{"id":76,"date":"2012-08-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/sikhs-greatest-fears-are-realised-peaceful-religion-targeted-in-temple-massacre-after-years-of-being-confused-with-911-terrorists\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:54:04","slug":"sikhs-greatest-fears-are-realised-peaceful-religion-targeted-in-temple-massacre-after-years-of-being-confused-with-911-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/sikhs-greatest-fears-are-realised-peaceful-religion-targeted-in-temple-massacre-after-years-of-being-confused-with-911-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"Sikhs\u2019 greatest fears are realised: Peaceful religion targeted in temple massacre after years of being confused with 9\/11 terrorists"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Sikhs\u2019 greatest fears are realised: Peaceful religion targeted in temple massacre after years of being confused with 9\/11 terrorists<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Many Sikhs have felt victimised since September 11 attacks<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Shooting in Milwaukee suburbs was latest in line of incidents targeting faith<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By Daily Mail Reporter<\/p>\n<p><strong>PUBLISHED:<\/strong> 03:21 GMT, 6 August 2012 | <strong>UPDATED:<\/strong> 09:42 GMT, 6 August 2012<\/p>\n<div><span>Half a million Sikhs in the U.S. have worried about their safety ever since the September 11 attacks, when some <\/span><span>began targeting adherents of a peaceful religion that stresses the equality of people.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span>Those fears came true on Sunday, when six worshippers were gunned down at a temple in suburban Milwaukee in a massacre which police believe was an act of \u2018domestic terrorism\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While police have not identified the gunman, who was killed by police, or described a possible motive for the Wisconsin shootings, several leaders of Sikh organizations nationwide say the killings have brought to the surface fears that have lingered since 9\/11, when some ignorant about their beliefs began mistaking them for potential terrorists.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>Nightmare: Armed police outside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in response to a massacre which left six worshippers dead on Sunday morning<\/p>\n<div>Grief: A Sikh man wipes away a tear in the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Wisconsin<\/p>\n<h2>Sikhs\u2019 greatest fears are realised: Peaceful religion targeted in temple massacre after years of being confused with 9\/11 terrorists<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>\u2018This is something we have been fearing since 9\/11, that this kind of incident will take place,\u2019 said Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Washington-based Sikh Council on Religion and Education.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018It was a matter of time because there\u2019s so much ignorance and people confuse us [as] being members of Taliban or belonging to Bin Laden.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Valarie Kaur, 31, a filmmaker from New Haven, Connecticutt who has chronicled Sikh attacks for 11 years, said the shooting \u2018is reverberating through every Sikh American home,\u2019 where the worst is feared.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Sikhs\u2019 greatest fears are realised: Peaceful religion targeted in temple massacre after years of being confused with 9\/11 terrorists<\/h3>\n<div>\n<h4>More\u2026<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Was Sikh temple massacre a race hate attack? Shooting rampage which killed six branded as \u2018domestic terrorism\u2019 after police see \u2018white supremacist\u2019 gunman\u2019s tattoos<\/li>\n<li>The priest, the policeman and the community leader: First victims of Sikh temple massacre revealed<\/li>\n<li>Neighbours of temple massacre gunman evacuated as FBI bomb disposal crew searches killer\u2019s home<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>\u2018We are experiencing it as a hate crime,\u2019 she said. \u2018Every Sikh American today is hurting, grieving and afraid.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The cloth turbans worn for centuries by members of the Sikh faith so they could better serve their communities through a commitment to the oneness of God in all faiths and equality for all people has ironically made them targets of those ignorant of their history, she argued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018That turban has tragically marked us as automatically suspect, perpetually foreign and potentially terrorists,\u2019 Ms Kaur said.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>Horror: Sikhs have long feared a backlash from people who confuse them with jihadi terrorists<\/div>\n<div>Confusion: Many members of Sikh communities in the U.S. have felt victimised since September 11<\/div>\n<p><span>Amarjit Singh, vice president of the Illinois Sikh Community Center, which serves 5,000 Sikhs, agreed about the September 11 fears and said the congregation prayed for the slain victims as word of the shooting spread.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018We have a lot of families who have family members that attend that temple,\u2019 Mr Singh said. \u2018It seemed so random.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Two elderly men wearing turbans were shot to death in March while taking a walk in Elk Grove, California, and police are investigating it as a hate crime.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Days after the 2001 terror attacks, a Sikh man was killed in suburban Phoenix. The man who was later convicted of his death had told his wife that \u2018all Arabs should be shot\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And at airports, controversy has erupted when airport workers try to search or remove Sikh turbans, considered sacred in the Sikh faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>Comfort: A father holds his daughter near the scene in Oak Creek where six Sikhs were shot dead<\/div>\n<div>Tragedy: On Sunday, Sikhs were faced with a disaster many had feared would eventually come to pass<\/div>\n<p><span>Though there were no known threats, the New York Police Department announced it was increasing coverage in an abundance of caution in and around Sikh temples.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Harkirat Sandhu, 45, of Hanover Park, Illinois, a member of the Sikh Religious Society of Chicago for more than 10 years, said he worried more Sikhs could be targeted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018The Sikh community is a peaceful community,\u2019 he said. \u2018We don\u2019t believe in this type of hate and crime. We condemn this situation.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018Americans of all faiths should stand in unified support with their Sikh brothers and sisters,\u2019 said Sapreet Kaur, executive director of the New York-based Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh American civil rights organization in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Barack Obama and his presidential challenger, Mitt Romney, expressed their sorrow in statements.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, whose parents are Sikh, posted a statement with condolences to \u2018the innocent victims and the family of the heroic officer\u2019 on her Facebook page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ms Kaur, the filmmaker, said she was encouraged by the outpouring from others, unimaginable a decade ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018My phone has been ringing off the hook,\u2019 she said. \u2018That gives me hope. Any expressions of solidarity, messages, prayers, will be felt not only by Sikhs in Milwaukee but all over the country.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h4>Sikhs\u2019 greatest fears are realised: Peaceful religion targeted in temple massacre after years of being confused with 9\/11 terrorists<\/h4>\n<p>P.S If you enjoyed reading my post and you feel you had value from it, please be so kind as to \u2018like\u2019, \u2018share\u2019 and \u2018comment\u2019. <strong>My mission is to provide as much service to others as I can.\u00a0 I am inspired by the motto,<\/strong><strong><em> \u201cWhatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.\u201d ~ Napoleon Hill<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sikhs\u2019 greatest fears are realised: Peaceful religion targeted in temple massacre after years of being confused with 9\/11 terrorists Many Sikhs have felt victimised since September 11 attacks Shooting in Milwaukee suburbs was latest in line of incidents targeting faith By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 03:21 GMT, 6 August 2012 | UPDATED: 09:42 GMT, 6 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14,25,6,7,8,221,46,222],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-empower-network","tag-empower-network","tag-high-income","tag-home-based-business","tag-marketing","tag-opportunities","tag-sikhs","tag-traffic","tag-wisconsin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/persan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}