This Is America Narrative Report

The Introduction: What I Know, Assume, or Imagine: Being of a different race, different culture has always created challenges while living in America. I remember hearing about the incidents of racism my parents and grandparents experienced in this country throughout the majority of my childhood as well as witnessing and undergoing such events firsthand. An incident that has deeply scarred me dates back to when I was only ten years old. I remember walking along the sandy shore of Silver Beach with my dad, when a drunk white man approached us out of the blue screaming racial slurs and other discriminatory insults. I stood still as phrases like “You don’t belong here”, “This is America”, “F*** you, Bin Laden”, “Go back to your country, motherf*****!” stabbed me in the chest. My heart sank

Unfortunately, my dad was not the only victim that had been targeted by a hate crime. So many members of our Sikh community no matter the age were murdered or critically beaten into a state near death. However, the following year an incident occurred that left the entire Sikh community shocked around the world. On August 5th, 2012 a Sikh Gurudwara (place of worship) in Oak Creek, Wisconsin was attacked by a white supremacist. I remember it being a hot Sunday morning, we were on our way to our Sikh Gurudwara in South Bend when my dad received a devastating call about an incident that was being broadcasted on tv and many news channels. For a few minutes my dad did not say a word, but after my worried mom urged him to speak, he finally broke the silence and told us how a gunman had just attacked a Sikh Gurudwara. Again everything was quiet but this time it lasted the entire drive there. Once we had reached our Gurudwara, we were greeted with distraught elders, men and women worried about their decisions for coming to this country, worried about the lives of their loves ones, worried about their connection to their faith, religion, and