ImamMohammad Ali Elahi, of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, is an American citizen. He has lived in America for 18 years.

As a Muslim and an Imam, Elahi wears robes and the traditional amamah headwear of a Shi'a leader, which has made him a prime candidate for searches at airports.

On Oct. 22, after getting off a return flight from his native Iran at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Elahi was picked for a search. After a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer searched his luggage, they decided to search Elahi's laptop.

"This is not the first time I've been searched. I am accustomed to it," Elahi said. "I told the officer I had nothing to hide, and they took it away."

When CBP officers brought his computer back 20 minutes later, it was broken.

"I lost eight years of my work, since I did not have any backup of the information. They did not even apologize," Elahi said. [Link]

A drunken man was arrested early Wednesday morning after police say he repeatedly punched a taxi driver in the back of the head, complaining that he was an immigrant from a Muslim nation.

Police say the man continued to threaten the diver near 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest Market Street until officers were called.

The man was booked for into King County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief.[Link]

A soldier who pulled off a man's turban during an Edinburgh nightclub scuffle because he "didn't like" people with turbans has been fined £280.

Raty Yavala, 29, had just returned from fighting in Iraq with the First Scots Regiment when he went out in Edinburgh.

Yavala, from Fiji, was in the All Purple Bar in Hanover Street when he began arguing with another clubber.

Yavala pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to a breach of the peace at the club on 30 September 2007.

Yavala, who is based at Dreghorn Barracks near Edinburgh, shouted and swore at the Sikh man before pulling off his turban and calling him a racist name. [Link]

A place of worship for Muslims in Omaha was the target of vandals.

It happened at a mosque near 133rd Street and Q Street.

Somebody threw a rock through the front door and shattered the glass sometime between Monday and Tuesday night.

A worshipper at the mosque, Bilal Khaleeq, believes the attack was a hate crime. “This is where we offer our prayers. We build our community, bring our children to educate so it does have a lot of emotional attachment,” Khaleeq said. [Link]

A Muslim student was attacked at Elmhurst College in what school officials described as a hate crime had found anti-Islamic slurs and a swastika scrawled in her locker a week earlier, police and students said Friday.

The 19-year-old sophomore told police a masked, male attacker struck her in the head with a handgun about 8:30 p.m. Thursday after she entered a restroom in the school's Schaible Science Center. She suffered a concussion.

Threatening graffiti - "Kill the Muslims" - was written on a mirror in the restroom, students and police said.

Earlier Thursday, the victim had spoken at a demonstration called to denounce the anti-Islamic slurs and swastika she had discovered Oct. 2 in her locker, school officials and students said. Among the slurs was the phrase "Die Muslims."

Both cases are being investigated as hate crimes, Elmhurst College spokesman Charley Henderson said.

"They have some common threads," Henderson said.

The victim - who wears an Islamic head scarf - and two other Muslim students had been verbally harassed and taunted Sept. 18 during a campus protest calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, friends said.

The Thursday night attack triggered an hourlong lockdown at the college while police searched the campus - and prompted hundreds of students to rally again Friday to protest the incident and call for unity. [Link]

He is here to treat people but now an Indian doctor whose nose was fractured in a racist attack in Lancashire says he wants to leave the UK.

The 32-year-old who does not wish to be named was subjected to racist abuse from a gang of teenagers as he tried to make his way to a late on-call shift.

Having lived in England for four years, two of which he spent in Southampton the doctor said he now wanted to leave the country for good. Over thirty percent of doctors working in UK hospitals are from abroad.
advertisement

"My perception of England is totally different now. This is not the England I was told about. And I would advise any doctor thinking of coming and working here to think twice.

"Although I have received no abuse on the hospital grounds, every other day since I moved to the area I have got the odd comment about the way I look but nothing like this.

"I'm trying to move, not only out of this area but out of the country. My wife says she does not feel safe here and wants to get out as soon as possible.

"She feels there is no guarantee that this won't happen again.

"I have friends across the world in America, Canada and the Middle-East. None of them have had this happen to them."

