SALDEF Calls on Authorities to Investigate Stabbing as Hate Crime

December 6, 2011: Earlier today, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) called on local authorities to initiate a hate crime investigation into the stabbing of a Sikh man at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport on the evening of Sunday, December 4, 2011. READ MORE: Sikh Man Stabbed Waiting for Plane in Fresno (Fresno Bee) WATCH: Stabbing at Fresno Yosemite International Airport (ABC-30) According to the Fresno Police Department, a 56-year old Sikh man from India was stabbed near the security area at Fresno Yosemite International Airport while waiting to board his plane. The Sikh traveler suffered a minor cut to his upper torso, and was treated at the airport prior to resuming his journey back to India. The assailant, identified as 26-year old Mitchell Dufur, reportedly approached the Sikh traveler and stabbed him with a pocket knife, without provocation or exchanging any words. Dufur is now in custody, and being held under suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon, after he initially attempted to flee from the airport before being apprehended by the local authorities. READ MORE: Police ID Man who Stabbed Sikh with Turban in Attack at CA Airport (Washington Post) According to Fresno Police officials, they are working to determine why the victim was stabbed, but haven’t determined whether the act was in fact a hate crime, as Dufur has refused to talk with the police about the motive for this attack. SALDEF has been in contact with the Fresno Police Department to gather more details and information about this horrible incident and have offered our services to assist in the investigation in any way possible. SALDEF urges all Sikh Americans to immediately report any incidents of harassment, bullying or assault to SALDEF and your local authorities. If you or someone you know has been a victim of any racially motivated crime, please contact SALDEF directly at 202.403.0246 or via our Report an Incident Form.

The Know Your Rights program creates an open forum encouraging all Sikh Americans to understand their rights. As a part of SALDEF’s ongoing efforts to empower the community and strengthen partnerships with government, we are pleased to announce a series of  Know Your Rights (KYR) Forums for the Sikh American communities of Northern and Southern California in the month of December. December 4th: Guru Nanak Sikh Temple-Buena Park 12-1pm December 11th: Sikh Gurdwara Sahib-San Jose 11-12pm The following government agencies and representatives will provide community members with important information about employment discrimination, hate crimes, and government resources. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice, Local Law Enforcement Officials, Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and Department of Education will be presenting to community members. Additionally, this will be an opportunity to network with government recruiters and discuss employment opportunities. Since 2002, SALDEF has organized numerous educational workshops for Sikh American communities in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. SALDEF would like to thank the management of Guru Nanak Sikh Temple, Buena Park and Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, San Jose for participating, the leaders of the local Sikh American community, as well as the participating government agencies for their support. For additional information about this event or if you would like to organize a Know Your Rights Forum for your community, please contact Birpal Kaur by email at info@saldef.org or via phone at 213.985.1116.

Since its first introduction to the Senate floor, the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act, also called the DREAM Act, has often been associated with the Latino immigrant community of the United States. Fortunately, the bill would conditionally apply to all immigrants in the country. According to the DREAM Act website, the purpose of the Act “is to help those individuals who meet certain requirements, have an opportunity to enlist in the military or go to college and have a path to citizenship which they otherwise would not have without this legislation” (dreamact.info/student). The eligibility requirements target immigrants who have been living in the United States for five consecutive years, traveled here before the age of sixteen, and have received or are in the process of receiving an educational degree. The DREAM Act wants to keep those immigrants that have truly started to better their lives through the pursuit of higher education in the country. These men and women have created friendships, contributed to organizations, and participated in everyday life as an American.  America is their home and they are on the track to enrich the workforce and give back to the economy. The DREAM Act would ensure that these immigrants have a place in the American tapestry.

The DREAM Act is a piece of bi-partisan legislation pioneered by Senator Orin Hatch (R) and Senator Richard Durbin (D). Legislation similar to the bill has been introduced to Congress since 2001 and reintroduced in various other immigration bills. However, it was first introduced as the DREAM Act in 2007 by Senator Durbin. After failing to garner the necessary votes to pass, it was re-introduced in 2009, and most recently in May 2011. Each time, it failed to pass.

Students all across the country have rallied around the Act since its inception. America is known as a land for immigrants to fulfill and accomplish their goals and dreams. The DREAM Act would ensure that young men and women who have lived here most of their lives and perceive themselves as American, can be legally deemed so. Again, the DREAM Act would apply to all illegal immigrants who satisfy the initial requirements. Students like Mandeep Chahal would not have had to face the anxiety and painful ambiguity about the future of her life and her residency in America.

