Stopping the Violence Against Sikhs Is Goal

It was a gathering that mixed sorrow and fear, patriotism and defiance.

Several hundred Sikhs, religious leaders from various faiths and politicians came together Wednesday in Santa Ana to call for an end to violence against Sikhs in the wake of last month’s terrorist attacks.

“Why are our fellow Californians afraid to drive to the store to buy an American flag?” Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante asked the crowd at the Sikh Center of Orange County. “Why are Sikh schoolchildren being harassed on school grounds? Americans ought not attack other Americans. That’s exactly what the terrorists want. To divide and conquer.”

Since Sept. 11, Sikhs around the nation say they have been targeted because they look Middle Eastern and because Sikh men wear turbans. In the most notable case, a Sikh immigrant from India was killed outside his Mesa, Ariz., gas station in what authorities there called a hate crime.

Ten days ago, Swaran Kaur Bhullar was driving to work in San Diego when two men riding a black motorcycle burst into her car at a stoplight and threatened to slash her throat.

Now, Bhullar won’t leave her home. Each time she sees someone riding a black motorcycle, she said she wonders: Is that one of the men who shouted “This is what you get for what you’ve done to us.”

On Wednesday, the 51-year-old mother of three ventured out again to tell the story of the attack, which left her with cuts on her scalp. No arrests have been made, and San Diego police say the case is just one of 43 cases under investigation as possible hate crimes since the terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon.

“I’m just happy to be alive,” Bhullar said as she fought back tears. “Nobody deserves to be treated like this. I am in a free country. I shouldn’t have that type of fear.”

But fear has become a staple of life for Sikhs.

“We are scared,” Jasjit Singh Ahuja, an Irvine pediatrician, told the gathering. “And our fear is of the worst type. It’s not a fear for ourselves, but a fear for our husbands and children.

“This is a wake-up call for the Sikh community. We have failed to educate the community about who we are.”

To that end, Bustamante said the state is working with Sikh leaders who are developing coloring books and other teaching materials that will be distributed to schools to foster an understanding of the 500-year-old faith. Southern California is home to more than 70,000 Sikhs.

“Americans who wear turbans are Americans, not terrorists,” Bustamante said.

And the message for Sikhs, he and others said, was to stand up and not hide.

“We need to go out of our homes and let people know who we are and what we stand for,” said Sikh community leader Kirtan Singh Khalsa. “Please, let us not let fear prevail.”