The incident happened as the doctor was heading to a shift at the hospital at 9.50pm when he was approached by a gang of about seven men, close to a Day and Night shop in the old Blackburn Infirmary area.

"It began with comments like Where is your mosque?' and We are paying for your taxes to be here'. Soon it deteriorated with more racial abuse like You black bastard'. I am Sikh and people's ignorance here is beyond belief.

"I thought this was nonsense as I am a highly skilled professional and it was not difficult for them to see I was a doctor - I had a stethoscope and a hospital badge on my jacket.

"Little do these people know that my wife and I pay over £10,000 in taxes and national insurance to live and work here.

"Soon one of them said We will kill your family if you don't move out. We know where you live.' And then he headbutted me."

Police confirmed they are investigating the incident and are still keen to speak to anyone with information about the attack.

They can contact Crimestoppers anonymously 0800 555 111.

Police are particularly keen to speak with a woman in a red car who stopped and spoke with the victim and may have seen what happened. [Link]

A man who was known to have begged for cash on street corners in Richmond Hill, Queens, was found dead about 5:40 a.m. Friday on a sidewalk next to a Sikh temple on 97th Avenue near 118th Street, the authorities said.

The man had suffered head injuries, and investigators said they found a stone and a stick near the body that might have been used in the killing. On Friday night, two traffic cones and a barrel linked by yellow police tape marked the place where the body was found, near the Sikh Cultural Society, which doubles as a community center and a prayer hall for the neighborhood’s large Sikh population.

The man, who appeared to be in his 50s, carried no identification, and the police did not know his name as of late Friday.

The man was familiar to people in the area, though the police said that residents interviewed on Friday did not know his name, where he lived or whether he had a home. At least one resident said that the man had a wife and children in India, and that he was probably from northwestern Punjab State because he spoke the language of that region.

That resident, Jasminder Singh, said that the man prayed at the Sikh temple twice a day, but that he did not wear a turban, as other Sikh men do. [Link]

With the help of his family, Meetpal Singh fought to live for twenty months after he was shot five times inside the corner store he owned in Evanston.

He came here from India 20 years ago, a member of the Sikh religion, with a philosophy of hard work honesty and equality. That's how he treated his customers.

Local 12's Deborah Dixon tells us he died wondering why the last customer in his store shot him.

On October 14th, 2006, Meetpal Singh called 911 from inside the Blair Market after he was shot five times. A security camera recorded the violence.

Now, nearly 20 months later Singh is dead. His body could no longer fight the effects of the bullets.

Old customers at the market passed out reward flyers for what is now...murder. While Meet Singh was being shot inside eyewitnesses say a lookout stood at Woodburn and Blair. Then they both got into a dull green Camaro. "My father would have wanted to know why what is the reason for this."

Until now, the Singh family thought little of the shooter, focusing more on caring for Meetpal. He was at home the past 8 months.

The video puzzles them. The shooter didn't ask for anything or take anything. Even though police believe he was part of a robbery gang. "I'm hoping it's a robbery gone bad it would be disgusting if the motive were hate." [Link]

Last week, a Sikh American family in Albuquerque, New Mexico awoke to find their vehicle had been defaced in an act of racist vandalism.

Mr. and Mrs. Singh, who have asked to maintain their anonymity, awoke in the morning to find their car vandalized with an extremely offensive picture of male genitalia and the statement, “(explicative removed) Alah!”

Additionally, in a phone conversation with SALDEF, the family feels they have been victim to at least two previous bias crimes. Both of the previous incidents involved a single white male between the age of 20 and 30 shouting at the couple and in one case involved an alleged physical attack with the man throwing stones at Mr. Singh.

A formal complaint has been filed with the Albuquerque Police Department; however, the investigation is still ongoing. SALDEF has engaged in direct communication with these authorities to ensure that there is an increase in patrols in the area and that the hate crime investigation continues. [SALDEF Advisory]

The teachers who lead three culturally based clubs at Hightstown High School are convinced that the burning of a Sikh student’s turban earlier this month was not a hate crime.

