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N
E W S Sikh
News Network
Avtar Singh, a 52-year-old resident of Phoenix for eighteen years was shot while waiting to be picked up by his son from where he parks his truck a few blocks from his home. As he waited, Singh was approached by two young white men in a car who shouted "Go back to your own country." The men opened fire, wounding Singh in the lower abdomen and upper thigh. The men then drove off. Singh's son, Hardeep Singh, 23, an Arizona State University student, found his father bleeding in the parking lot. "He was in a lot of pain," Hardeep said. Singh is still recovering in a Phoenix hospital. Singh was not robbed and nothing was taken from the truck, said Phoenix police Detective Tony Morales. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime by local and federal authorities. Investigators are still looking for suspects. A Sikh lawyer familiar with the area commented that states like Arizona are still have a bit of the "wild west" in them. Carrying guns is not uncommon. Lakhwinder Singh, Balbir Singh's brother, knows Avtar Singh and said this second shooting in Arizona is frustrating. "They are nice people. I cannot believe it is happening all over again. We get a little bit every day," he said, "if someone just yells at you, it really hurts, but what do you do?" Lakhwinder said that despite education efforts by the Sikh community, ignorance remains widespread. Sikhs attribute much of the widespread ignorance to the lack of coverage of such stories in the mainstream media. The same evening that Avtar Singh was shot, student activist Valarie Kaur was attending a town hall meeting on, "Beyond the Headlines" with Peter Jennings, about media coverage in times of war (aired in California on ABC, May 24, 2003). At the end of the segment, the panel discussed representations of Muslims and Arabs in the news. During that discussion, Barbara Simpson, KSFO radio talk-show host, said that it was not the media's job to represent every group in America. "It wouldn't matter whether or not we had an Arab on our staff," she said. After the event, Kaur spoke privately with Peter Jennings about the Sikh experience. She asked: "When Sher Singh was wrongly arrested as the first suspected terrorist on September 12th, every major media outlet aired video of his arrest for days without apology. When Balbir Singh was killed in Arizona in the first post-September 11 hate crime, national news did not air his photograph, his face, his beard and turban, the reason he was killed. In reporting hate crimes, the war on Afghanistan, the war on Iraq, detentions and deportations of Muslims and Arabs, and continued prejudice in America, why has the American media consistently humanized one side and not the other?" Peter Jennings responded, "We're not out to get any one side. The media is trying to do a better job to raise awareness about different communities after September 11. America as a whole has learned a lot more about Muslim Americans, Arab Americans, and Sikh Americans - well, perhaps to a lesser extent Sikh Americans." Nearly two years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, isolated hate crimes against Sikhs and others continue. Although it is easy for most Americans to brush away these hate crimes as random acts of violence, they indicate a larger social climate of fear, stereotyping, and prejudice, partly sustained by American media representations. This month alone, Berkeley Professor Bharati Mukherjee generalized Sikhs as terrorists on the Bill Moyers show, nationally televised (May 2, 2001, http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript218_full.html ), and talk-show host Barbara Simpson dismissed representation of targeted communities as unnecessary (May 19, 2001). The media may not be out to get anyone, but it is the media, especially television media, that sets the news agenda and therefore the social agenda for the country. The result of ignoring stories about backlash and hate crimes has a devastating effect on Sikhs and other Arab-appearing minorities in the United States. To date, the suspects have not been caught. Avtar Singh is still in the hospital and listed in fair condition. Guru Roop Kaur, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix Sikh community has been assisting Avtar Singh and his family in their interaction with local and federal police officials and with the media. Although the media has not responsibly acted to bring the issue of hate crimes into the public eye, government officials have been more proactive. The offices of Arizona Senators McCain and Kyle sent representatives to the press conference with Avtar Singh which was conducted in the hospital where he is recovering. Senator Richard Durbin's (D-IL) office was also contacted and the following response was received: "What a tragedy. I hope that this gentleman is not too badly injured and that he will recover fully. As you know, Senator Durban recently introduced a Resolution on the floor of the Senate condemning hate crimes against Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, Sikh Americans, and South-Asian Americans. With the recent terrorist attacks and heightened threat level, hate crimes are likely to continue, so the resolution will send a timely and important message. The Sikh community in Arizona and elsewhere may want to encourage your Senators to sign on as cosponsors." On May 23, 2003, Joseph Zogby, Counsel to Senator Richard Durbin, reported that the Hate Crimes Resolution introduced by Senators Durbin, John Sununu (R-NH) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) was unanimously approved by the Senate. The resolution does four important things - it recognizes that members of these communities greatly contribute to American society and serve honorably in the military and law enforcement, it urges respect for civil rights and civil liberties, it condemns bias-motivated crimes against members of these communities and it calls upon federal and local law enforcement to prosecute such crimes vigorously. The efforts put forth by law enforcement and Congress members is due greatly to the work of Sikh organizations across the country. Because these organizations have limited human resources and financial resources their work is expected to be a long and slow process - another reason why the general public has little knowledge of the Sikh community. Working closely with Avtar Singh's family, Guru Roop Kaur along with Sikh organizations contacted law enforcement officials on the state and federal levels to insure that this hate crime would be fully prosecuted. The Sikh community of Phoenix has a longstanding ongoing relationship with both local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a result of the Balbir Singh shooting death. Sikh organizations have also issued community advisories http://sikhnet.com/s/safety, giving tips on taking appropriate security precautions and supporting community members, especially children, who may feel especially vulnerable and threatened in the face of such an incident. A Prayer vigil was coordinated by the Arizona Interfaith movement with over a hundred people from every faith in the Phoenix valley in attendance. Among many positive statements the Phoenix Sikh Community made to the public were, "Backlash crimes are the invisible causalities of September 11th and the war on extremism. The war we are fighting is against hate and fear, not against each other." notes:
photo courtesy AP.
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Memories
of the Balbir Singh shooting murder had not faded from the minds of the
Sikh community when another Sikh man was shot last week, May 19, 2003
- again in Arizona.