Another Brother Killed
August 6, San Francisco
from: "American Nightmare"
by: Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sukhpal Singh Sodhi came to S.F. to help his village in India.
Now, a year after his brother's death, his family mourns again.
Sukhpal Singh Sodhi was one of 50 members of an extended family
who had left India in recent years, finding refuge in the United States and
sending back a small fortune to make life better in their village in Punjab
state. While the windfall from abroad financed many improvements - paved streets,
lighting, schools and even a public water system - it has come at a terrible
cost: The violence and hate that the members of the Sikh family sought to
escape in Punjab has found them here.
Last year, one of the six sons of family patriarch Jaswant Singh
Sodhi living in the United States was shot to death in Mesa, Ariz., four days
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The 51-year-old was targeted, his family
said, in a hate crime because of his beard and turban. Balbir Singh Sodhi's
alleged killer reportedly told police, "I stand for America."
Then, a second son, Sukhpal, who had just turned 50, was shot
to death while driving a cab in San Francisco's Mission District. Police say
they aren't sure what happened, but they don't think someone was trying to
kill him -- Sukhpal may have been hit by a bullet meant for someone else.
"It's unbelievable"...
"We have been living here 16 to 18 years," said Lakhwinder
Singh Sodhi, 35, the family's youngest son, who makes his home in Phoenix.
"This is a terrible year, a terrible year. In one year, we lose two brothers.
It's unbelievable."
Both the slain sons had worked to support families in India, as did many of
the family members who came to the United States starting in 1984.
Balbir Singh Sodhi, who started working as a cabdriver in San
Francisco about a year after coming to this country in 1989, had opened a
convenience store and gas station in Mesa in 2000. He brought two of his sons
here while sending money back to his wife and youngest son in the village.
He hoped to retire in India.
Sukhpal Singh Sodhi had spent nearly a decade driving a cab
in San Francisco to support his wife, Parwinder, his grown son and two daughters,
all of whom live in the family's village of Passiawal. He was hoping to open
a convenience store along with relatives in Phoenix.
Passiawal is in the Nadala area of Punjab's Kapurthala district, about 300
miles northwest of New Delhi. It is known informally in India as an NRI village
- an acronym for "Nonresident Indian," referring to the benefits
from emigrants.
Jaswant Singh Sodhi, the patriarch, and his wife help run the
town, his son Lakhwinder said. Jaswant uses the money his sons send back to
make religious donations and pay for things that make the village a better
place to live.
Sons wouldn't come home...
After Balbir was killed, Jaswant summoned his remaining sons
home. Lakhwinder said he and Sukhpal resisted. The money was good here, they
said, and life seemed safe.
"What would we do there? I don't want to go back,"
Lakhwinder said. His two daughters, ages 8 and 4, and 7-year-old son were
born in the United States. "I'm thinking, 'I'm settled here. I'm happy
here.' "Where we are living, we don't have any problem," Lakhwinder
said. "This is a good country."
Sukhpal was worried that his daughters were growing up without
him in India, but he had made up his mind to stay in the United States. He
wanted his family to come here, but they refused. "They really enjoyed
their own community," Lakhwinder said.
Now, Lakhwinder said, family members can't bear to talk to the
family patriarch about what happened to Sukhpal. "He wants some kind
of safety for his family - now another family member got shot," Lakhwinder
said. "He's thinking this is a worse place."
Lakhwinder said he had spoken to Sukhpal every night and often
talked about the post-Sept. 11 hostility they encountered from some Americans.
"He faced the same things I face," he said. Recently, Lakhwinder
told off four teenagers who called him bin Laden because of his beard and
turban. "When he was driving a cab, he had customers who would yell at
him - there is a lot of ignorance still there," Lakhwinder said. But
there is comfort as well, he said.
When Balbir was killed, 4,000 people attended his funeral service.
"We have a lot of support from the neighborhood, flowers from Holland,
New Jersey, New York," he said. "We are proud of that, that our
people, our neighbors, our society would stand with us."
Police don't think ethnic hatred had anything to do with Sukhpal's
killing. Sukhpal was struck by a bullet as he drove on 25th and Mission streets,
then crashed his cab into a power pole at 3:52 a.m. Sunday, said police Inspector
Joe Toomey. "I don't know what happened -- I don't think he was the intended
target," Toomey said, adding that authorities have no suspects.
Sukhpal's 50th birthday was Saturday. Sunday was his day off,
and he was planning to celebrate with friends.
Instead, Amrik Singh Malhi, 38, who considered the two slain
Sodhi siblings akin to his own brothers, was at the family home in Daly City
to comfort Sukhpal's relatives. ''I don't know what to say. We came here for
peace, but somehow we are getting targeted for nothing," said Malhi,
whose own brother died two years ago when a disgruntled worshiper opened fire
at a Sikh temple in El Sobrante.
"It's scary," Malhi said of the violence. "But we believe in our faith. When your time is up, it doesn't matter what you are doing. Your time is up."