By Alex Davidson
The president of Richmond Hill’s Sikh Cultural Society said he and his congregation are taking steps to ensure they are not targets of anti-Muslim sentiment following America’s entry into war with Iraq.
Harpreet Singh Toor, head of the society at 95-30 118th St., said Sikhs have been working since Sept. 11 to raise public awareness after several hate crime incidents against them occurred following the attack by Al Qaeda terrorists.
Some Americans confused Sikhs with members of the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist group in Afghanistan that harbored Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, because of similarity in headdress, clothing and beards.
“We want to minimize the chance of anything like what happened after Sept. 11,” Toor said. “People here are definitely concerned something may occur.”
For two months after the terrorist attacks, borough Sikhs were targets of hate crimes by area residents. In late September, one Sikh was attacked in Richmond Hill as he was walking home after a religious service, while another was assaulted in mid-October on his way to a Richmond Hill gurdwara, or temple. Another incident in Manhattan occurred in October when a Sikh from Richmond Hill was shot at with a BB gun from passersby.
Satnam Parher, a member of the Gurdwara Sant Sagar temple on Braddock Avenue in Bellerose, said he had experienced misdirected bias attacks. In one instance, he was riding the J train in Brooklyn shortly after Sept. 11 when a group of teenagers shouted at him, “Oh, here’s the Taliban!”
Parminder Minhes, a member of the same temple, was surprised when the FBI came to his East Elmhurst auto-repair shop three months ago and asked about the pictures of Sikh priests on the wall.
“They said somebody told them we have pictures of Saddam Hussein,” he said. “Maybe somebody was playing a joke.”
Sikhs initiated a public education plan following the hate crime attacks to present the specifics of their religion and make sure people know they are not an Islamic sect.
Sikhism, instead, is its own unique religion founded in the region of Punjab of India during the 15th century. It is the fifth-largest religion in the world with more than 26 million followers, 3 million of whom live in either the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Toor said he is worried that Operation Atlas, the anti-terrorism operation in New York City aimed at finding or stopping local terrorist actions, police and other crime-stopping agencies will have less time to watch out for potential hate crime incidents. He said law enforcement agencies already have their hands full and might not divert their attention away from securing the city to preventing violent verbal or physical attacks.
He said the society has ordered thousands of bumper stickers and pins in a show of support for troops fighting in the gulf region. He said his congregation is not planning any specific event to address its concern over possible hate crimes, but instead is hoping its past public education campaigns on the religion’s history have better informed borough residents.
Richmond Hill is home to what was the first gurdwara, or temple, in the tristate area, founded in 1971 by a group of 18 families that later became known as the Sikh Cultural Society. One of those founders, Harbachan Singh, said the Sikh community is very supportive of troops in the Iraqi war.
“By and large, the general feeling is in support of what the president is doing,” he said. “There is solid support for that.”
Toor said the Sikh community has similar feelings to the American public about the war, with some members in favor of and others against a decision to go forth with an armed conflict. He said, however, now that a decision has been made, his community is backing United States troops.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 156
