Long Island Rail Incident Encapsulates Post 9/11 Experience for Sikh American

March 10, 2003

Source: Newsday

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/ny-nysub103166025mar10,0,2511202.column

On March 10, 2003 Newsday reported that "the angry Long Island Rail Road commuter tried explaining why he wanted the bearded man with a turban off the Huntington train... the officer was Stephen Hughes, 43, a captain with 22 years on the job who now works out of the Midtown North Precinct. On this Wednesday night in a bustling city at war, Hughes was just trying to get home. Initially, he didn't even identify himself as a police officer... The man with the long black beard and turban was Gurpreet Singh, 24, a technology consultant who lives in Syosset. Singh is a Sikh who was born in Afghanistan and raised in Flushing. His parents were born in India. He is neither Arab nor Muslim... Singh told his story in this space a week ago... 'That was amazing,' he said, marveling at the willingness of strangers to help. 'New Yorkers, you know, Americans are willing to defend your rights...' Still, the story generated dozens of phone calls and e-mails from readers - mostly people from South Asia, such as Indians and Pakistanis, who often are mistaken for Arabs - concerned about American attitudes toward Muslims and people of South Asian descent since 9/11... Many fear that experiences such as Singh's on the LIRR will become more common if the United States goes to war against Iraq."