Sikh month in Delaware

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh: Indians living in the US are increasing getting exposed to hate crimes. The strains within the American political structure are too apparent to be ignored. The Southern Poverty Law Center, specializing in civil rights, has listed 1,064 such incidents in the first month of Donald Trump’s presidency. Though 13 of such incidents were found to be ‘false,’ the data does project a record of post-poll hate crimes. 

In the midst of threats of violence, the Delaware State Assembly recently passed a resolution declaring April as ‘Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month’. Delaware is a small Mid-Atlantic US state.

“We have fear mongering going on at the national level, and stereotyping…and all of that. It is an embarrassment for America,” State Governor John Carney told a delegation of Indian-Americans led by local community leader Charanjeet Singh Minhas.

Introduced in the state senate by Senator Brown Townsend, the resolution said Delaware stands with the Sikh community in denouncing hate crimes directed towards any individual .

“Since September 11, 2001, the Sikhs are often mistaken for Taliban or followers of Al Qaida, owing to the commonality of their beards and turbans, and subjected to a disproportionately high rate of hate crimes, and Sikh boys suffer bullying at least twice the national bullying rate for other boys,” the resolution said.

“The faithful service of the Sikh-American community to Delaware and the United States merits appreciation as an integral thread in the fabric of American plurality,” the resolution said as it proclaimed April, 2017 ‘Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month’.”

Community leader Charanjeet Singh Minhas said Delaware, which has a smaller Sikh community than in the other states such as California, New York and New Jersey, has taken a lead in showing solidarity with the Sikhs. 

Minhas, who is into software business, says despite the community’s growing presence, he has often been seen as an Arab Muslim or Taliban. He says he has participated extensively in interfaith work. “I have visited and introduced Sikhs and Sikhism in churches of various denominations and other places of worship and instructed the FBI, CIA, TSA, state and local law enforcement about why all Singh names are not related,” said Minhas. 

“I am thankful to my local Senator and friend, Bryan Townsend, for sponsoring the resolution. I am also grateful to all of the other legislators from both sides of the aisle and to Delaware Governor John Carney for supporting it,” he said in a statement.