Even though Sikh Americans have experienced a heightened amount of animosity, it is quite a warm feeling when communities and groups gather to support victims of hate crimes as stated in this excerpt, "It has happened before in New Jersey. But this time, an act of hateful vandalism has drawn an avalanche of support for a victimized Hindu family, highlighting the growth of networks aiming to assist South Asian-American victims of bias crimes. The family of five arrived home in Wayne last Saturday to discover their house and walkways spray-painted with anti-Indian and anti-Hindu epithets. Police disclosed the incident on Wednesday, and said the family also had been targeted with hate mail and graffiti in January."(Crouse) The community responded by putting out calls and e-mails in an attempt to reach the family. This was done by Asian-American civil rights leaders after they had read about the incidents. Other local actions of support came in the form of one bank branch's offer to cover the cost of removing the graffiti and a contractor's offer to do the work for free. There are many hate crimes that have been inflicted on Sikh Americans, but it is important to realize there are positive and supporting reactions from different communities to try to alleviate this type of racism.
The support and awareness that is offered also serves as psychological help as well. Hemant Wadhwani, president of the Asian American Political Coalition says, "Expressing solidarity helps counter the feelings victims of bias crimes often have of being rejected and different culturally."(Crouse) This kind of negative racial action can have a real impact on the human mind and can definitely affect the Sikh American community. When they Sikh Americans see th...
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...changed after the World Trade Center towers collapsed. Sikh truck drivers have reported people violently cutting them off and calling them "ragheads." Congregants at Gurdwara Sahib in Fresno had racist graffiti spray painted on their temple. However, "With the passage of time, people have become informed about Sikhs, and the situation has much improved," says Amrik Singh Virk, temple secretary at the Sikh Center of the Pacific Coast in Selma. (Orozco) Unfortunately this change took three years in the Fresno community for the public to finally realize not all Sikhs are terrorists. Although the racial tension has eased with the passage of time,"It has gotten a little better, but, as a minority group, we're still smarting," says Poonia, a Fresno doctor. "There still is ignorance, misunderstanding and prejudice. Color lines have eroded, but they have not been eliminated."
Amin Ahmad was born in Calcutta, India. He now lives in Washington D.C. as a published author and has had some of his work appear in such prestigious journals as The Harvard Review (1). Knowing the intelligence and high credibility of the author makes his argument more substantial. Over the years he has built himself up in spite of being an immigrant. Ahmad is no longer looked down upon, because he has worked hard for his position in society. However he still feels the burden of discrimination when people judge him before they learn more than just his skin color. If no one takes the time to learn about his success and only look at the color of his skin or the looks of his passport then all of his hard work is for nothing. Ahmad did not let the world’s hate keep him from living his dream. He got passed the poverty and judgment to pursue his education and make something of his self. Not only is this inspiring; it is heat-warming. It is as if he is proving everyone who ever doubted him wrong. Everyone who looked down upon him with a watchful eye or whispered behind his back should be sulking in their seats.
The treatment of Germans during WWI and Arabs and South Asians post 9/11 are perfect examples of the mistreatment in America by the public. During WWI, the country was trying to wipe the German culture clean out of the country. One action was change names of places and streets named after a German place or German name to non German name or place. For example, the town of Berlin, Michigan, was changed to Marne, Michigan to honor the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Marne. Many schools had stopped teaching German but the City College of New York continued teaching German courses, but limited the number of credits students get for them. In Cincinnati, the public libraries asked to remove all German books from its shelves. German vocabularies were changed as Sauerkraut was hanged to "liberty cabbage", German measles changed to "liberty measles", hamburgers changed to "liberty sandwiches" and dachshunds changed to "liberty pups". Like the Germans, post 9/11 Middle Easterners and South Asians had been victims of too many to account vandalism, arson, assault, shootings, harassment, murder and threats as the two groups were perceived to be Muslims. Sikhs were victims of various hate crimes due to many Sikh males wearing turbans, which are stereotypically associated with
Sherman Alexie’s Flight Patterns, which discusses racial stereotypes, relates to the effects of 9/11 on American citizens, who tend to inappropriately judge Muslim and other cultures in the world today. Although 9/11 was a horrible day, it still should not be used to categorize and stereotype people. Stereotypes do nothing but harm to the people who receive it and to the people who dish it out.
For a second, the U.S. stood still. Looking up at the towers, one can only imagine the calm before the storm in the moment when thousands of pounds of steel went hurdling into its once smooth, glassy frame. People ran around screaming and rubble fell as the massive metal structure folded in on itself like an accordion. Wounded and limping from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, America carried on, not without anger and fear against a group of innocent Americans, Muslim Americans. Nietzsche’s error of imaginary cause is present in the treatment of Muslim Americans since 9/11 through prejudice in the media, disregard of Muslim civil liberties, racial profiling, violence, disrespect, and the lack of truthful public information about Islam. In this case, the imaginary cause against Muslims is terrorism. The wound has healed in the heart of the U.S. but the aching throb of terrorism continues to distress citizens every day.