Mandeep is a third year UC Davis student who intends to go to medical school. After eight years of failed appeals to stay in the country, Mandeep and her mother were scheduled for deportation to their home country India on Tuesday, June 21. When friends and classmates of Mandeep first heard about the situation, they started a campaign to stop the deportation. The campaign rallied the support of the South Asian community as well as , an organization dedicated to comprehensive immigration reform. Their website launched a petition for Mandeep. Thousands of letters were sent in from across the country to stop the deportation and to have Mandeep stay at home in California. She and her mother have been granted a year long stay in the United States, a small victory in a battle that plagues many students just like Mandeep.

The DREAM Act would ensure that illegal immigrants who are viable contributors to academia and the workforce are allowed to stay at home in America and to actually utilize the talents and skills they have learned as American students. There are hundreds of cases like Mandeep Chahal’s in every immigrant community in the United States that need legislation like the DREAM Act to ensure that they can pursue their dreams.

Though the bill has not been passed several times, Senator Durbin still has hope. “We”re not quittin. I have not given up on you and you shouldn”t give up on me” (HuffingtonPost). I couldn’t have articulated the need for continued support of this act any better.

Coming to you from 634 S Spring St,
Jasleen K Singh

On Sunday June 5, 2011, SALDEF held its annual Southern California Fundraising Banquet at the Diamond Bar Center in Diamond Bar, CA. The event served as an opportunity to highlight SALDEF’s advocacy work and strengthen outreach with the local Sikh community. The event was attended by over 350 community members, who helped surpass our fundraising goal! Jagdeep Singh, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist, delivered the keynote address, sharing how Sikh values informed his path and guided his success. Jagdeep is the co-founder and CEO of Quantum Scape Corporation, as well as the cofounder and former CEO of several successful technology startups. His philanthropic interests center on education, supporting various Sikh causes and institutions, and endowing professorships at Stanford University. SALDEF Western Regional Director Bhupinder Kaur expanded on the organization’s key grassroots efforts and community empowerment programs, such as Know Your Rights forums, trainings done under SALDEF’s Law Enforcement Partnership Program, and Sikh Awareness presentations at local schools. Mrs. Kaur applauded the local community for leading efforts in activism and garnering a positive image of the Sikh community, in conjunction with area gurdwaras. “It is a defining moment in terms of our ability to grasp who we are and our legacy in this country. This current anti-immigrant climate has affected us and it’s also a moment for our community to decide whether to be victims or step forward and remind our country of our constitutional and founding values,” Kaur said. SALDEF representatives Jasjit Singh, Associate Executive Director, and Birpal Kaur, Community Relations Associate, also apprised community members of various initiatives to challenge racial profiling and proactively address hate crimes. Jasjit Singh added: “It’s important for us to celebrate the successes, but it’s extremely important to know about the challenges as well, because out of challenges arise opportunities.” The evening ended with the presentation of a $5,000 grant from the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California by its President, Puneet Kakkar. Entertainment included the Mehndi Group, local performers Gunjiv Singh “Baagi”, Jagmeet Singh “Hoodini”, and a Dhadee Jatha. SALDEF especially thanks community members and the gurdwaras of Southern California for their efforts in planning this successful and memorable event, as well as event photographer Jag Reyatt.

As a part of our ongoing effort to empower the community, a Know Your Rights Forum was held in Las Vegas, NV. Representatives from the FBI, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Las Vegas Metro Police Department discussed issues, such as cyber fraud, hate crimes, and employment discrimination. Each agency also presented career opportunities in their respective agencies to the sangat. To read a more detailed report about this, please click here. To conduct a similar forum in your community, please contact us. Founded on the principle of dasvandh, One Tenth Designs, an apparel company that donates 10% of each sale to a non-profit organization, will donate 10% of proceeds made in April to SALDEF. We encourage the Sikh American community to support this charitable company, thereby supporting SALDEF. Following the opening of the new San Jose Gurdwara in California, a local news station interviewed a number of Sikh American attendees of the celebratory event. In the airing of the segment, however, a young Sikh American student, whose image was displayed, was wrongly identified as a Muslim. SALDEF immediately contacted the local CBS station to notify them of their error, at which point they corrected the segment for the evening broadcast. SALDEF thanks volunteer Satinder Singh for bringing this error to our attention. Last month SALDEF volunteers Satinder Singh Mahli and Kavneet Singh conducted three one-hour workshops for roughly 100 students at Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, CA. This is the fifth year SALDEF has been invited to participate in the school’s Days of Diversity event. The first workshop provided an introduction to Sikhi and the history of Sikhs in the U.S., and was followed by a question and answer session, while the second workshop focused on specific civil rights issues faced by Sikh Americans. Students watched a turban tying demonstration and received SALDEF’s 2011 Pocket Calendars and Who are the Sikhs brochures. Later in the month, SALDEF Chairman Manjit Singh similarly presented on the Sikh faith to social science students at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, MD. The group of 25 students were very engaged and active participants in the discussion, and one student even had the opportunity to have a turban tied. If you would like SALDEF to conduct an anti-bullying or cultural awareness presentation at your or your children’s school, please contact us. Last month, SALDEF staff attended the Safe Schools Advocacy Summit, a three-day summit highlighting national support for the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA). The SSIA, which would require schools and districts receiving federal funds to implement and report on anti-bullying programs, was introduced in the Senate on March 8 and in the House on April 15. As part of the summit, more than 90 meetings were held with Senators, representatives and congressional staff to garner support for this bill, which would importantly protect Sikh American students. SALDEF has joined a broad coalition in addressing a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asking for changes to current immigration policies that force the separation of immigrant families. Notably, a 2009 DHS Office of Inspector General report estimated that between fiscal years 1998 and 2007, the federal government deported over 108,000 parents of U.S. citizen children. The letter, which can be read here, urges DHS to reform policies that protect family unity and stability.