Wilson Hernandez, faculty advisor for the Adelante Club and Jewish Student Union, and Marilyn Jose, faculty advisor for the South Asian American Club, said Wednesday that the consensus throughout the school is the victim was not targeted for his religious beliefs.

On May 5, Garrett Green, 18, a senior at the high school, was charged by borough police with arson and criminal mischief for allegedly lighting a 16-year-old’s turban on fire with a cigarette lighter during a fire drill. On May 14, just before Mr. Green’s arraignment in Municipal Court, police added charges of bias intimidation and aggravated assault.

”When this student was flicking his cigarette lighter all over the place it was nothing more than a lack of impulse control,” Ms. Jose, who did not witness the incident, said. “None of us believe it was a hate crime, especially the kids.” [Link]

A Hightstown High School senior accused of lighting a fellow student’s turban on fire was charged with a hate crime during his arraignment in municipal court Wednesday evening.

The accused, Garrett Green of Hightstown, is the 18-year-old adopted son of Peddie Head of School John Green, who declined comment Thursday.

Judge Gregory Williams entered not-guilty pleas on Garrett Green’s behalf for charges of bias intimidation and aggravated assault in addition to earlier charges of arson and criminal mischief, which were reported in last week’s edition of the Herald.

All charges against the 18-year-old, who was released on his own recognizance, will now be presented by the Mercer County prosecutor’s office to a grand jury to determine if he will be indicted.

Hightstown Police Chief James Eufemia explained that the two charges were added Wednesday after the department completed its investigation that day into the May 5 incident in which Mr. Green allegedly used a cigarette lighter to set the victim’s headpiece ablaze.
”The aggravated assault charge was added because the student was set afire and that there was intent to cause serious bodily injury,” he said Thursday. “The bias intimidation was added because a patka, which is a Sikh religious symbol, was set afire.”

The victim, whom police said was not injured in the incident, lives with his uncle, Harjot Pannu, in East Windsor. Mr. Pannu attended Wednesday’s arraignment and said that while he feels Mr. Green is guilty, it’s up to authorities to make that decision.

”If you endanger someone’s life and try to hurt them, then you’re guilty in my mind,” Mr. Pannu said outside the courtroom. “This incident has left a big impression on us.”

When asked how his 16-year-old nephew is coping with the assault, Mr. Pannu added the boy is “angry.”

”It can be mentally damaging. He’s shocked about what happened,” he said.

East Windsor Regional School District Superintendent Ron Bolandi said this week that the victim returned to school immediately after the incident took place and that students and staff are “embracing” him.

”He had to go back to school. He has exams,” Mr. Pannu said. “He’s got no other option.”

Mr. Green attended the arraignment with his mother and his West Trenton based attorney, Scott Krasny.

None of the three would comment after the arraignment.

Mr. Bolandi said the district’s investigation did not indicate a hate crime had been committed (see related story on 1A) but the district dismissed him permanently from school.

A source close to the situation told the Herald that Garrett Green is a special education student with emotional issues.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bolandi said he felt law enforcement officials were being pressured to file such a charge. And later that day Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, R-12, notified the media that she had made a request to the Mercer County prosecutor’s office that a bias crime charge be filed. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor said later that day that her office eventually would review the case, but that had not taken place before the arraignment.

Thursday morning, Chief Eufemia said, “This department was not under pressure by anyone. We investigate every incident, then charge the appropriate offenses, if applicable.”

Mr. Bolandi said Thursday that he was surprised at the hate crime charge.

”The police must have a different threshold than we do,” he said.
”It’s an unfortunate incident,” he continued. “We did the best that we could.”

Mr. Bolandi also said he wished “people understood the entire situation, rather than reacting to it, and lived it and understood Hightstown High School.”

In a reference to people that he said did not include police, he added, “These are outsiders trying to give Hightstown High School a black eye.” [Link]

New Jersey's Sikh community is outraged after a fellow student set fire to the turban worn by the Sikh teenager in an unprovoked attack at school.

