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| Photo: BostonGlobe.com |
Sunday's shooting at the Oak Creek Guruwara in Wisconsin definitely hit home. As a Sikh myself, the idea that a man came into a place of worship and began shooting people is extremely disturbing. This comes at the heels of the movie theater in Aurora, CO.
It's so sad to know that some people have so much hate in their hearts that they feel the need to inflict pain on innocent people.
Words like domestice terrorism and hate crime have been thrown around describing the event. Reading countless articles on the shooting made me realize even more that EVERYONE needs to be educated on other religions and cultures. Since 9/11, Sikh men have been targetes because of their long-beards and turbans resembling the dress of Al- Qaeda members.
Sikh men wear turbans because it is customary in the Sikh religion to not cut your hair. Uncut hair is an ode to God because your hair was given to you by the Lord and not cutting it is a sign of respect. Turbans are worn to protect the hair of men and scarves or chunnis are worn by women to protect their's as well. To keep one's hair is a commitment to accept the body in the natural form in which it was born, and to get rid of vanity relating to outward appearance.
I'm not going to name the shooter in my blog posting because I don't want to glorify him. As the Huffington Post says, Murdering innocent Sikhs does not make you a patriot. I would think 10 years later after the September 11th attacks we, as Americans, would understand the difference between a terrorist or not. Even though Sikhs wear turbans and confuse them with Muslims...let's take a look at one fact...the men who flew those planes into the towers and the Pentagon were not wearing turbans anyway.
In 2012 we've seen the Trayvon Martin case, a Iraqi-American woman beaten to death in her CA home, the shooting in Aurora and now this in Oak Creek.
Come on, everyone. Let's love one another...if not...who else will?
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