White Supremacy: The Unspoken Truth
Co-blogged with Nina Chanpreet Kaur
(source: Daily Record and Sunday Mail)
“All the talking is done and now it’s time to walk the walk / Revolution’s in the air 9mm in my hand / You can run but you can’t hide from this master plan.” (Song lyrics by Wade Michael Page’s band End Apathy)
A few weeks ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) closed its investigation into the mass shooting that occurred at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in August, in which six Sikhs were murdered and wounded four others, including Lieutenant Brian Murphy of the Oak Creek Police Department, and Punjab Singh, who is still in a long-term care facility receiving treatment.
The FBI’s conclusion does not bring any closure. In the wake of Oak Creek, the specter of a growing white supremacist movement has not been adequately addressed by the media, policy makers, nor law enforcement agencies. This frames the issue of hate crimes against Sikhs as something almost incidentally perpetrated by independent murderers, and the stalling by the FBI to accurately and consistently report anti-Sikh and other hate crimes as well as link it to domestic terrorism reinforces the sense that the white supremacy movement is something federal, state and local government are not taking seriously or prioritizing. Historically, the white supremacist movement at-large has perpetrated heinous crimes fueled by hate and bias often in the guise of a member gone rogue as we saw in Oak Creek in August 2012.
6 Responses to “White Supremacy: The Unspoken Truth”
WJKK WJKF
Terrorist camps in Pakistan: send drones, SEALs and choppers
Terrorist camps in the USA: offer condolences to the victims and do nothing
Fantastic article Nina and AmericanTurban.
But now I am left with a question. For years SikhCo and SALDEF have created links and relationships with the FBI. They have done trainings and have even appeared at hearings. So why not now in this most important event for Sikh-Americans, leverage that capital. Why not exert their pressure, in a public way if needed, to get the FBI to open up the case and say this 'lone wolf' isn't good enough. Here is a real moment to connect with civil rights groups that are willing to fight oppression and orgs like SPLC and others.
During this season that we celebrate sacrifice, how far are we willing to go?
At the present time, I wonder if the Sikh organizations have that amount of capital to influence the FBI. As we mentioned in the article, it has taken almost two years of lobbying the FBI to make even an incremental addition to the FBI hate crimes tracking to report hate crimes against Sikhs specifically (the debate about its value notwithstanding). Even in the wake of Oak Creek and requests from members of Congress and Department of Justice officials, the FBI is still delaying making a decision. While our Sikh organizations are our major advocacy voices, their capacity to do so is not as large as some of the other voices in Washington, DC.
At the Congressional hearing in September, Sikh organizations did make calls to address domestic terror, but whether these calls are being heeded by law enforcement agencies and policy makers is unclear and remains to be seen. We know that from Daryl Johnson's testimony that domestic terror was significantly de-prioritized by the government and its agencies. Since the hearing, the discussion about the impact of white supremacy has certainly not been obvious or apparent otherwise from government or in media. It didn't even come up as an issue in the campaign, despite that the Oak Creek attack occurred in the middle of the election (and in the Republican Vice Presidential candidate's home state, no less) and certainly does not appear on the radar now.
I do agree that a coalition of groups, including the Sikh organizations, needs to come together to actively keep the focus on white supremacist extremism in this country.
@AmericanTurban – you only know if you try. The easier thing is obviously to do nothing and not risk 'offending' anyone. To have tried and failed one still holds a moral position; to remain silent out of 'expediency' then one has little to claim.
There are partners in this fight – but if we are waiting for African-American groups, ADL, or SPLC to take the lead on Oak Creek, then that says something about us.
@jodha – brother, thanks for the support. the issue you raise is exactly what prompted @americanturban and i to write this piece. and, the issue you raise is also much larger than you present it – at least from the lens I am looking through. it isn't just about the oak creek/fbi response because
1. there is little to no participatory feedback / involvement in our sikh orgs right now. this leads to responses and actions on behalf of organizations that don't fully represent the voice of the people (ie the statements the orgs issued in response to the fbi conclusion). i am not sure there is enough communication on both sides for us to fully assume it is within the capacity of sikh orgs to pull their ties with federal government and demand the fbi re open their investigation. or that they haven't thought about it/done what was in their capacity to do. we can't assume that. what we can and should expect (and demand) is participatory involvement open up to allow for this conversation to happen with sikh orgs and collectively as a qaum come up with a way to address what is missing in the fbi's conclusions. however coming to a collective decision itself is unlikely to happen because:
2. we really have no functional basis for having a sikh caucus of sorts, people representing major orgs and voices in the community, to come together on these issues to regularly collaborate and think deeply and strategically. it's just not happening. oak creek has shown us how problematic it is that we don't have this. i would rather invest my time in building far reaching, long lasting structures that would address not only this present issue of the fbi response but deepening our capacity as a community in this regard going forward.
3. i don't know we have enough of a vision for how sikh orgs will build deeper alliances with non sikh orgs on issues like white supremacy. i think there is a piece of envisioning that needs to happen here, what types of partnerships, working groups, active alliances do we already have that we need to leverage. in many ways it's not just about going to sikh orgs to demand they get the fbi to open up the case but thinking with them in how to approach the issue and offering ourselves as resources – whether with other orgs or the govt directly etc.
this conversation is a start, to shift it into action there needs to be a structure for participatory feedback/involvement and a long lasting system for collaboration/alliances both within and outside our community. i believe we truly need these as our fortress. without them, i don't think our children will live in a much safer world than we do now. so it's more than just the fbi issue at hand, but of course that needs to be addressed in the process.
Hi! Nice work. What an outstanding post. I really like your work. You just nailed it my friend
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