Sikh people considered "terrorists"

Prabhjot Singh , a university
professor attacked in upper
Manhattan New York 

When we see a man wearing a turban, we have many thoughts going through our mind, the first thing that comes to peoples mind when they see a Sikh man is, “he’s probably a terrorist”, “their responsible for 911”, “what is his turban symbolizing?”. Society stereotypes people just because of how they look and what they believe in, this gives people the wrong idea about who they really are. Sikh people are normal people like you and me, however Many people have a misconception that turbans and beards are associated with terrorism. Absolutely not, a turban and beard are linked with the Sikh faith which is used to show the true identity of a Sikh.

The big question is “who is to be blamed?” The answer to that is media. The reason why is because the western society consumes large amounts of media which comes in different forms such as television, internet, radio, telephone and newspaper. Therefore through consuming hours and hours of media, it’s possible that 1 article can change a person’s perception. Moreover, during the attack on the world trade center, multiple news stations (fox, CNN, ABC) all mentioned how the attacks were conducted by Osama bin laden. Notice how Osama bin laden has a turban and a long beard; also Sikhs have turbans and long beards. From this we see that the media convinced the audience that the suspect responsible for the attacks fits the same description of a Sikh mans physical features (turban and long beard).

To get a better sense of how Sikh people are being portrayed, the wall street journal had put out an article which surveyed 1500 people and found that Americans tend to associate turbans with Osama bin Laden. It said "49% believe “Sikh” is a section of Islam and 79% did not know that Sikhism originated in India. It also stated “of the 1,184 answers to a question on which respondents would associate with a turban and beard, 35.3% said Osama bin Laden. Nearly half (47.3%) answered “no association,” while 14.3% chose Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini”. 

Sikh man in California
found his property vandalized, it read
"Its not your country" 

That is not all, a month after 9/11; more than 300 hate crimes were committed against Sikhs according to the Sikh Coalition, a New York-based community group formed in response to attacks on Sikhs. These hate crimes continue to grow and grow. The mass shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, on august 5 2012 was another disturbing example of a hate crime towards Sikhs. Wade Micheal page (a white supremacist) stormed into the Sikh temple killing 6 and wounding 4 worshipers.  The most disturbing form of discrimination towards a Sikh happened in Mississippi when a Sikh trucker was pulled over for a flat tire. The 49 year old  trucker from California insisted that he was harassed by 2 police officers just because of his religious beliefs. “The officers laughed at him and mocked his religious beliefs,” the letter read. “One officer declared that all Sikhs are depraved and ‘terrorists." To make matter worse, the trucker was taken to court where the judge insisted the trucker to take the “rag” (insulting the turban) of his head. 

As a result, we see that media has such a negative impact on Sikhs since media has created a dominant discourse where if a Sikh man in a turban is spotted, people assume he is a linked with a terrorist organization.  In North America, many Sikhs are judged by their physical appearance, their religion, which makes them feel their different from others. However, identifying people wearing turbans as terrorist and making them a target of hatred is completely wrong. Just like every person wearing a baseball hat is not a bank robber; every person wearing a turban is not a terrorist.
Furthermore, we must learn that there is a major misconception on how different minorities are being portrayed in media. In other words we must think from a different perspective on what the media is trying to convey to the audience rather than jumping to conclusions. Therefore, analyze the text, and look at more than one media in order to get a full understanding of a certain situation. I wanted to share this post since I believe it has affected me personally since I have some relatives who wear turbans and they are sometimes the center of attention in malls or public places since the turban distinguish them from others. All in all, we must all learn to not discriminate and stereotype against one another since we are all equal in many ways. 

Please check out the following links to get more information:

The wall street journal

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/09/24/in-the-u-s-associating-sikhs-with-terrorism/

Police officers insult a innocent Sikh truck driver

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/sikh-truck-driver-labeled-terrorist-mississippi-traffic-cops-judge-calls-man-turban-rag-aclu-article-1.1470362

New reporter suggest Osama bin laden may be responsible 911

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uFMIvS9vkg

Discussion questions:

1. Will this dominant discourse of Sikhs being categorized as terrorist continue in North America?
2. Is there any other religion aside from Sikhism that faces the same stereotype?
3. How do you feel when you see a Sikh man,  Do you really consider him a terrorist? 
4. What do you think could be done to stop discrimination against Sikhs?
5. Has this post changed the way you think about Sikhs in general?