CA Senate Leader and Politicians Celebrate American Sikh Day

American Sikh Day at the California State Capitol

(Sacramento, CA): Yesterday, on the steps of the California State Capitol, dozens of California elected officials, including Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, and hundreds of members of the Sikh American community and greater California community celebrated the first ever American Sikh Day in California. The event highlighted the history and contributions of Sikh Americans in California and the challenges the community faces.

The event, organized by Sacramento Sikh Temple and Senator Steinberg, included speeches made by a number of elected officials and interfaith and advocacy groups expressing their solidarity with the Sikh American community following the recent rise in attacks against Sikh Americans in California.

In November 2010, Harbhajan Singh was brutally attacked by two passengers in his cab in West Sacramento, CA. The assailants were apprehended and charged with committing a hate crime. Additionally, on March 4th  2011, Surinder Singh (67) and Gurmej Atwal (78) were shot in Elk Grove, CA during their daily afternoon walk. Mr. Singh was found dead, while Mr. Atwal, who was shot twice in the chest, is still in critical condition. The assailants have not been apprehended.

American Sikh Day at the California State Capitol

Senator Steinberg stated, “One thing we can all agree on is that prejudice and discrimination have no place in California.  No one should be the vicitm of a hate crime, no one should be the victim of differential treatment, no on should assume something negative about someone because they follow their religion.”

Many politicians, including Steinberg, donned turbans to express their solidarity with the Sikh American community during this troubling time. Three Sikh American youth, Aman Kaur, Gurjeet Singh, and Jujhar Singh, spoke about their experiences as Sikh American youth. READ MORE: Steinberg, legislators honor Sikh victims of Elk Grove shooting (Sac Bee) “Today, we come here partly because of tragedy but leave here with unity. It’s important we learn about each other and that’s why I wore the turban to support you all today. We all have common bonds as part of the American fabric and having that common love is what America is about,” stated California State Senator Doug LaMalfa. SALDEF commends the Sacramento Sikh American community for their vigilance in the wake of these tragic attacks as well as leadership in organizing this forum.

March 8, 2011 (Sacramento, CA): Yesterday, two assailants involved in the brutal attack of Harbhajan Singh in Sacramento, CA last November, admitted to committing a hate crime against the 56-year-old Sikh American cab driver. Pedro Ramirez, will be sentenced with up to 13 years in jail, and Johnny Morales, who could serve up to one year in jail, entered into a plea agreement on Monday, which allowed them to avoid a jury trial which was to start yesterday. SALDEF applauds the hate crime conviction, and applauds the Yolo County District Attorney’s office for prosecution of this case to the full extent of the law. On November 28, 2010, Mr. Singh was severely beaten and robbed by two passengers in his cab, as they yelled racial and ethnic slurs and called him Osama bin Laden. Mr. Singh, who wears a dastaar (Sikh turban) and beard in accordance with his faith, managed to escape but sustained serious injuries, including multiple lacerations, a fracture in his face and another one on his spine. SALDEF immediately issued a letter to local authorities, the Department of Justice, the US Attorney and the FBI requesting that they initiate a hate crimes investigation into the attack. READ MORE: No Contest Plea in Attack of Sikh Cabbie According to Mr. Singh’s attorney Amar Shergill, Mr. Singh is still healing from the physical and mental injuries he sustained during the attack, but looks forward to returning to work. “Mr. Singh is pleased that his assailants have admitted their crimes and will serve an appropriate sentence,” said Mr. Shergill.  “In light of the recent shooting of two elderly Sikh men in Elk Grove, the Sikh community takes some solace in the fact that law enforcement authorities aggressively prosecuted these crimes and that the greater community has been so supportive.” READ MORE: Attack on two Sikh men seen as possible hate crime Attacks on innocent individuals are always inexcusable, but crimes motivated by racial, ethnic or religious bias are especially heinous and have no place in our society,” said SALDEF Associate Executive Director Jasjit Singh. “We are pleased with the outcome of this case and that it was properly pursued as a hate crime and applaud the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office for this prosecution and the West Sacramento Police Department for their exemplary work in apprehending the assailants.”

