In the latest racist and xenophobic attack, a 39-year-old Sikh man was shot in the driveway of his house in Kent, Washington, by a masked White man, and shouted at him, ‘Go back to your own country’. The Sikh man has survived the murderous attempt and released from the hospital. FBI has been called in to investigate the attack as a hate crime.
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“It is our belief and opinion, based upon the experience of my investigators, that our victim is absolutely credible and that this incident did occur as he has described,” said Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas, on the attack on the Sikh man.
Satwinder Kaur a faith leader with Sikh SOCH, a local community group, said that her community is shaken up after the incident.
“It’s hard to see somebody from your community being a victim of a hate crime. I’ve been here a long time and we haven’t seen something happening at this level,” Kaur said.
“I would tell them to continue their lives as they are doing every day and continue teaching neighbors and other people, talking to them. Don’t be scared. Just because we’ve been through one incident, it shouldn’t hold us back.”
“He is just very shaken up, both him and his family,” Jasmit Singh, a leader of the Sikh community in Renton said. “We’re all kind of at a loss in terms of what’s going on right now, this is just bringing it home. The climate of hate that has been created doesn’t distinguish between anyone.”
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Singh said Puget Sound-area Sikh men in particular have reported a rise in verbal abuse and uncomfortable encounters recently, “a kind of prejudice, a kind of xenophobia that is nothing that we’ve seen in the recent past.” “But at that time, it felt like the [presidential] administration was actively working to allay those fears,” he said. “Now, it’s a very different dimension.”
“Many Sikhs have become victims of hate crimes because of their appearance,” according to Sikhnet.
By Premji
