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USA UPDATED! Dr. Prabjot Singh, Sikh Professor Attacked In Possible Hate Crime (2 Videos)

spnadmin

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Jun 17, 2004
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Dr. Prabjot Singh, Sikh Professor Attacked in Possible Hate Crime

by Paul Brandeis Rauschenbush


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/22/prabhjot-singh-sikh-columbia-hate-crime_n_3972449.html


A Columbia University professor was assaulted on Saturday night in what police say is being investigated as a hate crime.

According to a New York Police Department source, Dr. Prabhjot Singh, who is Sikh and wears a turban and a beard, was attacked at 8:15 p.m. while walking along 110th Street near Lennox Avenue in upper Manhattan. An unknown suspect or suspects shouted anti-Muslim statements, knocked the professor down and punched him numerous times in the face.

Simran Jeet Singh, a student and friend of Dr. Singh, visited the victim at Mt. Sinai Hospital where he is recovering from several severe but non-life-threatening injuries.

According to Simran Jeet Singh, Dr. Singh said that during the attack the assailants shouted "get Osama" and "terrorist."

Dr. Singh is a is a practicing doctor in East Harlem as well as an assistant professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He and Simran Jeet Singh wrote about the importance of gathering more information on hate crimes against Sikhs in an op-ed in the New York Times last year:

The government must begin tracking and counting anti-Sikh hate crimes, just as it must continue to vigorously combat bias and discrimination against all Americans, including Muslims.

You can watch a TED talk by Dr. Singh below

TEDxBrooklyn - Dr. Prabhjot Singh - YouTube
 

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spnadmin

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By Kathryn Cusma and Sean Piccoli

Sikh attacked by racist mob thanks Good Samaritans

http://nypost.com/2013/09/23/sikh-attacked-by-mob-thanks-good-samaritans/


A Sikh physician who was beaten by a mob that mistook him for a Muslim spoke to reporters about the ordeal on Monday through his surgically re-wired jaw — and thanked a group of good Samaritans in Harlem who got between him and his hate-filled attackers.

“There was a nurse who lived across the street [and], an elderly African- American gentlemen who told them to get lost, and two other people,” Probhjot Singh, 31, said at a press conference less than 48 hours after the assault. ”I can’t imagine what might have happened if they weren’t there.”

Police on Monday released a video of possible suspects in the Saturday night attack and asked anyone to come forward with information. The clip shows a group of more than a dozen youths on bicycles.

Singh said he’s working with hate-crime investigators to nab the estimated 25 to 30 young teen-agers who jumped him near West 110th Street and Lenox Avenue moments after he had dropped off his wife and 1-year-old son at home. Screaming “terrorist” and “Osama,” the pack of thugs – some on bicycles – chased him down and repeatedly punched him until bystanders intervened.

Singh didn’t recognize any of his attacker but said he “certainly” forgives them, describing them as “14- and 15-year-olds” acting on messages they pick up from the community and the culture in general.

Asked if he’s become afraid of his neighborhood, he replied, “I don’t know. Its been two days.” But he said, “If anything, this incident makes me want even more to work with the community.”

Singh, who is also a Columbia University professor, penned a newspaper op-ed last year warning about growing anti-Sikh violence in America, including incidents motivated by misplaced anger at Muslims.

Two other Sikh activists joined Singh at the press conference at Columbia. Amardeep Singh of the Seek Coalition said that anti-Muslim thugs who see a man in a beard and a turban and automatically think, “Osama bin Laden,” is an all-too-common occurrence,.

“He is the face of our faith,” said Amardeep Singh.
 

Inderjeet Kaur

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Oct 13, 2011
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LittlePrem ji, thank you for that link. I have signed it and posted it on Facebook and Twitter. The goal is 3000. I hope it reaches 10,000 or more.

I used Google Earth to catch a view of 110th and Lenox, in Harlem, where the assault took place. Here are a picture to help you see the scene of the crime. Someone in a comment I read somewhere suggested that Dr. Prabhjot Singh was faking it. Aside from his injuries which were treated at hospital, I must point out to the idiot making that claim, the attack took place in a very public place and there were witnesses.
 

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spnadmin

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Not only are there witnesses, there is CCTV footage. The NYPD Hate Crimes Unit crammed the hospital ER where Dr. Prabhjot was taken wasting no time to take his information. So they must have taken this as fact not fiction.

