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Almost all Americans remembered the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last week, but very few outside the Sikh community remember the violence against members of their religion.
The Sikh Student Association looked back on the discrimination that Sikhs and other groups faced after Sept. 11 by showing a documentary, "Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath," Monday night. About 200 people were in attendance for the viewing and many stayed for a discussion of hate crimes afterward.
The film, made by 20-year-old college student Valarie Kaur, documented her journey across the United States after the bombings to investigate crimes against members of the Sikh religion. Though Sikhism developed in India, many Sikh men were viewed as Arab terrorists because of their dark skin color, beards, and turbans.
The movie interviewed one Sikh man who was walking in Manhattan just as the planes struck the World Trade Center. Within hours, a band of white males chased him into a subway stop where he took the first available train. Kaur also interviewed a very elderly Sikh man who was shot with a paintball gun and beat up for wearing a turban. The focus of the movie, however, was on Balbir Singh Sodhi, who on Sept. 15, 2001 was shot and killed outside the gas station he owned in Mesa, Ariz.
"The most interesting part of the documentary, to me, was the concept of 'the other,' the psychological need of humans to assign blame and guilt to some group of people with a tangible profile, and how we are unwilling to accept anything in the abstract," said Daniella DeLorenze, a 3rd- semester political science and history major. "It has to be something visible, the turban and beard, for instance."
The low budget movie, told the Sikh situation with great compassion. Kaur, who is a Sikh, treated her travels as a personal journey of development as an Indian American. In the final segment of the film, she traveled to India to visit the widow of Sodhi, who thanked Americans for the compassion they showed her, despite the loss of her husband.
By comparing the Sikh situation to other hate crimes, the documentary broadened its scope to discuss the greater injustices of discrimination.
Ashley Ruegg, a 3rd- semester secondary math major said, "I thought the comparison between Mathew Shepard and Balbir Singh Sodhi was really interesting. Everybody knows about Mathew Shepard's murder, but nobody has ever heard of Balbir Singh Sodhi."
After the movie there was a discussion led by Angela Rola, the Asian American Cultural Center director; Dr. Saud Anwar, co-chair of the Asian American Cultural Coalition, and William Howe of the Connecticut Department of Education. Students were welcome to answer and discuss their questions and concerns about hate crimes. The overall message of the panel members to the crowd was to get involved in government so that something can be done to prevent hate crimes and discrimination.
The event was a great success, according to the Sikh Student Association co-President, Maninder Singh, who was pleased that people outside the Indian community attended the event. "People need to realize that discrimination is an issue, and it needs to be addressed," she said. "This event was about promoting more awareness."
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