How Sikhs Became Targets of Hate Crime

A DREAM IN DOUBT, which PBS will be airing across the U.S. on May 20, 2008, is a film with a powerful theme, focusing on the tragedy that struck a Sikh family living in Phoenix, Arizona, in the aftermath of 9/11. Average Americans, whose ignorance of, and indifference to, foreign cultures, faiths and ways of life was at the root of most post-9/11 hate crimes that occurred in the country, should find the film quite educative. It was that kind of ignorance that made a peace-loving people belonging to a religion called Sikhism targets of some of those crimes. That’s the main message the film is trying to convey.

As we all know, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, which claimed the lives of nearly 3000 people, were masterminded by Osama bin Laden. Soon after the attacks, bin Laden’s beard and turban became symbols of terrorism in the eyes of many Americans. Little did they know that the Sikh religion, founded in India about 500 years ago, makes it mandatory for its followers to grow beard and wear a turban. According to these Americans, all the bearded, turbaned people who looked Middle-Eastern were associates of Osama bin Laden, deserving to be killed. A bearded, turbaned Sikh immigrant from Punjab, India, became the target of one of them, a man by the name of Frank Roque. Mr. Roque shot to death Mr. Balbir Singh, just four days after he watched the Twin Towers fall and vowed to “kill all Arabs.” Balbir Singh was bin Laden’s brother, Mr. Roque told his friends.

Balbir was the first of five brothers who immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1985. One of the factors that motivated them to leave India was the revenge killings of Sikhs that took place there in the aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984. Nearly a thousand Sikhs lost their lives in those killings. They became the targets because the two bodyguards of Mrs. Gandhi who assassinated her happened to be their co-religionists. The bodyguards did it in retaliation for the storming of the Golden Temple, the Sikh religion’s holiest shrine, by the Indian Army, on orders from Mrs. Gandhi. She ordered the storming to flush out some Sikh terrorists who had been hiding inside the temple.

Not once had the five brothers thought that their community was once again going to become the target of revenge killings, that too in a country in which they thought they could “make their own dreams.” The dreams they were building threatened to slip away when Balbir got killed in what the killer thought was a patriotic act. He thought he was killing one of the terrorists responsible for 9/11. Then came another painful, shocking news: that Balbir’s younger brother, Sukhpal, had been shot and killed, at an intersection in San Francisco, “in mysterious circumstances.” It was not even a year since Balbir became the first post-9/11 hate crime victim in America. Sukhpal’s death, however, could not be linked to any hate crime, the authorities insist. According to the detective who investigated the crime, there was a “gang altercation,” resulting in a shootout, in which Sukhpal got caught. “He happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

While the mystery surrounding Sukhpal’s death has not yet been resolved, the murderer of Balbir was sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison without parole. Even before the sentencing, the youngest of the five brothers (now reduced to three), Rana Singh Sodhi, had cleansed his mind of any vengeful thought toward his brother's killer. While he wanted some punishment to be given, “I don’t have a feeling that he should die.” That says a lot for the compassion the family has even for a murderer. That says a lot for the Sikh faith, too.

The Dream in Doubt is produced and directed by Tami Yeager, a New York-based documentary filmmaker. The film, which PBS will be showing on May 20 as part of its Emmy Award-winning Independent Lens series, should serve as an eye-opener, especially for those who are uninitiated to the Sikh religion and Sikhs’ way of life. It could also be used as a valuable educational material in American schools.

            There are a few minor comments I want to make on the article. Remember the 1966 film The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming? Average Americans and, for that matter, average citizens the world over, are very gullible. When a tragedy strikes a nation, everyone becomes very nationalistic and, in the fervor that follows, does wrong things.
            I remember what happened in Bombay in the wake of the Chinese invasion of India, in 1962. Many of those who came forward to donate blood, in response to the request from the country's defense minister, were turned away by doctors in Bombay hospitals. Of course, personal tragedies are often brought about by ignorance.
            What happened in India in the aftermath of Mrs. Gandhi's death was really unfortunate. Everything was calculated: politicians wanted to show their faith in the Gandhi family; journalists went about rubbing their noses in dust. There were hundreds of tragic incidents all over India. No one wants to talk about it aloud even now. That's the real tragedy. Our carpets are large enough to cover many years of dust. It is important to point out, though, that there are pardonable and unpardonable crimes of the mass.

For all that you know, A Dream in Doubt may not be seen at all by the people who matter -- such as a truck driver in Atlanta, Georgia.

K. Padma Rao, Professor of Journalism, Manipal University, Karnataka State, India

May 19, 2008

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