Sikh American Organization Seeks Apology from Senator Kerry Washington, DC— Following a campaign event during which U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (D-MA) singled out the adherents of the Sikh religion as terrorists, the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART), is demanding a correction of this error. The comment was made in Oklahoma City, OK on Saturday, January 31 as Senator Kerry responded to a question about the global terrorist threat. After stating that terrorism did not begin with the 9/11 attacks, Senator Kerry proceeded to give the examples of tensions in Northern Ireland, the Basque separatists in Spain, and the Sikhs in India. However, among the examples, none were mentioned by religion other than the Sikhs. In its letter to Senator Kerry, SMART stated, “Needless to say, the cause of some of these and other conflicts around the world are rooted in religion. Furthermore, based on your response, which was broadcast on C-SPAN and other news outlets, all adherents of the Sikh faith can be interpreted as condoning or being associated with terrorism.” SMART, the oldest national Sikh American civil rights organization, is seeking an apology from Senator Kerry and a meeting with the campaign staff. In its letter to Senator Kerry, SMART also stated Sikh Americans are still “…targets of discrimination and racial profiling as well as hate crimes based on the ignorance of individuals and stereotyping in the media. Your congressional staff has long worked with SMART on workplace discrimination and hate crimes issues, and we are confident that it was not your intent to single out adherents of the Sikh faith as terrorists.” SMART is awaiting a response from Sen. Kerry’s campaign before taking any further action and will keep the community informed about this issue. To view a C-SPAN clip of the Oklahoma City campaign event, please click here: rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/c04/c04020104_kerry.rm and forward to 31:30 (NOTE: This requires RealPlayer, available for free at http://www.real.com/). ### END ### CONTACT:Preetmohan Singh 202-393-2700 EXT 27 info@sikhmediwatch.org About SMART: SMART, founded in 1996, is the oldest national Sikh American civil rights organization. Our mission is to protect the rights of Sikhs through legislative advocacy, public education, legal assistance and ensure accurate portrayal of the Sikh religion. Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART) 1331 H Street, NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20005 TEL: 202-393-2700 FAX: 202-318-4433 EMAIL: info@sikhmediawatch.org WEB: www.sikhmediawatch.org
