Two Muslims attacked in one week by bigots (and the media)
Last week, two separate brutal attacks against Muslim men took place in Queens, New York. On November 24th, 72-year-old Ali Akmal was nearly beaten to death while going on his early morning walk and remains in critical, but stable, condition.
CBS New York reports:
Akmal’s tongue was so badly swollen that he couldn’t talk for two days. When he finally could, he told police that when he first encountered the two men, they asked him, “are you Muslim or Hindu?”
He responded “I’m Muslim,” and that’s when they attacked.
The beating was so savage and personal, Akmal was even bitten on the nose.
Just a few days earlier, 57-year-old Bashir Ahmad was beaten and stabbed repeatedly as he entered a mosque in Flushing, Queens early in the morning on November 19th. The attacker yelled anti-Muslim slurs at him, threatened to kill him, and also bit him on the nose. Ahmad was hospitalized and received staples in his head and stitches in his leg.
These vicious attacks come just a few months after the white supremacist rampage that left six Sikhs dead in Oak Creek, Wisconsin in August, followed by a string of at least 10 separate anti-Muslim attacks around the country in the two weeks that followed. And just over a year after the elderly Sikh men Gurmej Atwal and Surinder Singh were shot and killed on their evening walk in Elk Grove, California.
Needless to say, I was horrified last week when I heard about the attack on Ahmad and am even more horrified today after learning about Akmal, 
a grandfather, nearly being killed in this act of violent hatred a few days later. The trauma of the Oak Creek shooting is still fresh for us Sikhs in, and there is little doubt that these recent attacks on Muslim men in Queens are rooted in the same type of bigotry that has so often made Sikhs targets since 9/11. As I’ve said before, our struggles are deeply connected.
The way I heard about the attack on Ahmad last week, though, was almost as troubling as the attack itself. I read this headline on NBC New York’s website: “Queens Mosque Stabbing Victim Says He’d Retaliate if Given Chance.”
Before providing any details on what happened in the attack and why, the story leads off with, “A Muslim man who was stabbed as he tried to open the door to a Queens mosque says he will strike back if he ever sees his attacker.”
I read the headline and lead paragraph repeatedly; I could hardly believe what I was seeing. A man was just beaten and stabbed in an obvious hate crime (the article mentions the anti-Muslim slurs), but the story is: “The Muslim may retaliate.”
The New York Post’s (notorious for its sensationalist pseudo-journalism, i.e. its “Turban Warfare” story) coverage of the incident was similar, leading off with:
A devout Muslim man who was stabbed as he tried to open the door to a Queens mosque on Sunday says his hate-spewing attacker had better watch his back.
“If I see him again, I will kill him from 20 feet away,” 57-year-old Bashir Ahmad told The Post yesterday. “I will hurt him.”
I imagine I would be extremely emotional after such an attack as well, and while I have never been physically assaulted, I have experienced plenty of racist harassment, including my turban being pulled off on the NYC subway. My emotions ran out of control in the minutes and hours after it happened—I was fuming with anger, rage, humiliation. I guess I should consider myself lucky that no reporters were there. Apparently the anger of someone with brown skin and a beard makes a more exciting story for the media than the bleak reality of racist violence.
Perhaps we shouldn’t even be so surprised by these attacks when the media’s depictions of Muslims has become so biased. American media—including Hollywood—have long portrayed Arabs and Muslims as barbaric, blood-thirsty caricatures. This five-minute clip from the documentary Reel Bad Arabs powerfully sums up the problem:
Now, things have apparently gotten so out of control that even after a Muslim man like Bashir Ahmad is victimized in such a horrific way, the take home message for the public is still that the Muslim is the aggressor, is suspicious, is a potential threat.
Not long ago, blackface and minstrel shows were commonplace in the US. Racial justice activists worked tirelessly to push these sorts of bigoted depictions of Black folks to the margins and did so with great success (though the problem is far from solved). We desperately need a similar movement today to uproot Islamophobia from the mass media. Sikh organizations in the US (especially SALDEF, which was founded as SMART, the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force) have made some headway in the representations of Sikhs in the American media (though the Indian media is a whole other story), especially since 9/11. Islamophobia in the media is just as much our issue, and I hope to see our organizations and sangats taking up this cause as our own.
18 Responses to “Two Muslims attacked in one week by bigots (and the media)”
the roots and seeds are the same. our sikh orgs have failed to do the type of mediawatch SMART (now SALDEF) used to do – it's not only mediawatch but partnership with our brothers and sisters across faiths and race to contradict and counteract the issue. we will make no progress alone, as comfortable as our community sometimes is being so insular.
I'll puppet the voice of the conservatives on the blog:
Is there a Muslim progressive blog that pays as much attention to their Sikh 'brothers and sisters' as this one does to its Muslim brothers and sisters?
there's something to be said for leadership
Sure, let's be leaders and help Muslims eradicate extremism within their ranks which threatens to destabilize your safety on a daily basis: 800-GO-ARMY
Amusing. have you eradicated extremism within your own ranks?
Still campaigning for 'human rights' of a mass murderer (Rajoana)?
