“You are under attack” and “Watch yourself”, a threat note inside a diaper in Richland, Washington, termed as hate crime. An Indian American Sikh couple, found a note on their doorstep. The couple is having a new-born baby and hence, it’s possible that the perpetrator is trying to insinuate a threat to the child, or even be mocking them, as Sikhs have been regularly ridiculed by racists for wearing turban.
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The couple, are long-time residents and the husband works as an engineer and has migrated from India several years ago. The couple had said that they have become frightened. They are more careful of their safety and has ever since stopped taking walks in the neighborhood. They have also put up security cameras around the house.
“Those things bothered us,” and the diaper and note were strange and upsetting, the husband said. “I’ve never had any bad interaction with any of my neighbors. I was very surprised. Why would anybody do this?”
The couple have enough reason to be worried. There are spate of crimes targeting the Indian community. Recently, a Sikh woman was sexually assaulted inside a gurudwara in Oregon and a Sikh man, Deep Rai, was shot on his property in the Seattle area of Washington.
People of all faiths from India have become targets of racially-motivated attacks. A Hindu Indian engineer from Andhra Pradesh, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, was shot dead in Olathe, Kansas.
The Sikh couple are not the only ones to be targeted. The husband said that he has also heard of other local incidents. A harassing note left on a car, harassing comments, Indian immigrant yelled at while out for coffee a few months ago.
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The husband said after he had shared online about the diaper and note, he has learned that a friend’s car had been hit with tomato sauce while parked at his house.
Now, he has a new anxiety, his parents are coming on a visit from India. He said they like to take walks, but “I’m probably going to tell them not to go on a walk, at least for a few days. Just to walk in the backyard.”
By Premji
