Source: The Sikh Coalition
On December 10, 2003 the New Jersey Sikh Coalition released a press statement announcing that, together with the Presidents of New Jersey's eight gurdwaras, they had released a state civil rights agenda. "The agenda, jointly agreed to by the leaders of New Jersey's 30,000 Sikhs, calls on state and federal officials to work more closely with the community to address discrimination in four areas of concern: hate crimes, employment discrimination, school harassment and profiling. Since September 11, 2001, Sikh Americans have endured a significant increase in acts of hate and discrimination. The Sikh Coalition, has documented over 300 incidents of bias against Sikhs across the country ranging from verbal harassment in public, to harassment of children in school and physical attacks, including over thirty such incidents in New Jersey."