Another murder of a Sikh-American man in Fresno, California–the second in as many weeks–shows a wave of violence against Sikhs and Muslims which has grown more intense after the Paris and San Bernadino attacks. During the first attack, which took place December 27:
[Amir Singh] Bal’s assailants reportedly broke the his collarbone in the process of the December assault, yelling racial slurs and asking, “Why are you here?” Three months prior, on Sept. 10, a 53-year-old Sikh American cab driver named Inderjit Singh Mukker was viciously beaten and called a “terrorist” and “Bin Laden” by a teenager in Darien, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Both incidents have a lengthy and troubling precedent. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, hate crimes against Muslims and people misidentified as Muslims in the U.S. have risen from an average of 20-30 per year to 100-150, as Mic has previously reported.
And Sikhs aren’t even Muslim. So way to do your research before you commit a hate crime.
Team Blackness also discussed Bernie Sanders’ money trail, Al Jazeera America’s swan song, and the link between the Charleston church shooting and Louisiana theater gunman.
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Doug!
What a terrible story.
Roger Moore
Hate isn’t rational. Also, too, I think the real hate is for anyone who is obviously different, and Muslims are just the most convenient target at the moment. That they aren’t actually hurting Muslims isn’t a big deal. They’re still hurting people who are obviously outsiders, and that’s what really matters.
Mnemosyne
That happened out here after 9/11 as well — Sikhs get targeted because they wear turbans, and idiot assholes assume anyone in a turban is a Muslim.
schrodinger's cat
Not only are Sikhs not Muslim, Sikhism at least in its current manifestation was a direct reaction to the persecution of Sikhs by Mughal emperors after Akbar, especially Aurangzeb.
rikyrah
Sikh’s are not White.
Thus, they are open to attack.
Cain
@schrodinger’s cat:
The irony is that Sikhs generally hate muslims, or have in the past. To be harassed as muslim must really tick them off.