimes are as unamerican as liberalism. ;-/

      Report Post »  
  • mtorres20
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:47am

    What is not PC to say is that Multi Culturalism on large scale doesn’t work. Europeans with other Europeans barely works. Asians and Europeans and Africans is reciepe for disaster. One culture will murder the other.

    Report Post » mtorres20  
    • SgtB
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:25am

      so are you entirely against the idea of America and its ideals that all men are created equal? With an opinion like yours, it is no wonder that we still have racists.

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • Patriot Z
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:33pm

      sgtb- that not what he said at all.multiculturalism does NOT work cananda see it , eu is seeing it. and we are seeing it. yu have to have a certain amount of blending..aka MELTING POT. America was never about multiculturalism, it was abut unity onder liberty. but it is impossible o bring the rules and regs of every other country together in 1 spot and have the get along. its common sense. its like sayin you can go up and down at the same time

      Report Post » Patriot Z  
  • Cuthalu
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:44am

    It is possible but without a suspect or an actual motive then it can not be assumed to be a hate crime, althought I consider all crimes against people as hate crimes as a matter of course. Because when someone commits a crime against you, it sure isn’t out of love they do it!

    Report Post »  
    • Factory_Hag
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:06am

      Somebody killed those poor men for sport. I hope they get what’s coming to them. Everyone picks on the harmless people–they’re afraid to join the service and go after the true terrorists. It’s another case like when the celebrities pick on Christians, but won’t open their mouths against the subjugation of women in Syria, etc.
      This was more than a hate crime, it was absolutely murder, not name-calling or vandalism. I hope these goons pay for what they did.

      Report Post »  
  • Southernguy
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:31am

    If I were in their country and stood out like a sore thumb, wearing a baseball cap……..I think I’d leave it at home.

    Report Post » Southernguy  
    • encinom
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:08am

      Nothing like the tbagger tolerance and respect for the 1st Amendment. The Turban worn by the Shiks are a part of their religion. They are required to cover their hair.

      Report Post »  
  • Mable8
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:44am

    Crime occurs everywhere–and not just in the US. If the neighborhood is poor, with dilapidated and/or abandoned housing, has a gang problem, etc, then there will be events such as this. It has nothing to do with hate of one group over another. Holder and company like to toss around the term ‘hate crime’ rather loosely rather than being honest and, quite frankly, I‘m tired of hearing that every crime against a designated minority group is a ’hate crime.’ Any crime is a hateful act–there needs to be no extra law that makes such a distinction. Oh well, what do you do when you have idiots in office.

    Report Post »  
    • DesertRose1960
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:25am

      Except, the median family income in Elk Grove is $83,000 a year. I’ve been there, it’s nice, the houses are very nice. And how do you explain how, on 9/11, in Arizona, a Sikh man was gunned down while filling his gas tank? I knew a teacher who knew the man, he was a good, decent person. He was shot for his beard and turban. On 9/11 several schools were shut down because they received death threats, they were Muslim day schools. Planting and burning crosses on a lawn is a hate crime. Throwing rocks through someone’s window because their skin or religion are unique for the neighborhood are hate crimes. Killing two old men who are strolling in their neighborhood is a hate crime. And before you go knocking “the idiots in office”, maybe you want to look in the mirror yourself. Bigotry is pretty stupid.

      Report Post » DesertRose1960  
    • ME
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:59am

      Sikh is just another cult like religion that does not work with outsiders and is looking for more publicity. They are very mob like with business (more then likely the real reason behind the attacks), arranged marriages where a few more dollars gets you a younger wife know a 29 year old that was set up with a 16 year old. If you like Mormonism it would be a easy move to Sikh just instead of bastardizing Christianity they base from Islam (what a winner) and Hinduism.

      ME  
  • Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:43am

    Bigots are so stupid, they can’t tell a Sikh from a Muslim.

    Report Post » Lesbian Packing Hollow Points  
  • Chuck Stein
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:20am

    This article is about attacks on Sikhs, not Muslims. Not that attacks on Muslims would be O.K., but when was the last time that the Sikhs did anything like terrorism? The Armritsar siege in India back around 1980, I suppose? Have Sikhs ever made a terrorist attack on America? Not that I’m aware of. Sikhs are (in general) hard working, law-abiding, sober and well-educated. I have had a Sikh co-worker, she was a good worker. Yes — I will Singh praises for the Sikhs.

