Personal Narrative: The Oak Creek Massacre

There was an eerie silence about, peaceful yet unnerving at the same time, the cold wind bit us relentlessly yet all stood solemnly utilizing what little warmth the memorial candles we held granted us. The silence seemed never ending, everyone gathered standing petrified looking towards the piercing pictures of the six victims who passed away in the fatal shooting at the Oak Creek Sikh Temple on August 5th, 2012. Far and wide around the nation people belonging to different faiths and races had all gathered at the Renton Sikh Temple. I noticed in the corner of my eye a young white women standing silently with tears falling to her feet, I was still quite young at the time and had no grasp over my emotions but this sight made me sorrowful. In th0is fragile state after seeing the 2012 Aurora shooting all over the news in July then a month later this tragedy. I realized that there is a dangerous amount of racially motivated hate in society fueled by ignorance that leads

I had to drag myself to the vigil not because I felt that it was a waste of time but because I did not want to think about what happened. These shootings had always seemed to be something that happened to other people, I never in my worst nightmare thought that these atrocities would hit so close to home. I saw the Oak Creek Shooting as a personal attack on myself, due to the deep wounds inflicted on the Sikhs after the 9-11 bombings. Sikhs were mistaken for Muslims and widely attacked, friends and family members of mine had narrated the horror stories of their lost loved ones. These memories flooded my mind, obligating me to make my way to the vigil in support of the victim’s