Seattle Sikh Attacked in Hate Crime

Sukhvir Singh, a Seattle cab driver, was attacked by a passenger in what is being called "a vicious hate crime" on Saturday night.

A Sikh cab driver was assaulted by a passenger over the Thanksgiving weekend. Sukhvir Singh's attacker threatened to kill him, calling him a "terrorist" as he punched and bit Mr. Singh, pulling clumps of hair from his head. Seattle's Sikh community is outraged, and calls on the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to prosecute the incident as a hate crime.

On Saturday, November 24, 2007, Mr. Singh had stopped to eat when two Seattle police officers approached him and asked him to drive home a man who was in their custody. It was the night of the Apple Cup in Seattle, and the man was intoxicated. Mr. Singh agreed to help the police officers by taking the individual back to his residence, but he never made it there.

On the way home, the man began to verbally abuse Mr. Singh, using religious and racial epithets and threatening to kill him. As his anger escalated, he attacked Mr. Singh from the back seat, knocking off Mr. Singh's turban and pulling his hair so hard that locks of hair came out. Trapped in the I-5 carpool lane, Mr. Singh was forced to stop the car to escape his attacker. His attacker tumbled out onto the highway with him and continued beating Mr. Singh until Washington State Troopers responded to the scene.

Mr. Singh was hospitalized overnight, and has been vomiting ever since he returned home yesterday.

"This is not the first time Sikhs have been targeted out of hate in Seattle. Our public officials need to take a strong stance against bias. We expect that this incident will be investigated and prosecuted as a hate crime," said Jasmit Singh, a member of the board of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Washington, and a Sikh Coalition board member.

The attack comes on the heels of a report released by the FBI last week stating that hate crimes rose almost 8% nationally from 2005 to 2006, with over half of the incidents being racially motivated. Religious bias was blamed for approximately 19% of the incidents, while ethnic or national origin accounted for more than 12% of the incidents.

Seattle's 10,000-strong Sikh community is outraged that this vicious attack occurred in their hometown. Community members are particularly concerned that a police report on the incident does not include any information on the bias that motivated the crime.

The victim, Sukhvir Singh, is shaken. "I am in a lot of pain, and don't understand why someone would do this to me. I love America and hope that in my case, justice will be done," he said.

Sikhism is the fifth largest world religion, with approximately 21 million adherents worldwide. Under the principals of their faith, Sikhs are mandated to leave all hair on their bodies uncut, wrapping the hair on their heads underneath a turban.

In the years since 9/11, misperceptions about this appearance have led to hate attacks against Sikhs across the country and in Seattle. The Sikh Coalition has recorded over 500 incidents of bias against Sikhs on its website since 9/11. In October 2001, a Sikh motel owner from Renton, Washington was beaten over the head and told to "Go to Allah." In 2003, another Seattle taxi driver was surrounded by a group of men calling him "Osama" and telling him to "Get out of this country." Though his cab suffered thousands of dollars worth of damage, the incident was not prosecuted as a hate crime.

For more information on Sikhs and Sikh practices, go to http://www.sikhcoalition.org/.

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