Young Sikh Americans still struggle withdiscrimination post 9/11 attacks. From school bullying to racial profiling tohate crimes, males mostly face these things due to wearing turbans and havingbeards.
A Sikh entrepreneur Balbir Singh Sodhi waskilled at his Arizona gas station four days after the Sept. 11 attacks by a manjust because people misinterpreted him to be an Arab Muslim.
As today we marked the 20th anniversary of9/11 attacks, the younger Sikh community revealed that a lot of things stillneeds to be improved for them. The FBI didn't begin tracking hate crimesspecifically against Sikhs. Until 2015 and many local law enforcement agenciesfail to record bias attacks comprehensively.
Young Sikhs often bullied as “Osama'snephew" or "Saddam Hussein" by their classmates. They oftenstruggle with the Sikh philosophy of "chardi kala," which calls forsteadfast optimism in the face of oppression.
Satnam Singh Chahal, executive director,North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), said, “Some hate crimes are in therecord of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),but others go unnoticed asvictims choose not to register their case in order to avoid harassment.”
Chahal added further, this has been happeningdue to the identity crisis. He said community leaders were so busy withinfighting that they had no time to think about it.
He said, “In my day-to-day life, I have alsobecome a victim of hate crime, but I always prefer not to register with the lawenforcement agencies hoping that change will happen. Parents of school goingkids are also sailing in the same boat.” He said members of the Sikh communitywere living under fear and feeling insecure.
The Sikh community is fighting their ownbattle after 9/11 attacks. This hatred has been having greater impact on YoungSikhs.