There are many different nationalities that get affected from racial profiling. Native Americans are one of them. Native Americans get stopped the religious things hanging from their car. American Civil Liberties Union stated “Indians are complaining about stops and searches by local police and sheriffs on roads leading to and from reservations” (27). This means cops just pull over Native Americans for the Religious articles hanging from their rearview mirror. Cops s...
The term hate crime first appeared in the late 1980’s as a way of understanding a racial incident in the Howard Beach section of New York City, in which a black man was killed while attempting to evade a violent mob of white teenagers, shouting racial epithets. Although widely used by the federal government of the United States, the media, and researchers in the field, the term is somewhat misleading because it suggests incorrectly that hatred is invariably a distinguishing characteristic of this type of crime. While it is true that many hate crimes involve intense animosity toward the victim, many others do not. Conversely, many crimes involving hatred between the offender and the victim are not ‘hate crimes’ in the sense intended here. For example an assault that arises out of a dispute between two white, male co-workers who compete for a promotion might involve intense hatred, even though it is not based on any racial or religious differences... ...
I also researched instances of counter actions taken by Asian Americans to protest against these negative images. My research also has examples of Asians that have succeeded in breaking through the racial barriers in the media. The results show that even though racial stereotyping still exists in various forms of mass media, there are signs that show noticeable improvement in allowing a more balanced image of Asian Americans. Statement of the Problem There are close to 12 million Asian Americans living in the United States (U.S. Asian, 2000). Asian Americans are considered one of the fastest growing minorities (Pimentel, 2001).
Now after the 911 terrorist attacks, the nation was pretty badly scarred, and many citizens didn't want to do anything but get revenge on the ones who committed this terrible act. On the Tuesday of September 9th, 2015, Inderjit Singh Mukker, a Sikh American inhabitant in the Darien suburb of Chicago, was violently attacked after the attacker pulled up to his car shouting racial slurs, including, "Terrorist, retreat to your nation, Bin Laden". It was on his way to the grocery store that Mr. Mukker was seriously insulted and harassed. Mr. Mukker pulled over onto Cass Avenue, on an attempt to let the driver pass, but was instead stopped on the middle of the road, and was forced to suffer many blows to his face. The punches made him lose consciousness, bleed heavily, and suffer a broken cheekbone. Although the suspect is in custody, this incident left a mark on Mr. Mukker, and maybe even the state of Illinois that it will never
For 20 years, Asian Americans have been portrayed by the press and the media as a successful minority. Asian Americans are believed to benefit from astounding achievements in education, rising occupational statuses, increasing income, and are problem-fee in mental health and crime. The idea of Asian Americans as a model minority has become the central theme in media portrayal of Asian Americans since the middle 1960s. The term model minority is given to a minority group that exhibits middle class characteristics, and attains some measure of success on its own without special programs or welfare. Asian Americans are seen as a model minority because even though they have faced prejudice and discrimination by other racial groups, they have succeeded socially, economically, and educationally without resorting to political or violent disagreements with the majority race. The “success” of the minority is offered as proof that the American dream of equal opportunity is capable to those who conform and who are willing to work hard. Therefore, the term ...
The Muslim Sikh community in the United States have been facing violence and discrimination against their people increasingly since 9/11. FBI: Dramatic Spike in Hate Crimes Targeting Muslims. (2012) . Retrieved from http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/fbi-dramatic-spike-in-hate-crimes-targetin. According to the FBI, Anti-Muslim has soared by 50% in 2010 since the September 11th attacks. The groups of people who encourage these types of hate crimes are misinformed and prejudice against a whole religion, instead of focusing in a humane way on a group of terrorists that caused so much turmoil in the United States.
The fact that hate crimes still occur in America is another signpost that tolerance is still an unheard of notion to a lot of people. In 2007 the Federal Bureau of Investigation released statistics showing that 2,105 law enforcement agencies reported 9,080 offences of hate crime. This includes vandalism, intimidation, simple and aggravated assault, and murder. This also includes not only race statistics, but religious, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and disability motivated crimes. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released statistics of discrimination charges for the same year with all ...
This is not to say that neo-Nazis or skinheads do not partake in criminal hate activities. By far the largest determinant of hate crimes is racial bias, with African Americans the group at greatest risk. In 1996, 60%, were promulgated because of race, with close to two-thirds (62%) targeting African Americans. Furthermore, the type of crime committed against this group has not changed much since the 19th century; it still includes bombing and vandalizing churches, burning crosses on home lawns, and murder. Ethnic minorities often become targets of hate crimes because they are perceived to be new to the country even if their families have been here for generations, or simply because they are seen as different from the mainstream population.
McVeigh, Rory., Michael R. Welch, Thoroddur Bjarnason. 2003. “Hate Crime Reporting as a Successful Social Movement Outcome.” American Sociological Association. 68: 843-867.
Today we have looked at the problem known as hate crimes and the varied causes which keep it in existence. We have also discussed some solutions to this act of hate.
Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2000. 167-186. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secon Ogawa, Brian K. Color of Justice: Culturally Sensitive Treatment of Minority Crime Victims. Allen and Bacon: Needham Heights, MA, 1999. Saleh Hanna, Viviane.