![]() 15, 2001 - Mesa, Ariz.: Four days after the infamous attacks of 9/11, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 49-year-old Sikh, is shot and killed outside the gas station he owned by Frank Silva Roque. Below is a round up of notable hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikhs since 9/11. In the months following the attacks of 9/11, more than 300 incidences of hate crimes against Sikhs were reported, according to the Sikh Coalition (PDF).Though their numbers make up the world’s fifth-largest religion, Sikhs are still misunderstood (No, they are not Muslims or Hindus). ![]() Why people rationalize that they are doing something good by attacking an innocent person escapes me.History of Hate: Crimes Against Sikhs Since 9/11The mass shooting of a gurdwara (Sikh temple) in Wisconsin on Sunday is merely the latest chapter in a history of violence. We must also remember the futility of violence against someone who is not the guilty party. This shows the ignorance and hatred shown by many Americans. Not likely when everyone wants everything “their way”, is it? What's the most horrible thing someone has done out of anger in response to 9/11? Our America has changed, look at politics, listen to the news, be aware of “how things are”… but that’s still our America, and the part I occupy is better by far than it was in the late 50’s and early 60’s and to deny that is to deny the sacrifices so many made to bring changes that should never have been needed in civilized society.I do worry a bit about how things are going now, how my son would answer the same question in 40 years, he often tells me he wishes he were born earlier, but I kinda lean to wishing he (and the country) could pretty much settle our differences, live like one nation under God (or yours, or no, deities if you like) and let the good stuff just stay the same. The locals still know one another, you can buy stuff on a “tab” in town, and I see all of the same faces in church on Sunday mornings…albeit with lots more grey hair, and many missing faces that now lay in our graveyard. No more segregation (yeah, I remember when the “colored school”, Carver Hill School shut its doors for good and we all went to school together…heck, we all played together after school anyway?Another angle is that I live in the south, and the south is slow to change. Better roads, better jobs, better farming methods, better management of wetlands, timberlands, and our seashore on the Gulf of Mexico. We could hang out at the local grocery store til the wee hours, or walk anywhere we wanted, any time we wanted.Thing is, from my perspective, more has improved than diminished. We could play “tag” with the local police department, and officer Marvin King usually let us win, then lecture us later. We could range around almost all the land surrounding my home, either cutting firewood, pulling lighter stumps, bird hunting, or fishing the creeks. I have lived a good bit over 6 decades, and there are some, I think trivial, things I miss about the “old America”. People can have selective memories when they think of times past. ![]()
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