Sikhs: Religious minority target of mistaken hate crimes

Since 9/11, Sikh-American teams say members of their faith have confronted discrimination and abuse as a result of their lengthy beards and turbans have led them to be mistaken for Muslims.

In an announcement, the Sikh Coalition, America's largest Sikh civil rights group, stated that Sikhs are sometimes focused for hate crimes partially "as a result of Sikh articles of religion, together with a turban and beard, which characterize the Sikh non secular dedication to justice, tolerance and equality."

In 1699, Guru Gobind Singh commanded all Sikhs to put on the "Five Ks" with a purpose to establish themselves as a member of the Khalsa Panth, a military of the religious.

The "Five Ks" are: Kesh (uncut hair), Kara (a metal bangle), Kanga (a wood comb), Kaccha (cotton underwear) and Kirpan (a metal sword).

Religious Sikh males do not reduce their hair or shave as a result of they imagine you could keep your physique in the way in which that God created you. Turbans are worn as a approach to hold heads coated out of respect when in public and in non secular areas.

Sikh ladies typically cowl their heads with a protracted scarf known as a chunni or dupatta.

Hate crime

Within the first month following 9/11, the Sikh Coalition documented greater than 300 circumstances of violence and discrimination towards Sikhs within the US.

Final 12 months, multiple Sikhs told CNN that they felt no safer, 15 years after the terrorist assaults.

"The specter of hate and racism has change into part of our each day lives," lawyer and activist Valarie Kaur stated.

In 2012 a gunman walked into a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in Wisconsin and killed six folks.

Sikhs have additionally been topic to racial profiling exterior the US. Final 12 months, designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia spoke out after he was prevented from boarding an airplane in Mexico by native safety brokers after he refused to remove his turban during a security screening.

Ahluwalia stated Aeromexico employees and safety screeners instructed him to purchase a ticket for a unique service after he refused to take away his turban.

"I used to be upset, I had nervousness, I used to be shaking, I didn't communicate. After which I spotted, clearly, they haven't been educated correctly. I knew yelling won't do something. It's about training and the coverage," Ahluwalia instructed CNN on the time.

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Throughout his first deal with to Congress final week, Trump stated the violence was a reminder that "whereas we could also be a nation divided on insurance policies, we're a rustic that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its very ugly varieties."

However it's not sufficient for some.

"Just a few phrases of condemnation can not erase months of President Trump's personal divisive rhetoric and his administration's insurance policies concentrating on and stigmatizing the very communities most susceptible to hate violence," civil rights lawyer Deepa Iyer wrote last week for CNN Opinion.

Sikh-American leaders have known as on the President to handle the assault in Washington, whereas others have warned that his phrases might result in violence.

"What (Trump) says goes in need of being outlined as hate, however within the hearts and minds of the lay individual is translated as hate," Mejindarpal Kaur, worldwide authorized director of worldwide advocacy group United Sikhs, instructed CNN.