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Aug. 6th, 2012 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydionIn Oak Creek Wisconsin, a neo NAZI army veteran slaughtered innocent Sikhs going to their Sunday services, thinking they were Muslims. (It's not Godwin's law. He identifies as a NAZI, was in a white power band, and has a picture of himself in front of a Swastika on his facebook page.) Six people were murdered and another three wounded. There has been a wave of attacks and hate crimes just generally against Sikhs across the country as ignorant assholes can't tell the difference between them and Muslims despite the really obvious differences. Islamaphobia in this country is so fucking toxic and dangerous for everybody who isn't white, who dresses a little different. The shooter was killed at the scene. As with July 20th, I'm not going to use his name, as I think making these people famous encourages others to do the same.
I'm sure somewhere there are asshole Sikhs, but I haven't met any yet. I don't know much about their religion, but what I do see is things like the commitment to feeding the hungry, the way their children are polite and encouraged by their parents to learn and do their best in school. The Sikh children I've seen teaching all seemed to be working hard and really trying to get along despite the same challenges all children face. I don't know if it's religion or culture or parental support or the way the community functions as transplanted here, but most of the kids are delightful to work with. Mostly, one has to make sure they aren't lost and suffering in silence and keep an eye out for social isolation, instead of worrying about more obvious and disruptive acting out one generally gets with kids under stress.
I just... it's extra upsetting the way violent attacks on the Amish are, because I keeping thinking of all those polite gentle children I've taught. I see in my head a certain tall boy playing basketball at lunch in his suit and turban, or the girl in my student teaching class, chattering with her friends before class, or the boy my first year teaching who was always looking out or the kid with down syndrome, or the girl who'd been here five years carefully guiding the girl who just arrived through her first year in American school, or.... You get the idea. I hear about a man opening fire on family groups at a temple and I think of my students. I think of something like this happening to their families.
The dead are Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; Prakash Singh, 39; Paramjit Kaur, 41; Suveg Singh, 84; and Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, who was the center’s president. Police officer, Lt. Brian Murphy is critically wounded. Satwant Singh Kaleka confronted the gunman armed only with a butter knife and paid with his life for trying to save people. Lt. Brian Murphy was ambushed trying to help one of the wounded. When help arrived, he insisted he help the others first.
I'm sure somewhere there are asshole Sikhs, but I haven't met any yet. I don't know much about their religion, but what I do see is things like the commitment to feeding the hungry, the way their children are polite and encouraged by their parents to learn and do their best in school. The Sikh children I've seen teaching all seemed to be working hard and really trying to get along despite the same challenges all children face. I don't know if it's religion or culture or parental support or the way the community functions as transplanted here, but most of the kids are delightful to work with. Mostly, one has to make sure they aren't lost and suffering in silence and keep an eye out for social isolation, instead of worrying about more obvious and disruptive acting out one generally gets with kids under stress.
I just... it's extra upsetting the way violent attacks on the Amish are, because I keeping thinking of all those polite gentle children I've taught. I see in my head a certain tall boy playing basketball at lunch in his suit and turban, or the girl in my student teaching class, chattering with her friends before class, or the boy my first year teaching who was always looking out or the kid with down syndrome, or the girl who'd been here five years carefully guiding the girl who just arrived through her first year in American school, or.... You get the idea. I hear about a man opening fire on family groups at a temple and I think of my students. I think of something like this happening to their families.
The dead are Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; Prakash Singh, 39; Paramjit Kaur, 41; Suveg Singh, 84; and Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, who was the center’s president. Police officer, Lt. Brian Murphy is critically wounded. Satwant Singh Kaleka confronted the gunman armed only with a butter knife and paid with his life for trying to save people. Lt. Brian Murphy was ambushed trying to help one of the wounded. When help arrived, he insisted he help the others first.