The United States is at war with Iraq. After the events of September 11, Sikhs in USA bore the brunt of racially motivated slurs. Balbir Singh Sodhi was the first casualty who was fatally shot by a misguided “American patriot.” With Sher Singh’s humiliating arrest in Rhode Island it became obvious that news media is unaware of Sikhs and associates a turban wearing man with an Arab.

Under the present circumstances the heightened security across the nation is understandable and as a consequence it is very likely that Sikhs will be targeted again. If you know of any cases of racial profiling bring it to the attention of local authorities and the media. It is important that the media recognize the need to educate Americans to prevent incidents of racial prejudice against Sikhs and others.

On March 3, 2003 columnist Ray Sanchez of Newsday reported the story of a Long Island Rail Road commuter who confronted Gurpreet Singh and twice demanded that he leave the train. A stranger came to Singh’s rescue. What transpired in the train and as reported in Newsday highlights the level of ignorance.

"Get off the train!" the man shouted.

"Leave him alone," the stranger implored. "He didn't do anything to you."

"I can't believe you're defending these Muslims," said the man with the Bud[weiser], his voice rising.

"Don't bother him," the stranger said. "Stay away."

"Don't you know what they did to us?" the man with the Bud said angrily. "How could you defend them?"

The stranger was Stephen Hughes, an off-duty cop. "Why don't you leave him alone?" Hughes asked.

"I lost four friends," the man said.

"I understand, but he is not even a Muslim," Hughes said.

"That doesn't ... matter to me," the man said.

"Let it go," Hughes insisted.

"Why are you defending him?" the man asked. "All these foreigners, that's the problem."

"Why don't you go to the next train and relax," Hughes suggested. "Leave it alone."

"He should be out of this country," the man said.

Police arrived and Singh filed a complaint. "That was amazing," Singh recollects. "New Yorkers, you know, Americans are willing to defend your rights."

In light of the war with Iraq and the racially motivated crimes against Sikhs post September 11, Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina appealed that Sikhs in USA are protected from hate crimes.

Addressing the Congress Wilson said, “Mr. Speaker, I rise today in concern about a troubling issue. Young Sikh boys are suffering from physical abuse, harassment, and verbal taunting in some American schools. This is due to a lack of knowledge of the Sikh faith.

“As part of their faith, Sikh men leave their hair uncut and wear turbans. Students see images of the Taliban and mistake Sikh youth for extremists. As a result, many Sikh boys have been harassed..

“I ask school administrators to work with members of the Sikh community to educate all young people about the importance of respecting other people's faith. No child should ever fear for their physical safety inside an American school. (IANS, March 20, 2003)"

Washington , DC – The Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART), a national Sikh advocacy and civil rights group, has launched efforts to address the insensitive and irresponsible association of Sikhs with Osama bin Laden in the upcoming Miramax film Dysfunktional Family . SMART is awaiting a preview copy of the film and has requested a meeting with the film’s producer, Miramax Films, to discuss this issue.

The trailer of the film, currently running in theatres across the country, shows an elderly Sikh man being dubbed “Osama bin Laden” by actor Eddie Griffin. The Sikh gentleman is wearing a light turban and walks out of the scene as Griffin points at him and says “bin Laden! I knew he was around here. I told you I can find him myself….”

In a letter written to Miramax Films on February 26, SMART wrote: “This scene from “Dysfunktional Family” making the connection between Sikhs and the world’s most prominent terrorist reinforce the common misperception and stereotype that Sikhs are extremists and terrorists.”

SMART recognizes the First Amendment rights of movie studios and actors to produce intellectual property. However, in light of the violent post-9/11 backlash against Sikhs that led to hundreds of hate crimes committed against Sikh, and to the death of a Sikh gas station owner in Mesa , AZ , SMART considers the association of Sikhs to bin Laden in the film as inciting and provocative.

SMART has requested a meeting with Miramax Films to discuss this scene before the movie releases in April. We will keep the community informed of our efforts. SMART recognizes the First Amendment rights of movie studios and actors to produce intellectual property. However, in light of the violent post-9/11 backlash against Sikhs that led to hundreds of hate crimes committed against Sikh, and to the death of a Sikh gas station owner in Mesa , AZ , SMART considers the association of Sikhs to bin Laden in the film as inciting and provocative. SMART has requested a meeting with Miramax Films to discuss this scene before the movie releases in April. We will keep the community informed of our efforts.

