I was very fortunate to be able to attend and participate in this year’s US Social Forum Conference hosted in Detroit, MI. SALDEF was invited as one of the participating organizations for a panel titled “The 9/11 Movement: Intersections and Movement Building Strategies.” The panel also included Adhikaar, DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), Sikh Coalition, and SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together) and focused on the post 9/11 climate and the intersection of perception and outcomes for minority communities. Being in an environment where there were over 10,000 activists was a refreshing change of atmosphere. Imagine walking into a building where thousands of people have gathered with one mission: to promote a national agenda of inclusive change. The USSF provides an opportunity for activists working on a range of social justice issues to network and find ways to collaborate. It was a unique experience to be sitting in a room with so many progressive South Asian voices, discussing issues that have been plaguing our individual communities in the post-9/11 era. Inclusiveness was the name of the game for this panel, as we spent time identifying the backlash felt in terms of physical hate crimes, as well as the mental and social abuses that have increased dramatically since the attacks. One of the key discussion points SALDEF highlighted was the unfair media coverage Sikhs faced in the days after 9/11. On the one hand, the simple case of misidentification of Sher Singh in Rhode Island as a terrorist made immediate news on outlets across the country – images of an innocent Sikh being taken off a train in handcuffs because he ‘looked suspicious’. On the other hand, Balbir Singh Sodhi’s tragic murder, the first post 9/11 hate-crime, did not gain the national coverage it warranted. These instances underscore the Media’s attitudes and lack of journalistic responsibility in the days after the attacks. In addition to speaking about imbalances in the media, we had the opportunity to talk about SALDEF’s continued strategies to address racial and religious profiling via the Law Enforcement Partnership Program (LEPP). We concluded the panel by discussing the need to create a “Pan-Asian” voice on hate crimes and discrimination. Essentially, we cannot just look at the affect of 9/11 separately, but also show how it escalated and built upon many existing tensions of racial equality with minority communities and the sociopolitical contexts of these problems.