The victim, who is a minor and would like to remain anonymous, is one of only two turban-wearing Sikhs attending Hightstown High School in New Jersey. On Monday, May 5, 2008, the school held a fire drill and all students were instructed to gather on the school playground. The Sikh student was chatting to his friends when a student he did not know came up behind him and set fire to his patka using a lighter.

The Sikh student "felt something hot" on his head and immediately patted his patka to put out the flames. Disaster was averted, but a great deal of emotional damage had already been done.

"No mother should have to worry that her child could be hurt at school because of the way he looks," said Sukhjot Kaur, the teenager's mother. [Sikh Coalition Press Release]

The threatening letters arrived throughout 2006 and 2007 at two of Beacon Hill's most popular restaurants. They came with photos of gun-toting men and taunting messages for the owner of both eateries, a successful businesswoman who was born in Iran, came to the United States decades ago, and is an American citizen.
more stories like this

A photograph of an Israeli soldier brandishing a machine gun was tucked inside one letter, while another contained an image of actor Dustin Hoffman, lifted from the 1976 movie thriller "Marathon Man," pointing a gun directly at the viewer.

"See you at the Taj!" the writer taunted in a letter sent last June, two days before the owner was to present food from her two eateries at Taste of Beacon Hill, a local restaurant fair hosted by the Taj Boston Hotel.

After months of investigation, the FBI announced yesterday that agents had arrested 65-year-old real estate broker Earl F. McBride Jr., who lives in a Bowdoin Street boarding house just a few blocks from the restaurants.

He's charged in a one-count federal indictment with mailing a series of threatening communications to the restaurant owner, beginning in November 2006.

"The reason the FBI takes this case so seriously is we do look on it as a potential hate crime," said Warren T. Bamford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, adding that investigators believe McBride targeted the restaurant owner because she is a Muslim.

"We're still trying to determine what [McBride's] motive and thought process was," Bamford said.

The restaurant owner, who is identified in the indictment only by her initials, does not know McBride, according to the FBI. She declined to comment about the case yesterday and asked the Globe not to name her.

"She's a hard-working, loyal American citizen who has been threatened for no reason other than her ethnic background," said Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, following a bail hearing for McBride yesterday in US District Court.

Initially, McBride was given a federal defender, who is paid by the government to represent defendants who cannot afford to hire their own lawyers.

But that quickly changed when Kelly told the court that when McBride was arrested yesterday morning he had a bank receipt in his pocket that indicated he had $90,000 in an account.

"I know based on this bank account he's not eligible for court-appointed counsel," said US Magistrate Judge Timothy S. Hillman, who instructed McBride to hire his own lawyer. An arraignment was sceheduled for May 22.

The magistrate released McBride on a $20,000 unsecured bond and ordered him to stay away from the two restaurants, all of their employees, and potential victims or witnesses in the case.

Dressed all in black - turtleneck sweater, dress slacks, and boots - McBride declined to comment as he left the courthouse after signing bond papers, saying he had been advised by his lawyer not to discuss the case.

The first threatening letter arrived at one of the woman's restaurants in November 2006, shortly after it opened. Then, according to the indictment, more letters soon arrived at the owner's other restaurant.

"It's an indication that this can happen anywhere, in suburbs and in affluent sections," Bamford said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there was a spike in hate crimes against American Muslims for several years, according to Bamford.

While the number of such crimes has since dwindled, Bamford said they still happen, prompting the FBI to constantly do outreach in the American Muslim community so victims will come forward and report attacks or harassment. "We still continue to look at hate crimes as extremely serious cases," he said. [Link]

The driver of Orange Cab No. 710 fears the night. He wonders if passengers will rip his turban from his head, sink their teeth into his scalp or call him a terrorist.

Life for Sukhvir Singh has been full of unease since 7:59 p.m. Nov. 24. That's when Luis Vazquez climbed into the back seat.

Vazquez had been barred from the Apple Cup football game at the University of Washington because he had too much to drink. Police hailed a cab. Singh barely had time to greet the young man before Vazquez exploded, his fists, bites and choke holds assailing him as he drove south on Interstate 5.