In a situation of bigotry against the Sikh people, Miramax has been running previews of the movie, Dysfunctional Family, in theaters, on websites and on television channels across the United States. In the trailer of the movie, an actor, Eddie Griffin, refers to a Sikh man as “bin Laden.” Griffin points to a turbaned Sikh man and says, “bin Laden, I knew you was around here!” People watching this movie may associate Sikhs with terrorism because of its objectionable content.

Attempts have and are being made by Sikhs to bring Miramax to the negotiation table, but so far have resulted in no results. SMART and the Sikh Coalition have written to Miramax but the company has not responded in any meaningful way to provide evidence that it is concerned about the defamation of our people. We, therefore, strongly feel that an email campaign combined with protests and advocacy work must be initiated to force Miramax to come to the table to discuss this issue with Sikh organizations. We were planning to launch this campaign several days ago, but waited in hopes that Miramax would respond. It is now critical that we act swiftly and launch this campaign without further delay because the movie will be played in theaters on April 4, 2003.

We request your organization to co-sponsor the attached petition. Please respond immediately if your organization would like to participate. You can send us an email at miramax@sikhcoalition.org

Draft of Petition To Miramax For Your Organization's Co-signing

March 29, 2003

Harvey Weinstein
President
Miramax Films Corp.
375 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10013

Dear Mr. Weinstein:

The Sikh community across the globe is outraged at a preview of the film, Dysfunktional Family, in which the actor, Eddie Griffin refers to a Sikh man as “bin Laden.” Griffin points to a turbaned Sikh man and says, “bin Laden, I knew you was around here!” As you may be aware, Sikhs have endured a large number of violent hate crimes in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, by persons who associated the Sikh turban and uncut beard (both articles of faith for Sikhs) with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Sikhs are a people and a religious group simultaneously with an estimated population of 26 million world-wide, making Sikhism the fifth largest religion in the world.

We are concerned that the aforementioned preview, which directly associates the Sikh turban and beard with Osama Bin Laden, will very likely contribute to bigoted stereotypes against Sikhs in the United States and may even incite hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh-Americans.

If this scene is part of the movie, as is our assumption, your company will play a major role in the misrepresentation of the Sikhs by linking them to a terrorist such as Osama Bin Laden. Almost all individuals in North America that wear turbans are Sikhs. Your movie may spark a wave of hate crimes against Sikhs and other minorities, especially during a time when the Federal Bureau of Investigation has expressed concern about “vigilante attacks and other hate crimes” against Sikh-Americans and others as backlash to current world events. (FBI National Press Office, February 28, 2003.)

The timing of this preview and the release of the movie is incredibly troubling given the fact that the present war in Iraq has already caused bigoted persons to attack Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, and South Asians. In short, Sikhs are in immediate danger of suffering hate crimes. The preview for your movie only makes this dangerous situation much worse. It is even more troubling that the short version of the preview (now playing on television eliminates much of the content from the online version, but insistently includes the closing line where Eddie Griffin calls a Sikh gentleman, “Bin Laden.” Last year, Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot dead in a hate crime. Misrepresentation of Sikhs in your movie may incite such violence against Sikhs.

While we advocate freedom of expression, we also recognize a corporate and moral responsibility to ethical business practices that should guide your decision-making process. Our hope is that your awareness of the serious ramifications of involvement in this film and the international outcry against its derogatory nature will prompt you to remove objectionable portions of the film from the preview trailer and the full-length feature immediately.

We are seeking an agreeable resolution to a situation which appears to support stereotypes that lead to bias, hate, and violence. Your movie is a vehicle towards defamation of the Sikhs worldwide. In addition to immediately editing or removing the preview trailer on your corporate website and on websites of your affiliates we request Miramax to:

i. Issue an apology to Sikhs worldwide.
ii. Remove all objectionable portions of the film from the full-length version of Dysfunktional Family immediately
iii. Remove all objectionable material on Sikhs from the aforementioned preview trailer
iv. Design and implement a program to educate Miramax employees and others about the Sikh religion and its articles of faith.
v. Contribute towards the image building of the Sikhs

The undersigned organizations and individuals worldwide would like a written response from Miramax Film Corp. with a project plan showing how it intends to achieve the aforementioned stipulations. If a satisfactory response is not received, these organizations will seek further action against Miramax and its corporate partners immediately.

At a time when the world is grappling with issues of the War in Iraq, extremism, and racism, Sikhs are deeply concerned about media stereotypes in the film industry that depict derogatory stereotyping of people from a particular faith, ethnicity or origin.

The undersigned organizations stand in solidarity with 26 million Sikhs worldwide in strongly objecting to Miramax’s irresponsibility in allowing this film to air as is.

Sincerely,

Your organization