Just a few hours ago a Sikh (pronounced 'sick') gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) in Wisconsin was attacked by a white male who killed at least six people during today's Sunday service. While reasons are not yet known, I'll conjecture that this will soon be confirmed as one of the largest hate crimes in American history.
Immediately, my thoughts turned to what must have been going on inside at the time the gunmen entered the gurdwara (Sikh house of worship). Like most faiths, gurdwaras hold their primary religious service on Sundays. Kirtan (hymns from scripture) is sung, kids rally to begin Punjabi language school, langar (free meal for anyone who comes to the gurdwara) is prepared to be served later, and the sangat (community) sits on the floor (in a sign of humility). In smaller communities like my hometown of Cincinnati, or in Wisconsin, on Sunday the Gurdwara feels like a big family reunion -- the sangat is together.
For Sikhs, because we look different (identifiable because of our turbans and beards), often we become symbolic for whatever 'other' our country faces. Over ten years ago, on Sept. 15, 2001, Singh Sodhi, was shot and killed in Arizona, becoming the first hate crime victim after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This spawned several in the community, including myself, to start the Sikh Coalition. Our initial goal was to help deal with 9/11 backlash like hate crimes, employment discrimination, and school bullying.
Over time, our focus has shifted to include educating broader society on who Sikhs are, and Sikhism's fundamental beliefs of honest living, giving back and remembering and living in the service of Waheguru (God). We have also made steps to help our country live up to its fullest potential by supporting the rights of all Americans. We've worked on things like the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, instituted broad anti-bullying programs for all students in New York City schools, and worked with hundreds of other organizations on similar programs.
Despite these proactive steps, we are still left to deal with the aftermath of violence. As recently as last March (2011), two Sikh men, aged 68 and 75, were shot in an alleged hate crime in the suburbs of Sacramento. Along with today's even more dramatic event, these are extreme manifestations of hatred that pervades too much of American society. The way in which our public discourse takes place -- vitriol in politics, the eagerness to demonize broad groups based on the actions of a few, and forgetting that people have far more in common than they ever will in conflict -- provides an environment that nurses extreme ideologies and enables unstable members to society to justify extreme actions.
Our responsibility as a society is to do more than just prevent lunacy on the fringes. Income, religion, appearance, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and ethnicity are parts of everyone, not sole characteristics that define us completely. Recognizing this and incorporating it into how we characterize one another helps us live up to the best principles of America. It cannot occur, however, unless we seek to understand those we perceive to be different from us.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and community involved and the first police officers on site whose heroic actions likely saved many more lives. Their bravery and grace in the face of extreme circumstances represent the best of us and the values we should all aspire to.
Follow Narinder Singh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/singhns
Sahaj Kohli: Sikhism, Identity and Where I Stand In Light Of the Wisconsin Shooting
Satpal Singh: With Prayers For One And All
My heart goes out to them and I pray this type of tragedy never happens again. But unfortunately, I know that until the hate, racism, and intolerance for differences is stamped out...it's only a matter of time.
And that is really sad.
- institutional abuse of power at mental health facilities (referencing history from decades ago, not today)
- untrained law enforcement deals with mentally ill inappropriately (referencing history from decades ago, not today)
- lawsuits are won by patients or on behalf of patients against institutions and law enforcement
-as a nation we become overly sensitive to the rights of the mentally ill
-lawmakers are unable to enact laws that both protect patients rights and empower mental health professionals and law enforcement to act assertively when dealing with potential threats.
-pervasive political correctness prevents us culturally from identifying those with mental health issues that NEED treatment
-judges fail to recognize the threat to public safety when ruling on cases and laws, thereby stripping mental health professionals and law enforcement from protecting society.
- crippled by lost lawsuits, poorly worded laws, courts that ignore the public safety and well-being of society over the individual freedoms of the "potentially" insane.
as a result: mass murder after mass murder occurs in society, year after year.
each time,, the media sells newspapers and tv ads, and everybody yells and screams
and our lawmakers and judges, ALL ELECTED TO SERVE US AND PROTECT US, instead .........
Unfortunately our nation or segments of it has embarked on a course that lifts up hate as free speech. Hate is often a indiscriminate destroyer. And the destruction cuts both ways. This man who committed these acts lost his sole long before he took the lives of these innocent people.
We have freedom of speech but we should not have freedom of hate. Germany has learned these lessons. Why must we reinvent the wheel?
http://theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2012/6/15/where-the-anti-muslim-path-leads.html
www.Appearance-ism.com
. . . the Republican Party.
Here's a video of Oklahoma State Rep Rex Duncan (Republican) talking on Fox News about the threat of Sharia law in Oklahoma. http://youtu.be/SmsZ-GhmPuk
Google "Michelle Bachmann shariah", "Newt Gingrich shariah", or any other prominent Rep's thoughts on a mosque near Ground Zero.
"The Muslims are coming for us!" is a new right wing variation on what happened 20 years ago with "The Japanese are taking over!".
If you want to split hairs over Muslims/Sikhs, just ask Vincent Chin what his thoughts are on the matter - Google that one too.
Tirlok Singh, a priest at the Oak Center Sikh Center said: "Tell the people we are not Muslim. We are different. We are Sikh. I want you to convey this message,”
How messed up is it that? 6 people dead, 2 more critically injured, and the core message that Sikhs are trying to communicate in the wake of this tragedy is "Please stop shooting us, since we're not terrorists. We're not even Muslims."
But Fox News and opportunistic politicians are eager to fan the flames of intolerance by claiming that the Muslims are coming. It's not falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater, it's worse: it's telling everyone in the theater that the swarthy guy in beard and turban is going to blow it up.
voxox3343, if you wanna go head to head with me, I'm here all day.
My thoughts go out to the families and sangat of those lost too soon.
As a Muslim I stand in solidarity with Sikhs, and offer my deepest condolences to the Sikh community on the occasion of this horrific tragedy. It is a tragedy for us all. I wholeheartedly agree with the gist of this article that we should all embrace each other as individuals, brothers and sisters in humanity first, rather than judge on secondary categories of affiliation. Ek saah, ek jaan.
There are also a lot of hate crimes committed against Hispanics after the mentally lame are worked up into a frenzy by being told that they are taking away "real" American jobs. "Real Americans" were the indigenous populations that were here before the "white" man came...and put them in their place, too.
Another thing is that nuts and guns don't mix, so one has to wonder about a political party that pushes guns on people who they should be protecting with strong gun laws and police departments.
the issue at hand is identifying mental health issues, and giving authorities and communities and families the tools to identify and deal with anybody that thinks hurting someone like this is the solution.
It is time for us all to act together to remove the handcuffs from mental health professionals that our stupid legal system has put on them.
Our "politically correct" treatment of mental health issue sufferers, and our lack of financial commitment to mental health treatment and issues generally, is resulting in these events.
Identifying mental health issues is not easy, and some people are just plain old mean. If a person is identified as having a mental problem, they can be treated, not arrested, until they do something to justify an arrest, and by then, it's too late. The very least that could be done is to prevent the mean and mentally ill from getting their hands on any weapons.
There is also a big drug problem in this country that something should be done about, since one never knows if drug use brings on this type of "mental illness" resulting in violent behavior.
If a person doesn't hunt, and if they want a weapon for home "protection"...if the area that they live in doesn't provide adequate police protection...they certainly don't need an armory of assault weapons...or even one...do they?
I think you mean xenophobia, unless you are saying all sikhs are gay
I don't think its a coincidence that he was present at the shooting, and his father was wounded, and I find it very suspicious that eyewitness accounts and the official police account of the number of shooters differ considerably.