Still repressing minority faiths (Ravidassiya, Dera Sacha Sauda Premis, Radha Soami followers, Noormehlias, Nirankaris…) in Punjab?
Theres a number for that too: 800-GO-SENA
Hahaha!
800-GO-DENY
Sanehval,
During our Guru's period, did any Hindu leaders ever give their heads for the right of Sikhs to practice their faith?
It doesn't matter if they did or did not, what matters is our reaction to oppression of others.
I'm not advocating for Sikhs to disinvestment from the Guru's message, but I do wish to point to the material realities of the current terrain of politics that we find ourselves in. On one side, we're trying to push away from being anglicized and pandering to western hegemony. On the other side, we're pandering to the most oppressed, and almost yearning for a kind of recognition to be slotted with them, in solidarity of course. My thoughts are messy and unclear, but I'm compelled to write them because I think there is something going on that is beyond the propped up binary of "well the Muslims clearly don't care about us, unless they're getting to write SALDEF/Coalitions name on a joint letter**" and "WTF mate the Gurus saw oppression not ethno/religious groups"
**(apologies for sticking that in, the joint letter point is a local context that you might not be as familiar with and I might be the only feeling that way sometimes)
p.s.
I thought we were taking a moment away from the blogosphere? Good luck on the catchup, its a tough time to do it.
Deep Hundal, you sound really shallow (pun intended). During Gurus' period, there was absolutely no difference between Hindus and Sikhs. As far as giving "heads" is concerned, who was Banda Bairagi? who were Mati Das, Sati Das, Dayal Das, etc?
BTW, with whom you are comparing the so-called Hindus' sacrifices anyway? Being a Hundal, maybe you would give us a list of Jats who gave their lives for the Sikh faith. Go ahead, give the names of the Jat shaheeds in Gurus' times.
Also name the Jats who betrayed Gurus (esp the 10th Guru) and Sikhs or you want me to do that for you?
@sher – does anybody read your parrot type repetition of propaganda.?
You have no proof. Read Bhai Gurdas, read the Puratan Janam Sakhi, read Ugradanti, read Bachittar Natak – better read the Guru Granth Sahib and it does indeed differentiate between Sikhs and Hindus. The list of Guru-period writings go on and on and completely betray your ideological claim that during the Guru-period there was no difference between Sikhs and Hindus. The Rahit literature gives particular rituals for Hindus and Muslims to "become" Sikhs.
I know you will ignore this as your ideological dogma supersedes empirical evidence or facts. Such is the bane for us in the "reality-based community" that try to engage with ideologues. Guru Nanak's advice is probably prescient for me right about here – Murakhai naal na larjhiay!
Jodha, i am not sure how many read or ignore my posts but surely you do and always come out with rebuke and no specifics.
I can quote the same sources (BG, Granth Sahib, Ugradanti, Bachittar natak & other Dasam Granth chapters, etc. as "empirical" or factual evidence. With extremist khalsas taking over the Sikhi completely, the efforts of the Tat Khalsa ideologues to disfranchise Nanakpanthis (and other pre-Khalsa Sikhs) from Sikhi have finally borne fruit.
From an all-embracing, inclusive faith; Sikhi has been reduced to an exclusive
with all respects, which Puratan Janam Sakhi you are talking about? I have copy of a Puratan Janam Sakhi (edited by Khalsa Samachar) in front of me and it clearly says in the foreword that the earliest of the janam Sakhis was written after the demise of the 10th Guru Sahib.
http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/dis…
Talking about Bhai Gurdas, did he not write the following tukks:
"shiv shakti nau saadh kai chand sural dehun raat sadaey"
" Vaid kateban Vaachdey ik sahib due raah chalayea , Shiv shakti vich khel kar jog bhog bahu chalat banayea"
'Shiv Shakti' written all over it my respected friend.
Once again, according to my limited understanding, every 'religion' got to have a distinct theology. In Sikhi/Khalsa Panth's case, theology has been borrowed from sanatani traditions in TOTALITY. Same Haris, Narayans, Rams, Krishans… as in any sanatani religious texts. I would agree with Bhasauria in one respect, if you want a separate 'religion', expunge all these Bipar references from your granths. Just keep the Banis of revered Sikh Gurus and, shall i say, construct new theology with new pantheon led by "waheguru' who finds just a few mentions in Granth Sahib.
This is what Ravidassiyas have done in Punjab, they have formed a new 'religion' by extracting Guru Ravidas's bani from Granth Sahib and other sources. They have been forced to do so as the so-called high caste, Tat Khalsa Sikhs would not let them practice their Sikhi the way they feel comfortable.
Sher did you know that all of the early Sikh manuscripts were bound in leather? That was a shout out to all the brahmins.
Sher,
I'm going to assume that you read far more nuance in my post than the average would have. In fact, you read so much into it that you just decided to go off and come up with as much bullshit as you could to troll this discussion. Sadly, you're just a tool.
So, one last time: "It doesn't matter if they did or did not, what matters is our reaction to oppression of others."
It doesn't matter if they gave their head or they did not. That wasn't the point.
Understand, little mr. Meow?
The rest of your comments are irellevant.
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