Washington DC, August 31, 2006 – The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) today condemns comments made by Wisconsin U.S. House of Representative’s Republican Candidate Paul R. Nelson indicating that individuals who wear a turban and individuals named Mohammed are directly related with terrorism.
During an interview with Jeff Petersen of Wisconsin’s WIXK radio, Mr. Nelson suggested that Muslim males ought to be singled out, by airport security. “Racial profiling is one way that we can cut down on security risks,” said Nelson.
When asked to describe what a Muslim male looks like, Nelson responded “well, you know, if he comes in wearing a turban and his name is Mohammed, that’s a good start.”
In response to this outrageous statement, SALDEF has written a formal letter demanding an apology from Mr. Nelson and his campaign for his irresponsible and racist comments along with his public support of profiling suspects solely based on their physical appearance.
Additionally, SALDEF in conjunction with a diverse group of 30 organizations from across the country issued a joint letter yesterday to Mr. Nelson in opposition to his statements. Additionally, a similar joint opposition letter was sent to Congressman Pete King (R-NY), New York Gubernatorial candidate John Faso and Florida Congressional candidate Mark Flanagan for their flagrant support of racial profiling.
There are over 1.2 billion Muslims across the world who come from all races, ethnicities and national origins. Additionally, the vast majority of individuals wearing turbans in the United States are adherent’s of the Sikh faith. Any attempt to associate Sikh Americans and the entire Muslim community with terrorism shows a blatant use of racist policy and complete disregard for the diversity in American society.
“Supporters of racial profiling offer a dangerous view of law enforcement and only seek to criminalize a certain part of the community due to their perceived or actual religious or cultural affiliation,” said SALDEF President Mirin Kaur Phool. “Mr. Nelson’s support of racial profiling seeks only to demean a certain segment of society rather than truly support national security efforts to keep American’s safe.”
Law enforcement and terrorism experts, including the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have denounced racial profiling as ineffective and a waste of government resources. Racial profiling as a policy would spread National Security resources thin and force officials to investigate innocent civilians while possibly allowing credible security threats, who do not conform to government stereotypes, to go unchecked.
Additionally, efforts to legitimize racial profiling as a viable policy have resulted in misguided citizens conducting their own policing operations and either acting on their bigotry or exacting revenge on innocent individuals across the country. Sikh Americans have been subject to over 800 reported hate crimes and bias related incidents since the tragic attacks of 9/11.
Most recently on July 30 an innocent 66-year old Sikh American gentleman in San Jose, California was stabbed in the neck by a 25 year old assailant who thought, due to his turban and beard, he was a member of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.