Mistaken Identity: A Case of Racial Profiling
Harpreet Kaur
Even after ten years, the wounds still haven't fully healed.
The people of New York were traumatized by the horrible events they witnessed on September 11th, 2001. Many safety precautions were taken to prevent such incidents in the future, and the government began to keep an eye on suspected terrorists. But, some communities feel like they are, in a way, "paying" for what happened and are being held responsible.
"After September 11th, there has been a huge increase in hate crimes. People in the Sikh community and the Islamic community were misconceived as terrorists," said Harsimran Kaur, 36, who is the Legal Director of the Sikh Coalition, one of the biggest organizations for Sikh rights.
Sikhism is a religion based in Punjab, India. Sikhs are followers of Sikhism, which was founded in the 16th century in India. People of this religion are monotheistic and believe in ten gurus. They don't believe in sins, they believe that one who leads a good, normal life is overall a good person. Sikhs usually wear turbans and that is what leads people to mistake them for Muslims, often making them targets of discrimination by people who equate Islam with terrorism.
The Muslim community reported discrimination at places like work; discrimination at work usually had to do with their attire or religious views. Sometimes it took the form of opposition even to building mosques and other houses of worship. One example that received a great deal of media coverage was the Ground Zero Mosque, which was opposed by many New Yorkers. According to a survey issued by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, Muslim's faced increasing discrimination after 9/11. The survey, titled "Discrimination against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians in New York City Since 9/11," was distributed to 6,000 New York City residencies with South Asian or Middle-Eastern residents from 2002-2003. It found some surprising results.
Out of the 6,000 surveys, only 956 participants responded. The people were asked about their national origin, religion, borough of residence, and their gender. 47 percent of the respondents were Arab, 39 percent were South Asian, while seven percent listed the United States as their country of origin, and seven percent answered "other." A large percentage of the respondents were of the Muslim faith, but six percent were of the Sikh faith, while small percentages were Hindu, Christian, and other. A majority were males.
Of all of the respondents, 69 percent said that they faced some form of discrimination. The type discrimination the respondents faced was broken into four categories: bias-related (verbal or physical harassment based on race or ethnicity), housing, public accommodations, and employment. 37 percent of the respondents reported bias-related incidents, 26 percent reported employment based incidents, 25 percent reported public accommodations related incidents, and 11 percent reported housing related incidents. 79 percent of the respondents said they felt the discrimination was a result of the events 9/11. According to the survey's results, only 17 percent of the respondents actually sought help with the discrimination while 83 percent did not seek help. In the survey's executive summary, it stated:
"In the weeks following the attacks on the World Trade Center, evidence of harassment and violence against Muslims, Arabs and people of South Asian origin in New York City began to emerge. Records from the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force showed a noticeable increase in complaints and anecdotal evidence appeared in community forums and the media."
Ibrahim Hooper, the National Communications Director at CAIR said we are seeing "the anti-Muslim sentiment moving towards the mainstream. Presently, Muslim women are getting fired because of their headscarves from places like Abercrombie and Fitch."
In the survey, it is said that 26 percent of the reported incidents were employment related. One statement read, "Customers were reported to have subjected a noticeable number of respondents to epithets, often in stores or cabs where they were working. One self-employed respondent felt he had lost business contracts as a result of clients' prejudice. Another respondent, who wears a hijab, claims she was laid off because customers would not go to her."
In the survey, it is said that 37 percent of the types of discrimination were bias-related. One example of bias-related discrimination is that of Surjit Kaur. When Surjit Kaur's family went to the Statue of Liberty in 2009, people began verbally assaulting them with racial slurs.
"My family and I went to the Statue of Liberty to go sightseeing one summer. When we were going into the park, many people gave us dirty looks and made comments on our clothes and such," Kaur said.
"They were cursing at us and saying things like 'F--- you, you terrorists' or 'Are you going to bomb the Statue now?'" the 42-year-old Bronx resident said. Kaur is a Sikh woman and she often wears her traditional clothing, as do many of her family members and friends. "I sometimes think I should not dress in my country's clothes, you know, because people are always being rude and racist," Kaur said.
Several months after 9/11, the United States government began deporting people suspected of terrorism. Because the United States government had begun racial profiling, and suspected many Islamic communities of terrorism, "a huge number of the Bangladeshi community was deported after 9/11," said Harsimran Kaur.
Deportations, racial slurs, discrimination, and not to forget the hate crimes—there have been a fair number of hate crimes against Sikhs and Muslims after 9/11. A Muslim cab driver was stabbed after being asked if he was Muslim in 2010; a Sikh boy was harassed because of his patka (a small turban) and was punched in the face by a fellow student in 2008; a Muslim woman was attacked on the street by two other women in 2011; a Sikh boy's hair was forcibly cut by another student in 2007; and the list goes on. All of these incidents happened in New York City.
One question still lingers, will everything heal? Will all of these communities learn to live together in peace? Perhaps, but it's going to take time. "There are a couple of things we need to address... we need to keep pressuring the government so they are targeting actual terrorists rather than whole communities," said Harsimran Kaur. "The Sikh community needs to educate other communities about who we are. Join the local PTA if you're a parent. Get involved with a local community advisory council. We need to let them know about our ways, about who we are."
"We need to let them know about our ways, about who we are," Kaur concluded. When will people learn this? When will they learn that those they call terrorists who may not even have anything to do with terrorism have been trying to let them know who they are all along? It's time we begin to listen. It's time for justice to be served.