Vazquez saw Singh's lush beard and the cloth wrapped on his head and came to a drunken conclusion: "Iraqi terrorist!" he screamed.

But Singh, 49, is not a terrorist. He's not from Iraq. He isn't even Muslim.

Vazquez missed that and more about the man behind the wheel, an immigrant who loves America -- "heavenly," he calls it -- and believes in treating all with kindness and respect.

When hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11, Singh, a Sikh, was saddened and angered that people could do such a heinous thing to his country. He cried.

Vazquez missed a chance to learn about Singh's past encounters with deadly prejudice.

Singh was born in 1958 in Punjab, a northern state in India. After high school, he studied welding and migrated to Bombay, where he learned to operate heavy machinery.

Life appeared promising until 1984, when Indian troops stormed a Sikh temple and killed hundreds. In retaliation, two Sikh bodyguards assassinated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, triggering spasms of violence. Facing religious persecution as well as death, Sikhs fled the country.

Singh went to Dubai in the Middle East. He worked construction and operated cranes and dump trucks, toiling 16 hours a day in stifling heat.

Through it all, America remained in his heart. He kept in mind the four words he once read on U.S. currency: "In God We Trust." Sikhs are devout and place God above all things, and Singh appreciated a country that so openly respected faith.

After hearing about the 1998 impeachment of President Clinton, Singh figured a nation that could drag a president to trial must be a place where laws apply to everyone -- a just country.

Vazquez missed learning how Singh built a life in America with sweat and hope.

Singh got a visa in the late 1990s, he said, followed by asylum. Seattle became home. He worked as a cashier at a gas station in Rainier Valley. In 2000, he started to drive cabs at the airport and, three years ago, he bought his own cab. He saved up and bought a home in Kent for his wife and their two teen sons.

With each tick of the taxi's meter, his dream took shape.

During the attack, Singh wasn't thinking about just himself. He feared for other motorists and did all he could to avoid swerving into cars or a nearby bus as Vazquez reached for the steering wheel.

Singh managed to pull into a car pool lane and stop. Vazquez was still on top of him, still pummeling him after yanking out clumps of Singh's long hair. Hair is sacred in the Sikh faith; Singh felt humiliated.

Police rushed to the scene and eventually arrested Vazquez. Later, at a hospital, Singh's kidneys, injured in the attack, faltered. But one thing didn't: his belief in our justice system.

Singh's kidneys would rebound. His bite wounds and bruises would heal.

During a monthlong convalescence, his bills piled up, which is why Singh now drives seven days a week, 10 hours a day.

"I love my job," he said the other night after taking an ailing woman to a hospital near Sea-Tac. "Every customer is a VIP to me."

The emotional wounds will take longer to mend. He and fellow Sikhs fear they might be singled out and beaten at Mariners or Seahawks games, or attacked just because of how they look.

And yet, amazingly, Singh forgives his attacker. Forgiveness is part of his faith, as natural to him as the turban his Sikh religion requires he wear.

In the court sentencing for Vazquez on Friday, the guilty man and his lawyer told a judge that Vazquez blacked out during the attack and doesn't remember it.

"I apolo--," Vazquez said aloud, his otherwise perfect English becoming tangled. "Apologize."

Singh, seated feet away, looked on with kind eyes. I looked at Vazquez, too, and thought the venom he spewed in the cab was in him all along. Alcohol just opened the gates.

Vazquez was sentenced to community service and nine months in jail, which can be served as work release.

Singh wrote the judge and said he wanted Vazquez to be punished and learn a lesson, but "I don't want to ruin his life" -- words that helped spare the 21-year-old a stiffer sentence.

A hate crime detoured Singh's life, but he never lost his way. This man whose first name means "gives comfort to everybody" followed the map of the human heart and found compassion.

Riding in No. 710 last week, I asked Singh if he saw Vazquez hailing a cab in the future, whether he'd pick him up.

"Why not?"

"Our duty," Singh said later, dropping me off, "is to make this planet more livable and more lovable." [Link]

A 21-year-old Kent man will spend nine months in jail for brutally beating a cab driver while in a drunken rage last fall.

