Sunday’s attacks were immediately condemned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which also traces its roots to India and said the shooting demonstrated that more attention should be paid to religious education in the United States.
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| Photograph: Jeffrey Phelps/AP / The Guardian UK |
Source/Credit: Star-Ledger Staff
By Ryan Hutchins and Eugene Paik | August 06, 2012
For Sikhs in New Jersey, harassment and threats have been a part of life for a decade.
They are misunderstood, confused with Muslims and even labeled terrorists.
"I think every Sikh in America would have been called Osama at one point or another," said Prabhujeet Singh, a visitor to Nanak Naam Jahaj Gurudwara, a Sikh temple in Jersey City.
Sikhism is a peaceful religion. Its followers believe everyone is equal — men, women, Muslims, Christians — everyone. And they welcome people of all faiths into their places of worship, called gurdwaras.
Sunday, Sikhs were attacked at a temple near Milwaukee, Wis., where as many as seven people, including the gunman, were killed. It remained unclear last night what motivated the incident.
It left Sikhs in the Garden State worried. They were concerned they may know victims. And they were concerned for their own safety.
"Everyone has a fear … that it will happen to us, too," said Barjinder Singh Brar, president of the Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar in Woodbridge.
Township police stopped by the temple at least three times Sunday, he said. There were similar patrols elsewhere in New Jersey, in New York City and around the nation.
Sikhism is a centuries-old monotheistic religion started in the Punjab region of India. There are reportedly 20 million followers around the world. They represent just a sliver of the United States population.
Male Sikhs grow thick beards, long hair and cover their heads with turbans. They are, at times, mistaken for Muslims and have faced harassment since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was that month when a Sikh gas station owner was killed in Mesa, Ariz., by a man who said he was exacting revenge against the Islamic extremists who carried out the hijackings.
Sikhs have been hassled by strangers in the years since. Jersey City’s Prabhujeet Singh, a software programmer, said several children have called him "Osama," a reference to Osama bin Laden, the former al Qaeda leader. One time, a drunk man called him the same name, confronting him in a Pathmark. Prabhujeet Singh, whose surname is common to male Sikhs, said he tried to explain that he was neither Muslim nor a terrorist, but the man was too intoxicated to understand.
"He said ‘didn’t your brothers do this attack on 9/11?’ I said ‘no, I’m a Sikh.’ He started getting violent and I had to call the police," he said. "He just pushed me."
Because of such misinformed intolerance, Sunday’s shooting, while disturbing, was not surprising to Gulshan Singh, a member of the Bridgewater Gurdwara.
"There’s been a history," he said. "Once, we had a sign board outside that was burned down, and our kids in school — since they look differently — are bullied by others who tease them about what’s on their head."
This time, members of the temple are taking precautions to make sure the Wisconsin attack isn’t replicated in Bridgewater. They’ve asked the township mayor to increase police patrols until the fervor dies down, and temple leaders will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss other solutions.
In Woodbridge, the shooting did not fill worshipers with feelings of anger, said Brar, the temple president. Rather, it was a sobering reminder of how much further they must go to gain widespread acceptance.
Leaders there have been working to address that since 9/11, he said. They’ve been on an awareness campaign, working with local authorities and school officials to show the public who they are.
"The future generations will know," he said.
Sunday’s attacks were immediately condemned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which also traces its roots to India and said the shooting demonstrated that more attention should be paid to religious education in the United States.
"I have so may friends who are Sikhs. It is heart breaking to hear what has happened on a day of worship," said Nusrat Qadir, a Morristown woman who is a member of the Ahmadiyya community. "I hope everyone can understand that terrorism has no religion."
Read original post here: Temple shooting in Wisconsin leaves N.J. Sikhs fearful of similar attack
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