Last week, the world encountered yet another hate crime. A trigger-happy white supremacist walked into a place of worship, a Sikh Gurudwara at Wisconsin, and killed 6 people and injured many others including a police officer. A lot has been written about this deplorable act. I can't condemn it enough, so I will not try to. I will only share an interesting view point of a friend and leave you to draw your own conclusions.
Driving to the courts, he suddenly asked me, "Roy, are there a lot of Sikhs in India?". I knew where he was coming from. So after answering his question in the affirmative, I asked him for his reaction to the event. He expressed his displeasure about the heineous crime, but said that the government should not call it an "act of terrorism". I revolted! I said, "If a bearded Muslim youth would have done this, you would have no qualms about calling this an act of terrorism!". He said this is a "hate-crime". I said "So is any act of terrorism". To this he had no answer and he agreed with me.
He corrected himself and finally got to what he wanted to say. He said, look at the response from the government and the community. It is unequivocally deploring the act and speaking out against it quite loudly. The same is not true about other communities, whose youth, though isolated, commit acts of terror. The response is not strong and sometimes even borders on tacit approval. Now he had a point, which I could not counter!
The response of both the communities involved in the aftermath of this incident is extremely laudable. The US flag will be flying at half mast till 10th August (an entire week). The FBI has conducted hundreds of interviews with the family and associaties of the gunman. The Times of India reports that it (FBI) has issued 180 federal subpoenas and is following 101 leads worldwide. Even the mother of the gunman has expressed her disgust publicly and apologized for her son's act. The Sikh community on the other hand while bemoaning the act has strongly commended the act of the gallant police officer who put his life on the line, even after being shot multiple times, to try and protect as many people as he could. This is how communities should react to an abberation of human conduct.
In stark contrast is the violence of Bodo-Muslim tensions in Assam, India. 77 people have died. Millions have had to flee their homes. There is a media blackout in the region and a strong curfew has been imposed. However, voices from both camps condemned attacks ONLY from the other group and justified acts of their camp by means of "retaliation" and/or "self-defence". Not one waited for peace to be restored first. And those who spoke against their own camp where branded as "pseudo-secular"!
My friend's words, though said in some other context does provide some scope for introspection. I ask the Muslim community. I understand that most Muslim people are peace loving people. And that a handful of "extremists" carry out acts of terrorism which has to be borne by the entire community. But has the Muslim community been sufficiently vocal against its youth who have/are carrying out these horrible acts around the world? The same question can be asked to many Hindus about rising Hindu extremism. Aren't we as communities too docile towards the handful of youths who bring bad name to our own community?
P.S. Before you start judging my friend, let me tell you a little about him. He is man of Russian origins, in his late 60s who migrated to the US about 20 years back. From my long discussions with him, I can tell you that he is a very liberal man from any point of view, be it race, religion, politics or economy.
Driving to the courts, he suddenly asked me, "Roy, are there a lot of Sikhs in India?". I knew where he was coming from. So after answering his question in the affirmative, I asked him for his reaction to the event. He expressed his displeasure about the heineous crime, but said that the government should not call it an "act of terrorism". I revolted! I said, "If a bearded Muslim youth would have done this, you would have no qualms about calling this an act of terrorism!". He said this is a "hate-crime". I said "So is any act of terrorism". To this he had no answer and he agreed with me.
He corrected himself and finally got to what he wanted to say. He said, look at the response from the government and the community. It is unequivocally deploring the act and speaking out against it quite loudly. The same is not true about other communities, whose youth, though isolated, commit acts of terror. The response is not strong and sometimes even borders on tacit approval. Now he had a point, which I could not counter!
The response of both the communities involved in the aftermath of this incident is extremely laudable. The US flag will be flying at half mast till 10th August (an entire week). The FBI has conducted hundreds of interviews with the family and associaties of the gunman. The Times of India reports that it (FBI) has issued 180 federal subpoenas and is following 101 leads worldwide. Even the mother of the gunman has expressed her disgust publicly and apologized for her son's act. The Sikh community on the other hand while bemoaning the act has strongly commended the act of the gallant police officer who put his life on the line, even after being shot multiple times, to try and protect as many people as he could. This is how communities should react to an abberation of human conduct.
In stark contrast is the violence of Bodo-Muslim tensions in Assam, India. 77 people have died. Millions have had to flee their homes. There is a media blackout in the region and a strong curfew has been imposed. However, voices from both camps condemned attacks ONLY from the other group and justified acts of their camp by means of "retaliation" and/or "self-defence". Not one waited for peace to be restored first. And those who spoke against their own camp where branded as "pseudo-secular"!
My friend's words, though said in some other context does provide some scope for introspection. I ask the Muslim community. I understand that most Muslim people are peace loving people. And that a handful of "extremists" carry out acts of terrorism which has to be borne by the entire community. But has the Muslim community been sufficiently vocal against its youth who have/are carrying out these horrible acts around the world? The same question can be asked to many Hindus about rising Hindu extremism. Aren't we as communities too docile towards the handful of youths who bring bad name to our own community?
P.S. Before you start judging my friend, let me tell you a little about him. He is man of Russian origins, in his late 60s who migrated to the US about 20 years back. From my long discussions with him, I can tell you that he is a very liberal man from any point of view, be it race, religion, politics or economy.
