Digital Commons Network^™

Why The Wisconsin Tragedy Matters To New Yorkers, Gunisha Kaur, Simran Singh

Simran Jeet Singh

Since the massacre of Sikhs in Wisconsin Sunday, we have been moved by the outpouring of support from our fellow New Yorkers. Even strangers have come up to us on the streets of Manhattan to offer flowers, hugs and encouragement. We are incredibly thankful to everyone for reaching out to us. At the same time, we are deeply disturbed that this violence fits into a pattern of hate crimes against Sikhs and Muslims in America. And although we like to think of ourselves as being the most diverse, cosmopolitan and tolerant place on Earth, hate crimes have been rampant here …

The Rise Of Hate Crimes Can Be Tied Directly To Hateful Speech, Hansdeep Singh, Simran Singh

Simran Jeet Singh

Attorney General Eric Holder described the recent massacre of Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin as “an act of terrorism, an act of hatred, a hate crime.” Four days later, anti-Semitic graffiti was found at Brooklyn Holocaust Memorial Park, and throughout the month of August, a number of mosques have been attacked and desecrated around the country. Official statistics on hate crimes evidence a steady rise of violence against religious communities over the past five years. Although there are flaws in the FBI’s method of tracking and monitoring hate crimes, their statistics provide a consistent framework to analyze trends. For example, …

How Hate Gets Counted, Simran Singh, Prabhjot Singh

Simran Jeet Singh

Do American Sikhs count?

The horrific shooting at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee on Aug. 5, in which a white supremacist, Wade M. Page, killed six people before fatally shooting himself, elicited an outpouring of sympathy from American leaders and a greater understanding of the role Sikhs have played in American life.

But there are two disturbing aspects of the response to the shooting that deserve wider public attention.

First is the notion of “mistaken identity” — the assumption that Mr. Page, who had long-established ties to radical right-wing groups, mistook Sikhs for Muslims, his presumed target. The second …

Islamophobia, Sikhophobia And Media Profiling, Simran Singh

Simran Jeet Singh

On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks shook the American nation to its core. Nineteen individuals associated with al Qaeda coordinated to hijack four passenger jets and use them as weapons of mass destruction. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 claimed approximately 3,000 lives, including all 256 passengers on the four planes, 125 people at the Pentagon and more than 2,600 people at the World Trade Center.

The global community watched the destruction and devastation with horror. Law enforcement agencies focused attention on detecting and preventing further terrorism on American soil, while news media scrambled to collect, synthesize and present an enormous …