Hate Crimes At Sikhs Analysis

In this article, the author focuses the reality of Sikhs being targets of anti-Muslim hate crimes 15 years post September 11th. Basu interviews victims who tell their stories of constantly living in fear—these families, primarily the Sikh men, are constantly targeted, harassed, and brutally murdered. As a commitment to their faith, Sikh men wear turbans and grow long beards. Many Americans, however, mistake them for Muslims based of their physical appearance. Sikhism, a monotheistic religion founded in Punjab is the fifth largest religion in the world. Close to 500,000 Sikhs preside in the United States, yet a majority of Americans know nothing about Sikhs. Post September 11th, there has been a sharp increase in hate crimes directed at Sikhs

In relations to this article, I had recently seen a video made by Comedy Central’s Hasan Minhaj on how islamophobia targets America’s Sikh (non-Muslim) residents. In this video, Hasan randomly selects candidates on the street, he holds up a poster with four photos on it—a bird, binoculars, a Sikh man, and kids playing hide and go seek—then, he asks a simple question, “which one of these is a Sikh?” The first man points to the bird, meanwhile the second one points to the kids playing hide and go “seek”. Clearly, the media has had significant influence on how Muslims or should I say “terrorists” are portrayed throughout the United States of America. Media outlets have long instilled a fear of terrorism in American people without educating them; the portrayals of Muslims in the media have contributed to the construction of precarious Muslim stereotypes. I am baffled knowing some Americans accept everything they hear the media—they assume that a man wearing a turban with a beard automatically must mean that he is a Muslim, a terrorist or even