Honor Sikh temple shooting victims with meaningful change

By Suman Raghunathan and Lakshmi Sridaran

Friday, Aug. 7, 2015 | 2 a.m.

On Aug. 5, 2012, a white supremacist murdered six Sikh-Americans at their Gurdwara, or place of worship, in Oak Creek, Wis. We need to alter our policies — and our political discourse — to make sure such a tragedy never occurs again.

Unfortunately, what happened is becoming less of an anomaly due to a number of factors. Among them: South Asians are the most rapidly growing demographic group in the country, and unrelenting hate-related violence continues to target South Asians and communities of color at large.

In the past six months, there have been violent incidents toward Hindu, Arab and Sikh communities in New Jersey, North Carolina and California, respectively. Current policies do not allow for such incidents to be easily categorized as hate crimes. This must change.

And, sadly, our political debate is increasingly characterized by political rhetoric that paints some communities as disloyal, suspicious and un-American. The report “Under Suspicion, Under Attack,” released last September by South Asian Americans Leading Together, or SAALT, documented 78 instances of xenophobic political speech over the previous three years.

For example, presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said in 2012 of President Barack Obama, “I think it is very bizarre that he is desperately concerned to apologize to Muslim fanatics while they are killing young Americans.” Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim-American elected to Congress, was called a “radical Islamist” the same year by opponent Lynne Torgerson, who then falsely declared that Islam was not fully protected by the First Amendment.

We can only expect the debate to get worse this election cycle. GOP presidential contender Donald Trump already has described Mexican immigrants as “rapists and murderers.” Republicans in Congress continue to push an anti-sanctuary-cities bill that will undermine relationships between law enforcement and immigrant communities. We also have seen the Countering Violent Extremism program emerge from the federal government this year; it disproportionately focuses on Muslims and not enough on the real threats of white supremacists and domestic terrorism. The Oak Creek and the Charleston, S.C., shootings are the most violent in this alarming trend.

Communities continue to push for change. The Oak Creek murders helped drive a critical adjustment in the FBI hate-crimes-reporting protocol this year. For the first time, there are now categories for crimes motivated by anti-Sikh, anti-Hindu and anti-Arab sentiment. The White House also created a high-level task force last year focused on addressing hate violence nationwide.

However, it is crucial that there are strong hate-crime policies at the state and local levels, which is where the relationships among residents, community-based organizations and law enforcement are most important. The mayor of Oak Creek coordinated his city staffers and police and fire departments to develop a model first-response municipal policy after the shooting. The Arab American Association of New York and others successfully advocated for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office to establish a unit dedicated to investigating hate crimes last year.

We need to build on such policies and engage in civil political debate. Only then will we truly honor the Oak Creek victims.

Suman Raghunathan is the executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together. Lakshmi Sridaran is the organization’s director of national policy and advocacy. They wrote this for Progressive Media Project.