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Sikhs are not Muslim, but they are sometimes targeted in hate crimes in the US by Islamophobic bigots
A Sikh man in Kent, Washington was shot in his driveway by an unknown white gunman who reportedly said, "Go back to your own country!" before attacking him.
The 39-year-old victim said he had been working on his car outside his house in the Seattle suburb when a stranger walked up to him, began harrassing him with racist comments, and attacked, shooting him in the arm.
Police are looking for the gunman, The Seattle Times reported, and say they are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.
The victim, who was not named in local media reports, was released from the hospital and is in stable condition.
This shooting comes just days after a similar hate crime, in which two Indian-American engineers were shot in Kansas by a white gunman who believed they were "Middle Eastern," spewed racial slurs, and shouted "Get out of my country!"
A leader in a local Sikh community told The Seattle Times, "We're all kind of at a loss in terms of what's going on right now, this is just bringing it home. The climate of hate that has been created doesn't distinguish between anyone." He added that there has been a recent increase in racism and xenophobia, which is reminiscent of the hatred felt following the 9/11 attacks.
Simran Jeet Singh, an assistant professor of religion at Trinity University and prominent civil rights activist, connected the shooting to the spread of extreme anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry, which has been fueled by President Donald Trump and the US government's so-called War on Terror.
"The cost of xenophobic rhetoric? Another brown man shot in a hate crime. This time, a Sikh brother in Washington," Singh wrote on Twitter.
The religion of many Sikh men is easily identifiable because they wear turbans. Some people unfamiliar with the religion falsely assume they are Muslim.
Sikhs have been killed and injured in a slew of hate crimes by Islamophobic bigots who believe they are attacking Muslims. The US has seen a string of such attacks in recent years.
"The greatest threat facing Americans today is white violent extremists," warned Arjun Sethi, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown and Vanderbilt Universities and an outspoken civil rights activist. "You saw this again last night in Kent, WA where a Sikh man was shot."
Simran Jeet Singh added, "Sadly, the question for the Sikh community has not been *if* we are targets of hate, but instead, *when.* A Sikh man being shot? Inevitable."
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