The Sikh Turban: Post-911 Challenges to This Article of Faith

Ultimately, it was announced that Singh was apprehended for carrying a
concealed weapon, a kirpan, 113 which by definition was hidden under Singh’s clothing
and would only have been discovered after the swarm of officials aggressively ejected
Singh from the train. 114 There was no reason—beyond the turban and long beard—for
the public or law enforcement personnel to be concerned about his presence on a train. In
other words, he did nothing to arouse suspicion, aside from looking the way he did and be
in public space.
C. Violence
A database created on 9/11 by the Sikh civil rights organization, the Sikh
Coalition, contains twenty-two reported cases of bias incidents against Sikhs on that day
alone. 115 In the first week following 9/11, 645 bias crimes were directed at those
perceived to be Middle Eastern. 116 In the first eight weeks after 9/11, over a thousand
bias incidents were reported, including nearly nineteen murders, assaults, harassment, and
acts of vandalism. 117
One of those murders realized the Sikh-American community’s worst fears. On
September 15, 2001, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a turbaned Sikh who owned a gas station in
Mesa, Arizona, went to Costco to purchase an American flag and donated $75 to a fund
established for the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks. 118 Upon returning to his gas
station, Sodhi began attending to his landscaping outside of the gas station when Frank
Roque drove by and fired five shots. 119 Sodhi died at the scene. 120 With his death, Sodhi
became “the first murder victim of the 9/11-related hate crime backlash in America.” 121
113 See discussion of the Sikh articles of faith, supra Part I.
114 See Jaideep Singh, supra note 111, at 23-26.
115 Sikh Coalition Database, supra note 100.
116 SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS OF TOMORROW, AMERICAN BACKLASH:
TERRORISTS BRING WAR HOME IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, Nov. 2002, available at
http://www.911digitalarchive.org/documents/BiasReport.pdf [hereinafter American
Backlash].
117 See Ahmad, supra note 8, at 1261-1262.
118 See AM. CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF N. CAL., CAUGHT IN THE BACKLASH: SUKHPAL
AND BALBIR SINGH SODHI, SAN FRANCISCO & MEZA, AZ, available at
http://www.aclunc.org/911/backlash/sodhi.html.
119 See Nick Martin, Sikhs still living in shadow of Sept. 11, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE, Sept.
16, 2006, available at http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/48149; Arizona
Department of Corrections, Inmate Profile: Frank Roque, available at
http://www.azcorrections.gov/DeathRow/ProfilesBase.asp?inmate=RoqueF.
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