With Tensions High, U.S. Muslims and Sikhs are Being Targeted Hundreds of Violent Attacks Have Been Reported
By Salynn Boyles
Sept. 19, 2001 -- On the morning of Sept. 11, thousands of New Yorkers became the victims of hate when a terrorist attack brought down the two towers of the World Trade Center. That evening, Attar Singh of Queens also became a victim of hate when angry thugs attacked him in an ignorant attempt at retaliation. Singh, 66, was walking home from temple when three cars pulled up beside him and the five or six young men inside began shouting threats and taunts. Two of the men got out and shot him with paint balls. When he tried to run away, they chased him down and beat him with baseball bats. "I got hit on the face, eyes, knee, back, belly, thighs, everywhere," Singh tells WebMD. "I believed they were going to kill me. They wanted to kill me because of the attack." A recent immigrant from Punjab, India, Singh was targeted because he is among the 500,000 members of the Sikh religion living in the U.S. Although Sikhs (pronounced "seeks") have no ties to Islam, its members are being mistaken for followers of terrorist Osama bin Laden because they wear turbans and have beards. Between 150 and 200 separate attacks on Sikhs have been reported since last Tuesday, ranging from verbal assaults to murder. A Mesa, Ariz., gas station owner died Sept. 15 after a man in a pick-up truck fired three shots at him at point-blank range. Ironically, the victim, Balbir Singh Sodhi, had discussed holding a news conference in the days following the terrorist attack to explain that Sikhs are not affiliated with bin Laden and his followers, according to local media reports. "We have the largest contingent of people [in the U.S.] who look like the terrorists believed to be responsible for this tragedy," says Sumeet Kaur, associate director of Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Taskforce (SMART). "Naturally, people in our community are afraid, and we are telling them to take steps to stay safe." Atmosphere of Fear Last Tuesday's attack on America left many people vulnerable and afraid, but for Sikhs, Muslims, and Arab-Americans who are either U.S. citizens or are living in the U.S., that fear is now a daily reality. Hussein Ibish of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) tells WebMD that roughly 200 violent incidents have been reported to his organization since the terrorist attack. Those incidents range from verbal assaults to serious beatings and shootings. The FBI has opened 40 hate crime investigations into attacks believed to be motivated by revenge for the terrorist actions, and Ibish says there is definitely an atmosphere of fear within the Arab-American community. "The attacks have occurred all over the country," Ibish says. "A major problem is that the sporadic nature of these events make them almost impossible for victims and authorities to anticipate. We are telling people to be cautious and exercise common sense. They need to be very aware of their surroundings and report all incidents to the police." As a high-profile spokesman for Arab-Americans, Ibish says he has experienced harassment firsthand in the past two weeks. The ADC's offices in Washington, D.C., are under police protection due to threats of violence, and callers to radio talk shows have threatened to kill him. His name and address also recently headed a list of prominent Arab-Americans posted on a Yahoo! message board that purportedly identified terrorists working in the U.S. The site has since been shut down. Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, says many of the incidents he has heard about involve children who are being harassed and physically assaulted at school. He suspects many school-aged aggressors are acting out as a result of things their parents are saying at home. An Albany, N.Y., mother of three named May, whose 13-year-old son was first verbally assaulted and then beaten up at school by another student, says she told her children to expect some harassment the day after the terrorist attack. The family is Muslim. Her children were born in Ireland and have never lived in the Middle East. "When the school called me afterward we both cried on the phone as we talked, and I rushed to my son thinking, 'Dear God. What am I supposed to do now?'" she tells WebMD. "Am I supposed to take my kids and go live in the Middle East where they don't belong? They would be called even worse names and would be subjected to worse violence because they are Americans." But May, who did not want to reveal her last name, says the school did an excellent job of handling the incident, and the other children in her son's class rallied around him, even threatening to beat the aggressor up. "I told them, 'no way,'" she says. "There is no way I would let them retaliate. The terrorist attack just made me sick. I am just as nationalist right now as anybody. And I am not about to let my kids think that violence is the way to solve anything." Staying Safe Many of the Arab-American, Muslim, and Sikh spokespeople interviewed by WebMD said their major objectives in the weeks ahead are to educate people outside their communities about who they are and to help those inside their communities stay safe. SMART has published an 11-point list of safety precautions it advises community members to follow. The group recommends traveling in groups, especially at night; carrying a mobile phone in public; and ignoring verbal harassment. "If someone makes a racist comment to you or tries to aggressively approach you, immediately break the tension by saying, 'God bless you,'" it states. "Tell them that you are a member of the Sikh religion, and that the Sikh-American community has also been devastated by these recent events." Some within the targeted communities have suggested that members change their style of dress until tensions are not so high to appear less conspicuous. But those interviewed by WebMD rejected this idea. "I don't think the United States should be bullied into changing its way of life by the thugs who did this thing, and I don't think that Arab-Americans or Muslims should by bullied by thugs in the United States into abandoning their own way of life," Ibish says. © 2001 WebMD Corporation. All rights reserved.
This is a national embarrassment!! These are our people and in some cases, our guests. They are not only living in fear of terrorism but also in fear of their own countrymen. This is insane!
{{{{{{Sikhs, Muslims, Arab Americans}}}}} I'm so sorry.
THE FAMILY OF MAN
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