Local Sikh Community to Hold Press Conference; Offer $10K Reward for Info on Shooting

March 6, 2011: Two elderly Sikh American men were shot this past Friday in Elk Grove, CA. Surinder Singh (67) and his friend Gurmej Atwal (78) were shot on East Stockton Boulevard during their daily afternoon walk. A nearby driver spotted the bodies of the elderly men along the sidewalk and stopped to call the police. Mr.  Singh was found dead. Mr. Atwal, who was shot twice in the chest, is in critical but stable condition. Both men wore dastaars (Sikh turbans) and had beards in accordance with their Sikh faith. Tomorrow, Monday, March 7, 2011, the Sacramento Sikh American community will be holding a press conference announcing a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooting of Elk Grove Police Chief Robert Lehner said in a statement: “We have no evidence to indicate there was a hate or bias motivation for this crime; however, the obvious Sikh appearance of the men, including the traditional Dastar headwear and lack of any other apparent motive, increasingly raise that possibility.” READ MORE: Elk Grove shooting investigated as possible hate crime (News10-TV) READ MORE: Attack on two Sikh men seen as possible hate crime (Sac Bee) “Theses attacks on two innocent and elderly individuals are utterly inexcusable,” said SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh, from Oakland, CA. “We call upon the Elk Grove Police Department and the FBI to ensure a thorough investigation is conducted and that hate crime charges are fully investigated against any culprits that are found.” The Sikh community of Stockton, Yuba City, and Sacramento and SALDEF are offering a $10,000 reward for information on the crime. Additionally. the Elk Grove Police Department has issued a $1000 reward and the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) today offered a $5,000 reward for information related to the attacks.  WHAT: Press Conference Reacting to Shooting of Two Elderly Sikh Americans WHEN: Monday, March 7th, 10 AM WHERE: Sikh Temple Sacramento 2301 Evergreen Avenue, West Sacramento, CA Just four months ago, a Sikh American cab driver was brutally assaulted in West Sacramento, CA after picking up passengers at a local restaurant. The assailants, who yelled anti-Islamic remarks as they beat the 56 year old driver, were apprehended by the police. READ MORE: Sacramento Sikh Cab Driver Severely Beaten

Local Sikh Community to Hold Press Conference; Offer $10K Reward for Info on Shooting

March 6, 2011: Tomorrow, Monday, March 7, 2011, the Sacramento Sikh American community will be holding a press conference announcing a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooting of two elderly Sikh American men this past Friday in Elk Grove, CA. Joining the Sikh American community will be leaders from local civil rights and interfaith organizations as well. WHAT: Press Conference Reacting to Shooting of Two Elderly Sikh Americans WHEN: Monday, March 7th, 10 a.m. (PST) WHERE: Sikh Temple Sacramento 2301 Evergreen Avenue, West Sacramento, CA Surinder Singh, 67-years-old, and his friend Gurmej Atwal, 78-years-old, were shot on East Stockton Boulevard during their daily afternoon walk. A nearby driver spotted the bodies of the elderly men along the sidewalk and stopped to call the police. Surinder Singh was found dead. Gurmej Atwal, who was shot twice in the chest, is in critical but stable condition. Both men wore dastaars (Sikh turbans) and had beards in accordance with their Sikh faith. READ MORE: Elk Grove shooting investigated as possible hate crime (News10-TV) READ MORE: Attack on two Sikh men seen as possible hate crime (Sac Bee) “These attacks on two innocent and elderly individuals are completely inexcusable,” said SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh, from Oakland, CA. “We urge the Elk Grove Police Department and the FBI to ensure a thorough investigation is conducted and that hate crime charges are fully investigated against any culprits that are found.” The Sikh American community of Sacramento, Stockton and Yuba City, along with SALDEF, are offering a $10,000 reward for information on the crime. Additionally. the Elk Grove Police Department has issued a $1,000 reward and the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) today offered a $5,000 reward for information related to the attacks. Just four months ago, a Sikh cab driver was brutally assaulted in West Sacramento, CA after picking up passengers at a local restaurant. The assailants, who yelled anti-Islamic remarks as they beat the 56 year old driver, were apprehended by the police. READ MORE: Sacramento Sikh Cab Driver Severely Beaten (SALDEF)

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CONTACT: Kavneet Singh,Managing Director, 510.545.4569, kavneet@saldef.org