The defendent, Luis Vazquez, could have been sentenced to as much as 16 years in prison for the hate crime and other assault-related charges. But he didn't because that's what the victim wanted.

In court on Friday, Vazquez said he didn't know why he attacked the cab driver, [Sukhvir] Singh. He said the racial slurs and the brutual beating were the result of his over-consumption of alcohol.

"I'm really sorry, what I put you through and the emotions I put you through," Vazquez told the victim in court. "I'm really sad."

At the time of the incident, Vazquez was drunk and had just been kicked out of the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium. That's when he got inside [Sukhvir] Singh's cab.

While the cab was southbound on I-5, Vazquez began punching Singh in the head, calling him an 'Iraqi terrorist' and blaming him for 9-11. Images of the attack were caught on the cab's dashboard camera.

When Singh pulled over and tried to run away, Vazquez tackled him and kicked him repeatedly in the head.

Today, Vazquez asked for forgiveness - he got it, but with a life lesson from his victim. [Sukhvir] used an interpreter to help him say it.

"It should be known it's not good to have hate towards any humanity," Singh said in court.

Singh later said he knew he was being attacked because of the way he looks - he thinks his turban triggered the attack. But he's not Iraqi - he's Sikh.

"Sorry I'm making you look over your shoulder, and messed up your life," Vazquez told him.

Vazquez told the judge he didn't remember a thing about the attack. But Singh will never forget.

The judge also ordered Vazquez to pay for all of Singh's medical expenses. [Link]

A Hoboken woman who tried to pull a turban off a Sikh man's head this past winter is being charged with harassment, a charge that some in the Sikh community say does not fit the crime.

Hansdip Singh Bindra, 38, of Union City, alleges that Carrie Covello, 37, of Hoboken, tried to pull his turban off when they were both at the Madison Bar and Grill on Jan. 30.

Covello was kicked out of the Madison and Hoboken police arrested and charged her with a bias attack. However, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office downgraded the charge last week to lesser charge of harassment.

"We are very disappointed. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Sikhs have been disproportionately subject to bias incidents and hate crimes, violent ones at times," said Harsimran Kaur, staff attorney for the Sikh Coalition, a national organization headquartered in New York. "So obviously the fact that she was targeting his turban is clear evidence that she had a problem with his religion."

Sikhism is a separate religion from Islam, and Sikhs weren't involved in the 9/11 attacks. Nevertheless, some people mistakenly accuse Sikh men - who typically wear turbans and have beards - of being affiliated with Muslim terrorists.

Debra Simon, deputy first assistant prosecutor who handles all bias cases in Hudson County, said she downgraded the charge because there was not enough evidence to prove that Covello meant to intimidate Bindra, one of the statutes of a bias crime.

Bindra told The Jersey Journal that after Covello allegedly grabbed his turban, he turned to her and asked, "Do you have a problem?" And he said Covello replied "Take it off, I don't like it."

However Simon said, based on reading police interviews, some bar patrons who witnessed the event did not see any conversation exchanged between Bindra and Covello.

"She didn't say 'Terrorist go home,' she didn't say 'We don't like your kind,'" Simon said. "There has to be a finding that the conduct by the perpetrator was designed and intended to intimidate. I downgraded it to a harassment charge because you can't run around pulling on people's clothing even if it's not a religious article."

Kaur disagrees.

"If you burn a cross on an African-American's yard, you are not specifically saying something degrading, but everyone knows that's targeting them," said Kaur. "When people target a turban, it rises to that same level of hostility and hatred. For the prosecutor to not understand that means there is a lack of cultural understanding that we are working to rectify in this country."

A bias charge is a more serious allegation and would be heard before a Hudson County superior judge and could carry up to 18 months of jail time. A charge of harassment is a municipal offense that threatens up to six months in jail. However, if this is Covello's first offense, she would most likely receive probation under either charge, Simon said. [Link]

AN 11-YEAR-OLD Sikh boy had his turban ripped off and stamped upon by a group of racist thugs on a Liverpool bus.

