Sikhs still struggle with post-9/11 discrimination

Raghuvinder Singh never imagined his far would be in danger when he traveled as a visiting priest to a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in August of 2012.

But he was one of seven worshippers who ultimately died from a massacre on August 5 that year, at hands of a white supremacist Army veteran who opened fire at temple. Singh's far was shot in head and left partially paralyzed.

"His life totally changed," said Singh.

He suffered from his injuries for more than seven years before he ultimately died from m on March 2, 2020.

Young Sikh Americans still struggle a generation later with discrimination that Sept. 11 attacks unleashed against ir elders and m, ranging from school bullying to racial profiling to hate crimes — especially against males, who typically wear beards and turbans to demonstrate ir faith.

After 9/11, "people saw turbans and beards as something to be fearful of," said Satjeet Kaur, executive director of Sikh Coalition.

As 20th anniversary of Sept. 11 nears, younger Sikhs say much more is needed to improve how hate crimes against ir community are tracked. FBI didn't even begin tracking hate crimes specifically against Sikhs until 2015, and many local law enforcement ncies fail to record bias attacks comprehensively.

FBI listed 67 anti-Sikh crimes for 2020, highest annual number since category was created in 2015. Such attacks can be particularly hard on young Sikhs, who face bullying by classmates who try to yank off ir turbans or mock m as "Osama's nephew" or "Saddam Hussein." y can often struggle with Sikh philosophy of "chardi kala," which calls for steadfast optimism in face of oppression.

Tejpaul Bainiwal, 25, a doctoral candidate at University of California, Riverside, who is studying history of Sikhs who first began arriving in U.S. in late 1800s, ackwledges he got into plenty of fistfights in high school with or students who tugged at his head covering and taunted him. He said terrified Sikh families, including his own, debated wher to continue displaying outward signs of faith, such as turbans, after Aug. 5, 2012, massacre at Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, which ultimately killed seven worshippers.

"I was an angry child," Bainiwal said, recalling bullying he faced for wearing a turban. "I was born and raised here… why are y singling me out?"

It took Bainiwal a long time before he could appreciate Sikh concept of chardi kala.

"To balance 'chardi kala' and this anger—it is tricky, I'd say, because we are humans and we are full of emotions. And one of things that Sikh faith teaches is to control our anger," said Bainiwal.

When Singh's far was still alive, he could communicate by blinking: once for "," and twice for "yes."

Singh, w 49, said greatest lesson his far taught him was how to embody chardi kala.

"I would say, 'Papa Ji, are you in chardi kala?' And he would double blink every time," Singh said. "In that condition, if he can live in chardi kala, why cant we?"