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9/11 Affecting Sikhs In The United States

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How did 9/11 affect Sikhs in the United States? On September 11, 2001, 19 militants linked with al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks on different locations in the United States. Roughly 3,000 people were wrongly killed. This tragedy affected Americans all over the country, but one specific religion was attacked twice; first by terrorists, then by their fellow Americans. This religion is known as Sikhism. Followers of Sikhism thrive for justice, equality, and honest conduct and livelihood. They make up the world’s fifth largest religion, but are often misunderstood as Muslim because of their distinct appearance. A Sikh’s features embrace unshorn hair, a beard, and a turban for those who are Amritdhari or Keshdhari. …show more content…

Harpal Singh Vachel, a shy high school freshman in Queens, was cornered in a bathroom and had his previously unshorn hair scattered on the ground around him. Although backlash had come in contact with both Sikh adults and children, Sikh youth are particularly vulnerable to harassment. Sikhs were assaulted on a daily basis because of their appearance and many say it made their education miserable. Roughly half of Sikh Americans are bullied in school, according to United States Commission of Civil Rights (USCCR). Some children would yell, “terrorist” or go as far as to say “go back to your own country.” In 2003, a student in New Jersey was continuously called “Osama Bin Laden,” and was hit on the head, which resulted in contusions. A week after that, twelve-year-old Gurprit Kaur had three inches of her hair cut off from the bottom. She attended a public school in Flushing, Queens. Students have had to move schools, states, and even countries as a result of getting bullied and intimidated by their peers. Profiling of those who seem Muslim, Including Sikhs, is still frequent in the United States. One of the most recurring problems for Sikhs after 9/11 has been profiling at airports. On November 26, 2002, as Hansdip Singh Bindra sat in his respected seat, a stewardess told numerous passengers that their may be “trouble,” and then told Bindra to keep a low “profile” and to “not cause any problems.” Sikh …show more content…

It provides legal services to those who have had their civil rights violated and promotes diversity through education. It formed the night of September as a response to violent attacks against Sikh Americans and now has offices in New York, California, and Washington. In order to bring awareness of bullying,The Sikh Coalition had launched an anti-bullying campaign called ActToChange. This campaign is in the search to address bullying, including in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Recently, this organization helped desegregate a Sikh employee, Gurdit Singh, at Walt Disney World. Gurdit’s appearance violated Disney’s “Look Policy.” The Sikh Coalition partnered with ACLU(American Civil Liberties Union) and sent a forceful letter to Disney, which resulted in Gurdit being allowed to wear his articles of faith in public. The Sikh Coalition has been helping Sikh Americans all over the United States for fourteen years, and does not plan to stop any time

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The word Sikh evolves from the word “Sisya” meaning disciple or follower. Sikhism originated the year of 1469 in Punjab (India and Pakistan), which is the land of the five rivers. Sikhism is a religion of ten Gurus, the first Guru being Guru Nanak Dev Ji and the tenth and the last being Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Guru Granth Sahib is the holy book of Sikh in which includes teachings and writings by all the Gurus as well as Sikh, Hindi and Muslim saints that are written in Punjabi. Every Sikh is supposed to keep the five K’s, which also serve to identify him as a Sikh: 1.

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Among the key contributions from different ethnic Canadians was Bukum Singh and the Sikh’s. In the early 1900’s there were very few Sikh’s living in Ontario, but still 9 Sikh’s actively served with the Canadian troops in WWI. Among those 9 was Bukum Singh, one of the earliest known Sikh’s living in Ontario. Singh came to Canada in 1907 from Punjab. He first arrived in B.C  at the age of 14, he was mining until he moved to Toronto in 1912/1913.

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Yet, today’s Sikhs are ignoring the words of wisdom from their gurus and dismissing the true Sikh way of life. Rather, they are surrendering to the hedonistic illusion of temporal pleasures and self-indulgence (SikhAwareness, 2017). The pressure to fit in has changed the modern Sikhs, as today’s youths are not invested in their faith compared to previous generations. This can have an impact on the faith and belief of an individual, especially if they are surrounded in an environment that has the potential to influence the connection youth have with their faith. Mr Jagpal Singh, a 25 year-old British Sikh states, “Every generation has a certain amount of connection to their faith, it might just be a different way of representing it compared to previous generations”.

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When you compare Buddhism and 9/11, they are on two different sides of the spectrum, when we think of Buddhism, we normally think of people that are very relaxed and zen with themselves and focus on the high nad rich natures of life that life is happy. Through the Four Noble Truths by Buddha, he would teach his followers and show them what empowers us to acquire genuine and extreme advantages by making satisfying lives, upbeat families, congruous social orders, prosperous countries and a serene world. With religion there are a lot of people that are very passionate about their religion and think it is above other religions that people believe in and when they come across a believer of another religion they could get violent towards the other

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Eboo Patel, the author of “Making the Future Better, Together,” makes points on how America was able to change into something majestic. He tries to convince people that America is a country where people appreciate the diversity that is in the United States. However, I believe that we live in a country where people diminish the uniqueness of the diversity we are able to achieve in America. Eboo Patel, the author of this article and an Indian Muslim that serves on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, points out that when he was at an airport, he was “...watching women in Islamic headscarves brave the stares and scowls of some of their fellow Americans on an anniversary no one will ever forget” (2-4).

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In modern America a group that faces "witch hunts" is the bearded. In New York a Hasidic Jewish Policeman lost his job for refusing to shave his beard. In his religion he isn 't exactly allowed to go clean-shaven, but yet he lost his job. Suprisingly this isn 't anything new, when Enver Hoxha was the socialist leader of Albania he banned men from growing beards, also when people came to visit the country they were forcibly shaved at the border. More recently in Turkmenistan having a goatee earns you a visit from the secret police.

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Throughout the decades people have been mistreated because of their ethnicity or affiliations. Especially during times of war and during or after terrorist attacks, people tend to stereotype certain ethnicities and release hurtful and discriminating things. This has happened, at one point in time, to both German-Americans and Arab-Americans. During World War 1, the effect on the German-Americans was devastating. Many German-Americans attempted to shed their heritage and become fully “American.”

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Through the years I have witnessed my friends being called “terrorists” and victimized because of their appearance.

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In September 11, 2001 there was a terrorist attack. The terrorist attack happened by these terrorist that hijacked three planes, two of them crashed in both buildings at The World Trade Center and the last plane crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia. This affected people because it alerted them that there were terrorists invading their country. Now security in the world had been at high alert because they don’t know who the terrorist are going to strike next. Two actions about what the U.S. did for the terrorism is that the people in the country started to wear the American flag and put them in their porches and cars.

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It seems as though all non-Christian religions experience discrimination in some capacity by American citizens. Freedom of religion is a part of the First Amendment to the Constitution, yet Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and even more typical religions such as Judaism, are looked down upon by Christians of all denominations for both religious reasons, and for cultural reasons related to their respective religions. Perhaps the most discriminated against religious group in America are the Sikhs, and it is for all the wrong reasons. In a post 9/11 America, Sikhs are all too often mistaken as members of the Muslim faith, of whom only a select few were to blame for the terrorist attacks of 2001. September 11th, 2001 can be considered the boiling point of Sikh discrimination, as it erased years of progress in terms of acceptance of the Sikh religion and its followers in America.

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