Targeting the Turban:
Sikh Americans and the Aversion Spiral after September 11
A thesis presentation, documentary preview, and discussion
with senior Valarie Kaur
Thursday, June 5
7pm to 8:30pm, followed by discussion.
Piggot Hall, Building 260-113
The event is open to the public.
Valarie Kaur, Stanford undergraduate, embarked on a four-month trek across the United States to document the stories of Sikhs, Muslims, Arabs, and others targeted by prejudice after September 11. On June 5, she will present the findings of her thesis and preview clips of her documentary video (to be released this fall) that addresses the causes and impact of post-September 11 prejudice, as told by the targeted.
On September 11, 2001, while all Americans mourned their losses and feared terrorism from abroad, new insecurities began to threaten certain American minorities. Sikh, Muslim, Arab, Afghan, and South Asian Americans confronted hate and violence in their own neighborhoods and lost civil liberties. Hate crimes against these communities left fourteen dead and thousands brutalized.
From September 2001 to January 2002, Stanford undergraduate Valarie Kaur traveled up and down the Californian coast, across Arizona, over to New York City and Washington, DC, and finally half way around the world to Punjab, India, where she sat beside the widow of Balbir Singh Sodhi, the first person killed in a post-September 11 hate crimes. She interviewed over one hundred people in twelve different cities-- Sikh, Muslim, Afghan, Arab, and South Asian Americans targeted by prejudice and hate crimes after September 11. Most of these interviews are with Sikh Americans about their experiences within one month after the attacks. Turbaned Sikh men have endured some of the most immediate violence. Their experience provides insight into the ignorance driving prejudice and intolerance in America.
Nearly two years later, Sikhs and other Americans face a new wave of tension during a war with Iraq and increasing tensions in the Middle East. On May 19, 2001, another Sikh man, Avtar Singh, was shot in a hate crime in Phoenix, Arizona, not far from where Balbir Singh Sodhi fell. These voices bring forth meaning in these experiences and may help move us as Americans toward understanding and respect.
