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Sikh Hate Crime Victims Get Congressional Backing
By Kit Kadlec
Medill News Service
WASHINGTON -- Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Mike Honda, D-Calif.,
introduced a resolution Thursday to sharpen national awareness of the
hundreds of racially-motivated attacks against Sikh Americans reported after
the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"Things will get worse if congressional people and community leaders don't
speak up," said Honda, a Japanese American who was sent to an internment
camp in Colorado with his family after the attack on Pearl Harbor. "I know
what it means to be isolated, separated and interned."
Honda said that since the Sept. 11 attacks more than 200 of the 500,000
Sikhs living in America have reported physical or verbal attacks. One of the
attacks resulted in a death. The Sikh faith, which originated in India in
the 15th century, requires men to grow beards and wear turbans.
Honda and Shays said they have 109 of 431 members of Congress signed onto
the resolution condemning bigotry and violence against Sikh Americans.
Amardeep Singh Bhalla, an American-born Sikh community activist from
Montville, N.J., said he had been verbally harassed numerous times
already.
"I was here in D.C., and a man started saying to me, 'you people have done
this, and we're not going to allow you do it,' and he was pointing to an
American flag on somebody's car," Bhalla said.
Bhalla also said he was harassed in New Jersey by people who told him to "go
home" and "we don't want you here."
"When I'm walking down the street, and people tell me to go home, where do I
go?" he said. "This is my home."
Bhalla said the resolution is a first step toward healing from the abuse the
Sikh community has faced.
"When somebody is hurting, like we are hurting now, you need a pat on the
back," he said. "Now I can go back to the civil rights division of the
Justice Department and say, 'This is what Congress has said, and you guys
really need to start investigating and prosecuting these hate crimes.'"
Bhai Gurdarshan Singh, a Sikh minister in Rockville, Md., was also verbally
attacked. He was entering a community building to donate blood to victims of
the Sept. 11 attacks when he was chased away by a man apparently angered by
his presence.
"Why me?" Singh said. "It is only because of my turban and because of my
dress."
Standing alongside Singh at the press conference was Louisiana Rep. John
Cooksey, who drew national attention when he remarked a week ago that anyone
with "a diaper on his head" should be stopped and questioned. Cooksey has
since apologized and said his comment was aimed specifically at Osama bin
Laden, not any group of people in America. Cooksey was applauded by Sikh
Americans when he spoke Thursday at a press conference near the Capitol.
"It is my honor to be here today, to stand shoulder to shoulder with these
Americans who just happen to have a different headwear," Cooksey said. "They
are Americans like all of us."
Singh and Bhalla said they were satisfied with the remarks.
"Congressman Cooksey was sincerely apologetic. I don't doubt his words,"
Singh said.
Honda said he hoped the resolution would help Sikhs to go back to a normal
life without fear.
The Sikh Media Watch and Resource Task Force has advised all Sikhs to carry
an American flag since the attacks.
"A flag on my car is not [just] an act [of patriotism]," said Dr. Rajwant
Singh, president of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education. "It is a
feeling of my heart."
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