There are a lot of idiots on the Internet, who are bad or worse than actual attackers. And their number is either increasing, or they are beating bigger drums.
 

Tejwant Singh

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Jun 30, 2004
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Some of us who have been fortunate enough to come to know Dr. Prabhjot Singh and his wife Manmeet can only see the gentleness and the grit to fight justice for all in their healthcare field. BTW, he also has a Phd from Roosevelt Institution which only accepts the geniuses of the world. He lives and works in Harlem among the poorest of the poor and the trouble makers by his own choice to better the lives of others.

Many years ago, my late brother was mugged in the same neighbourhood and got about $50k worth of goods stolen from his van.

Dr. Prabhjot may have helped save some lives at the hospital of the relatives of the same hooligans that attacked him.

Having said all this, as this thing was supposed to happen, it would not have happened to a better example of Sikhi than Prabhjot. It showed the other side of Sikhi that many are not aware of. it also gave them chance to see his love and dedication through his TedTalk whose video is posted above.

This is one of the best educational lessons taught to the ignorant Americans and more important to us Sikhs quite unconsciously by Prabhjot.

Let's learn from this horrible incident and volunteer in the food pantries, soup kitchens and in any other cause that can better the less fortunate ones.

The more we show ourselves in these places with our turbans and routinely, lessor the painful lives will be for all others around the US and other countries.

Tejwant Singh

PS: Ik Ong Kaar speed and Chardi Kala, Prabhjot!
 

aristotle

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May 10, 2010
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Ancient Greece
Hate Crime Charge in NY Attack on Sikh Professor

NEW YORK April 20, 2014

A man accused of pulling the beard of a Sikh professor before a group of young men who had called the professor "Osama" and a "terrorist" attacked him, has been arrested and charged with a hate crime, police said Saturday.

Christian Morales, 20, was charged with aggravated harassment in connection with September's attack on Columbia University professor Prabhjot Singh, who suffered a broken jaw.

Singh, 31, was walking home with a friend in upper Manhattan when he was approached by a group of 12 to 15 young men, he said days after his attack.

"I heard, 'Get him. Osama.' I heard 'terrorist.' And I felt somebody grab my beard," Singh said then.

He was then kicked and punched in an attack that ended after other people intervened, police said.

Singh didn't return a message seeking comment Saturday.

Morales was in custody and was unavailable for comment. A phone number for him was out of service, and it was unclear if he had an attorney.

Detectives from the hate crimes task force are investigating the case.

Sikhism is a peace-loving religion that originated in India and preaches equality and a commitment to justice. Its practitioners have been targeted by attackers who in some cases confuse Sikhism and Islam because Sikh men and boys are required to wear turbans and beards.

Singh co-authored a 2012 op-ed in The New York Times accusing the federal government of failing to accurately measure the extent of anti-Sikh violence in response to the August 2012 shooting at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee that left six people and the white supremacist gunman dead.

In the op-ed, Singh and his co-author argued that it is wrong "to assume that every attack against a Sikh is really meant for a Muslim." They said Sikhs have historically been targeted.

(Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/hate-crime-charge-nyc-attack-sikh-professor-23395276)
 

ActsOfGod

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Aug 13, 2012
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What a irony. Hopefully more arrests are made with this guy being caught or perhaps I'd prefer them all to do seva by teaching Sikhi in schools so more are aware of our faith but that's just my opinion. 0:)

How can they possibly teach Sikhi? They need to learn respect for basic human rights before they can do anything else.

I understand your sentiment, and I appreciate where you're coming from. But these cowards needs punishment, and maybe counseling, not a pat on the back and a theology lesson.

It was a vicious and brutal attack. It was carried out with malice and intent to harm. There are powerful driving forces behind their actions. These people espouse certain belief systems. They are ignorant and racist, and raised in a society where there is no accountability. They are messed up on so many levels.

If they feel that they can simply attack a man and leave him to die and walk away free, they need a very real and very harsh wake-up call.

Let them serve their time in prison first. Perhaps once they realize the gravity of their situation and complete their sentences, then they can be allowed to perform seva, and that is, only if they demonstrate true remorse.

AoG

p.s. You take your family to the Gurudwara, do you really want these kind of ignorant thugs around your children or elders? Think twice before opening the doors of your home to violent unreformed criminals.
 

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