A Sikh Hero
Dr. Navinderdeep Singh (Nijher)
September 25, 2001, New York City
from: "U.S. Sikhs Bear Brunt of Backlash"
by: David Kohn, CBS News
When the first of the twin towers fell on September 11, Navinderdeep Singh
Nijher was at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn. A surgical resident there, Singh
and several other Maimonides doctors rushed to the scene of the disaster. Once
there, he and four other doctors scavenged supplies from an abandoned ambulance,
and by early afternoon they had set up the first triage center at ground zero,
just in front of one of the collapsed towers. He also helped organize a makeshift
morgue in the lobby of the American Express building.
"It was surreal," he says. "You saw ashes upon ashes, notes
and papers everywhere. You could still smell the jet fuel. It was a very scary
situation." Singh stayed until 2 a.m., mostly treating injured firefighters
who had been pulled from the rubble. From there, he went back to the hospital,
slept for an hour, and reported for his regular shift at 6 a.m.
The next day, Thursday, Singh went out to run some errands near his apartment
in midtown Manhattan; it was the first time he had gone out since the attacks.
"Every person was staring at me," he says. "People were saying
'There goes one of them now.' Someone yelled 'Go back to your own country!'"
Singh is an American citizen. He is also a Sikh. Like most Sikh men, he wears
a long beard and a turban. Since September 11, Sikhs all over the country have
become targets, seen by many as traitors who bear responsibility for the attacks.
In Mesa, Ariz, a Sikh gas station owner was shot to death by a man who told
police he was tired of terrorists running wild. In California and Ohio, Sikh
houses were firebombed.
The abuse angers Singh, 29, a thin, gentle man who came to the U.S. from India
when he was one year old, and grew up in upstate New York. "When I was
working at the scene, not a single thing was said to me," he says in unaccented
English. "Everyone was working for a united effort. The thought never crossed
my mind that I'd be treated like that two days later. It's a little disheartening."
Other groups, including Arabs, Pakistanis, non-Sikh Indians, and Muslims have
also been threatened and harassed since the attacks. But many Sikhs say they
have been singled out most; they blame their resemblance to the suspected perpetrator,
Osama bin Laden, who also has a flowing beard and wears a turban. "The
picture of Osama bin Laden is constantly being flashed on TV sets," says
Prabhjot Singh, director of the United Sikhs In Service of America (USSA), a
prominent Sikh organization. Ironically, he says, Sikhs here look more like
bin Laden than most Muslims do.
Dr. Navinderdeep Singh's story was also published in Newsweek Magazine. He
will be making appearances in the greater D.C. area on Sept. 10. For more information
email info@sikhsentinel.com.