The Rachel Maddow Show WEEKNIGHTS 9PM ETMorning Joe WEEKDAYS 6AM ETDeadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace Weekdays 4PM ETThe Beat with Ari Melber Weeknights 6PM ETThe Weeknight Weeknights 7PM ETAll in with Chris Hayes TUESDAY-FRIDAY 8PM ETThe Briefing with Jen Psaki TUESDAYS – FRIDAYS 9PM ETThe Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnel Weeknights 10PM ETThe 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle Weeknights 11PM ET
Last weekend, Melissa offered a moving response to America's latest mass shooting, a senseless act of violence interrupting preparations for a birthday lunch at
Sikh filmmaker and advocate Valarie Kaur.
By
Jamil Smith
Last weekend, Melissa offered a moving response to America’s latest mass shooting, a senseless act of violence interrupting preparations for a birthday lunch at a Sikh temple outside Milwaukee. In her Footnote, Melissa made reference to Sikh documentarian and activist Valarie Kaur (pictured at right), who was on the ground in Oak Creek speaking with and documenting the community’s recovery. Valarie had already written what I considered the most necessary piece in the days immediately following the shooting, writing in the Washington Post that the media shorthand “mistaken identity” — describing how the white-supremacist killer may have thought Sikhs were Muslims, because we can get why they would be targeted — should be forever retired.
As the news coverage of the tragedy quickly faded, Kaur followed that up this week with a different plea for recognition. Though the murder of six people and shooting of many others at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin was labeled by FBI investigators as domestic terrorism, Kaur notes that the government doesn’t even keep stats on hate crimes against Sikhs:
To be sure, the FBI’s grouping different communities under “Muslim and those perceived to be Muslim” signals the emergence of a new racial category in America since 9/11 that can be called the “Muslim-looking other.” Many non-Muslim communities – Sikh Americans, Arab Christians, Latinos, and Native Americans for example – have been swept up into this new racial category. Communities that did not work together in the past banded together in the last decade to fight profiling and hate on all levels. That said, lumping all targeted groups into a “Muslim” catch-all category forecloses our ability to understand the specific needs of each group. Sikhs, in particular, happen to be the most visible targets in post-9/11 hate violence and deserve equal attention.
