JALANDHAR: Sikhs were the second most targeted religious group after Jews in hate-motivated crimes in the US in 2021, an FBI report said recently, while Hindus and Muslims made up 1% and 9.5% of the 1,005 offences recorded that year.
There were 214 (21.3%) hate crimes against Sikhs and 10 against Hindus, according to FBI’s annual data. Anti-Semitic crimes were the highest at 31.9%, while the count for Catholics was 6.1%.
Among the crimes was the shooting by a former employee at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis on April 16, 2021. Eight people were shot, including four Sikhs working in the warehouse.
Sikhs who first began arriving in the US in the late 1800s are a small religious minority. American Sikhs have in the past been targeted in racist attacks, which escalated after the 9/11 terrorist strike in 2001.
Entrepreneur Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed at his Arizona gas station four days after the September 11 attacks by a man who declared he was “going to go out and shoot some towel-heads” and mistook him for an Arab Muslim.
On August 5, 2012, a white supremacist shot six Sikhs and injured four at a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. This was the biggest attack against the community in America, prompting calls to have safety plans in place in about 300 gurdwaras across the country and to raise awareness and understanding about their religion.
FBI hadn’t tracked hate crimes specifically against Sikhs until 2015, according to a report, and many local law enforcement agencies fail to record bias attacks comprehensively.
The FBI data for 2021, when the US was ravaged by the pandemic like much of the world, shows 64.8% of hate crime victims were targeted for their race, ethnicity, and ancestry. Crimes against African Americans topped at 63.2% in 2021, while 4.3% anti-Asian offences were reported.
There were 214 (21.3%) hate crimes against Sikhs and 10 against Hindus, according to FBI’s annual data. Anti-Semitic crimes were the highest at 31.9%, while the count for Catholics was 6.1%.
Among the crimes was the shooting by a former employee at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis on April 16, 2021. Eight people were shot, including four Sikhs working in the warehouse.
Sikhs who first began arriving in the US in the late 1800s are a small religious minority. American Sikhs have in the past been targeted in racist attacks, which escalated after the 9/11 terrorist strike in 2001.
Entrepreneur Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed at his Arizona gas station four days after the September 11 attacks by a man who declared he was “going to go out and shoot some towel-heads” and mistook him for an Arab Muslim.
On August 5, 2012, a white supremacist shot six Sikhs and injured four at a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. This was the biggest attack against the community in America, prompting calls to have safety plans in place in about 300 gurdwaras across the country and to raise awareness and understanding about their religion.
FBI hadn’t tracked hate crimes specifically against Sikhs until 2015, according to a report, and many local law enforcement agencies fail to record bias attacks comprehensively.
The FBI data for 2021, when the US was ravaged by the pandemic like much of the world, shows 64.8% of hate crime victims were targeted for their race, ethnicity, and ancestry. Crimes against African Americans topped at 63.2% in 2021, while 4.3% anti-Asian offences were reported.
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