Arjan Rhode was attacked by a gang of teenagers on Monday afternoon on the 82 service in Garston.

Moments after he got on the bus near Aigburth Road, he was tapped on the shoulder and his turban was suddenly pulled from his head.

A group of around nine yobs, aged around 18, passed the turban around while mocking the St Benedict’s RC College pupil.

They shouted a tirade of racist abuse at the terrified boy as they stamped on the turban on the floor.

The turban is one of the most important religious symbols for a Sikh and damaging one is seen as a huge insult. [Link]

Three Oregon men who attacked a Sikh trucker and ripped a turban off his head, will not be charged with a hate crime. A Douglas County, Oregon grand jury declined to indict three men. The Sikh Coalition calls the matter disappointing.

The Coalition says they learned yesterday that the grand jury instead chose to indict the men on the lesser charges of harassment and theft in the third degree.

"Burning a cross on an African American's lawn is not a mere act of vandalism, and stealing a Sikh's turban is not a misdemeanor theft. They are both hate crimes," said Amardeep Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition.

On August 5th 2007, Ranjit Singh was leaving a convenience store at a truck stop in Oakland, Oregon. As he was leaving the store, three men approached him and tore off his turban. The assailants immediately drove away in two separate cars.

On September 6th 2007, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office arrested three men in connection with the assault. The Douglas County District Attorney decided to pursue hate crime charges against the attackers.

This week the Grand Jury decided that there was not enough evidence to move forward with a hate crime prosecution. The Grand Jury therefore charged the attackers with misdemeanor theft and harassment, but not a felony hate crime.

While the Sikh Coalition is thankful that the Douglas County District Attorney's office pursued hate crime charges against the attackers, they say they are disappointed that the Grand Jury did not move forward with a hate crime indictment.

"We are also disturbed that the dollar value of Ranjit Singh's turban arose as an issue during the Grand Jury proceeding as a means of determining the degree of theft the attackers would be charged with. The turban is a priceless article of faith for Sikhs. Sikhs throughout history have chosen death over removing their turbans since it encapsulates a Sikh's commitment to their faith."

"I am disappointed in the Grand Jury's decision. The turban is not a hat... They asked me about the cost -- my turban is priceless," said victim Ranjit Singh.

"It is clear from our perspective that the Grand Jury completely misunderstood what's at stake here," said Amardeep Singh. "Stealing a Sikh's turban is not a matter of mere theft, it is a hate crime that injures the entire community."

The Sikh Coalition calls on the Douglas County District Attorney's office to disallow the attackers to plea down the current misdemeanor charges. The Coalition also calls on the federal government to investigate charging these attackers with hate crimes under federal law. [Link]

The FBI is investigating the possibility that arson at a Blaine convenience store was a hate crime.

On Jan. 22, Muhammad Ismail was getting ready to close the Blaine Dairy Store when three men came in and threw bottles that burst into flames. Investigators also found the word "Arab" spray-painted on the building. [Link]

The Bryan Police Department is seeking assistance from the public with the following offense:

At approximately 10:37 p.m., February 28, 2008, an officer with the Bryan Police Department responded to an assault that occurred in the parking lot of the Super Wal-Mart on Briarcrest Drive. The victim, a Texas A&M graduate student, stated that he was assaulted while walking to his vehicle. An unknown male suspect approached the victim and made disparaging comments about the victim's race and manner of clothing. The victim informed the suspect that he did not want any trouble and continued walking to his vehicle. The suspect then knocked the turban off the victim's head and pushed him to the ground. The victim did not sustain any discernible injuries. The suspect was last seen leaving the parking lot in a white, Ford, F-150 pickup truck with a "Saw Em Off" horns decal in the rear window. License plate number 899NZ7 was obtained; however, this number does not match any motor vehicle records.

If you witnessed or have information on this assault, please contact the Bryan Police Department at (979) 209-5300.

Suspect Description:

White Male
6'1" to 6'3" in height
Medium to muscular build
[Email Alert from Texas A&M University Police]