    Report Post »  
    • cheezwhiz
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:38am

      Sikhism came into existence to protect Hindus from being slaughtered by Muslims in India.
      Thats why Hussain refused to visit the Golden Temple when he visited India.
      Sikhs were basically warriors , and they still are some of the best soldiers and cops all over the world ,
      and are some of the sweetest persons one can ever meet, anywhere in the world.

      Report Post » cheezwhiz  
  • One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:04am

    Well that’s too bad, but lemme see, we were attacked 3000 times on 911 losing that many of our brothers and sisters, and thanks to Islam we’ve also had 16500 jihad attacks on the globe at large and that number grows daily.

    Hmm. then we got the illegal aliens killing at about 4 or 5 a day, the ghetto ites about 20 – 30 a day, life’s rough out there Akashdeep.. :(

    Report Post » One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew  
    • rose-ellen
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:45am

      You were attacked because you attacked them first[via proxy dictators,blind support of israeli expansion and occuppation,the first gulf war,etc[.They gave you a taste of your own mass murdering medicine! You never thought it could happen but boy yjr world believes you did have it coming!

      Report Post »  
    • booger71
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:55am

      Roll over Rose, your mooselim buddies will give it to you end the end.

      Report Post » booger71  
    • dontbotherme
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 4:42pm

      Rose Ellen: You are a liar.

      Report Post »  
  • cheezwhiz
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:12am

    Here is the rest of the story :
    After these heinous senseless killings of 2 Sikh gentlemen, guess who jumped in get some facetime in media ?
    Hamas err…er..CAIR..
    http://arabnews.com/world/article304537.ece
    Just like they jump in bed with japanese ethnic groups and other so called “ minority” groups , trying to “ organize” them with hamas “ expertise” and resources

    Report Post » cheezwhiz  
    • One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:09am

      Don’t forget the homosexual and straight liberals who often crazily compare their plights to the civil rights struggles.

      Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t recall enslaved and later just discriminated against black Americans whining for the civil right to jam human organs and plastic and rubber appendages up their backsides for pleasure and to create a bastardized version of marriage as a civil right of theirs. Hardly of the same comparison but they make it and get away with doing it daily. :(

      Report Post » One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew  
    • NSDQ
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:52am

      @OMPWC, “rubber apendages”, thanks Im now sopping up the coffee on my monitor, lol

      Report Post » NSDQ  
  • HTuttle
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:11am

    What hate crimes? The investigator into the black on white racist crimes just got done saying crime is colorblind.

    Report Post »  
  • neiman1
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:08am

    Elk Grove is a part of South Sacramento. It has a boundary line but as you dive through you would never know where it changed. The entire south side of Sacramento is like the South Side of Chicago. Everyone has a chance of being a shooting victim every night. It is not obvious the number of crimes against Sikhs is higher than their percentage of the population in this area. The real problem is the place has become a generational ghetto. California is becoming a 3rd world comparable.

    Report Post »  
    • StanO360
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:36pm

      That’s not completely true, most of Elk Grove is suburban. Most people in California know a Sikh, from a Hindu from a Muslim. Elk Grove is a little “red-necky”.

      Report Post »  
  • Stronge
    Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:01am

    It seems to me we need some kind of identifying symbol for Muslims. Perhaps an armband or similar would do the trick.

    Report Post » Stronge  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:08am

      Stronge:

      One thing to remember about that kind of solution, the government of Hitler required all Jewish people to wear a symbol as well.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • CatB
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:30am

      I have been on buses etc with them .. you don’t need anything except a working nose .. deodorant doesn’t seem to be a necessity to them.

      Report Post »  
    • Stronge
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 3:19am

      @snowleopard

      And that’s the only problem you have with the idea?

      Report Post » Stronge  
    • NSDQ
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:54am

      Its in their religion to lie to infidels, they just wouldnt admit they were, probably would identify themselves as sikhs

      Report Post » NSDQ  
    • rose-ellen
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:48am

      americanism-the religion where naziism has found its 21st century home.

      Report Post »  
    • rose-ellen
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:54am

      One mans terrorisy is another mans freedom frighter.American soldiers are brainwashed cannon fodder, muslim resistence fighters are the people defending themselves from american imperialists in their homelands. Give them 21st century weapons you can fight on a battle fied;till then the people imprrovise to defend themselves.Thin skinned hypocrites-how dare the people rise up against the mass murdering americans!

      Report Post »  
    • beckwasfox
      Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:33am

      Tokyo-Rose or Tehran-Rose The extremist muslim terrorists are not freedom fighters they are jihadist murderers. Islam is not a religion of peace it is a cult of death. Yes, I support Israel. Go away.

      Report Post » beckwasfox  
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