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Friend, On the morning of Aug. 5, 2012 – 10 years ago today – a white supremacist with a long history of involvement in the neo-Nazi movement attacked a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, as worshippers were preparing a communal meal for later in the day. In what then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. called “an act of terrorism, an act of hatred, a hate crime,” the gunman killed six people – Satwant Singh Kaleka, Paramjit Kaur, Prakash Singh, Ranjit Singh, Sita Singh and Suveg Singh – and wounded several others. On March 2, 2020, Baba Punjab Singh, a Sikh priest who was shot in the head and was partially paralyzed during the attack, died as a result of his injuries. I have so much respect for families and communities that can emerge from horrific acts of hate crimes and channel their sadness and pain into advocacy for positive change. That is what happened after the murders at Oak Creek. They and other grieving family and community members have played an essential role in improving hate crime prevention and response over the past 10 years. Under the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 (HCSA), the FBI is required to prepare an annual report quantifying hate crimes reported to it by the more than 18,000 federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies across the country. Though clearly incomplete – because, for one thing, reporting by the agencies is voluntary – the HCSA report is now the best national snapshot of hate violence in the United States. After the Sikh worshippers were murdered, I remember when then-Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards poignantly highlighted the fact that the FBI hate crime incident report form had no place for an “anti-Sikh” hate crime – only “anti-other” religion from those listed. Almost immediately, the Southern Poverty Law Center and a large coalition of civil rights, religious and education groups came together to advocate for hearings on hate violence and improved hate crime data – including disaggregated data that would include anti-Sikh hate crimes. The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings in September 2012 and included testimony from Harpreet Singh Saini, whose mother was killed in Oak Creek. The SPLC and many other coalition groups submitted statements for the record, urging action to improve response to hate violence. We argued that collecting specific data on anti-Sikh and other types of hate crimes would increase public awareness, encourage victims to report these crimes, and expand trust and engagement with law enforcement authorities. And we were successful. In June 2013, the FBI’s Advisory Policy Board voted to recommend that the FBI add a number of categories in its tracking of hate crimes – including offenses committed against Sikhs, Hindus, Arabs, Buddhists, Mormons and others. The first anti-Sikh hate crime data was included in the 2015 HCSA report. In 2020, the most recent data available, the FBI reported 89 anti-Sikh hate crimes, the highest figure recorded to date. The FBI’s comprehensive, recently updated Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual now includes a special section on “Identifying Anti-Sikh Hate Crimes.” Over the past 10 years, other families and communities have heroically responded to hate crime tragedies by stepping forward to advocate for positive change. Sincerely, Margaret Huang |
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