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USA: ASC Condemns Attacks on Sikhs in Keyes and Manteca
August 9, 2018 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau
Washington, USA: The American Sikh Council (ASC) has raised alarm at the continued spate of violence perpetrated against Sikhs in United States of America (USA). On the evening of July 31, 2018 Surjit Singh (Malhi) a 50 year old local community activist had just finished putting up campaign signs in support of Republican Representative Jeff Denham, outside Keyes, California, when he found two young men waiting for him as he returned to his truck.
According to news reports; “As soon as I saw them they threw sand in my eyes,” Malhi said. The 50-year-old stated that the two men beat him over the head, across the shoulders and neck, while shouting “Go back to your own country!”
‘Go back to your country’ sprayed on the Sikh’s truck | Photo: The Tribune
He is recovering after he was viciously beaten in an attack by two white men who yelled racial insults and told him, “go back to your own country.” The criminals also vandalized his truck, spray-painting it with the same hateful words, with a Celtic cross.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson told the local newspapers that the sheriff’s office is investigating the assault as a hate crime.
Sheriff Christianson stated, “This is a random despicable criminal act against a member of the Sikh community.”
It is heartening to see that the police authorities are taking this incident very seriously and calling it exactly what it is, ‘ a hate crime’!
Furthermore the immediate local community and neighbors have responded very graciously and joined Surjit Singh (Malhi) and his family at their home in solidarity and claim him as one of their own. The members of local community even cleaned up the spray painted obnoxious graffiti off his pickup truck.
A few days after the above incident, a 71 year Sikh American man was kicked to the ground repeatedly while taking a walk around a Manteca park.
The Manteca incident, captured on video, occurred around 6 a.m. on Monday August 6, 2018. The video show the victim was at Graystone Park when two male adults confronted him on the sidewalk along Turquoise Way. The video, released by the Manteca Police Department, shows the man walking onto the street to go around the men, but they follow him.
According to news reports, one of the men kicked the victim several times and spat on him. When the victim fell to the ground, his turban fell off and he struck his head. He got back up to defend himself, only to be kicked down again. His attackers left on foot, but one returned and kicked him several times as he lay on the ground.
According to the Modesto Bee, “As the suspects left the scene, it is believed that one may have waved a firearm in the air,” the news release said. “The elderly man was medically treated and released from a local hospital.”
The incident is being investigated as an attempted robbery, Manteca police said. “Based upon the information we have received at this time, there are no indications that this assault was a hate crime.”
The vast majority of Sikhs in US are constantly targeted for their distinguished religious attire by some deranged members of the public, starting from elementary schools, to workplaces and in all public spaces.
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Related Topics: American Sikh Council, Hate Crimes, Sikh Diaspora, Sikh News USA, Sikhs in United States
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