Sikh Youth Alliance brings first of its kind bill in the nation’s history calling for establishing the definition for anti-Sikh hate and incorporating it into the bias intimidation policies and into the diversity, equity, and inclusivity promotion policies of the State. The horrific incidents of 9/11 changed the world for many living in America. Immediately after Sept. 11, many Sikh Americans experienced, and continue to experience in the years since, hate incidents. Four days later, on Sept. 15, 2001, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh American man in Arizona, was the first person killed in a “retaliatory” hate crime after 9/11 by a man who called himself a “patriot”. In an ongoing effort to stem the cases of rising hatred, bigotry, prejudice and discrimination against Sikhs community, the bill drafted by Sikh Youth Alliance could help mobilize different resources to step-up awareness and promote education initiatives across different agencies and departments of the government.

The pre-existing influx of cases after 9/11 has been further fueled by transnational repression against Sikhs community across the online and offline platforms by the foreign government. More members from the Sikh community in various parts of US has come forward to report the death threat given to them by the agents of the foreign government. The organized entities and hate groups alike are elevating hatred, prejudice, and bigotry against Sikhs in US. The bill calls for developing transnational repression response and tactics training on how to identify different tactics of transnational repression and preventive and reporting measures can be taken at local, county and state
law enforcement level.

Sikhism is the 5th largest religion founded in the Punjab in Northern India in 1469 over 550 years ago in 1469 and with more than 25 million Sikhs around the world. According to different estimates close to 1 million Sikhs calls US their home.

The part of the Sikh faith requires Sikhs to not shave or cut their hair to honor what God has given them and for Sikh men to wrap their hair in a turban to represent an outward commitment to their faith. However, there are many others who do not keep unshorn beard, mustache and turban but still follow the Sikhs faith. Unfortunately, in America, beards and turbans are often mistakenly associated with stereotypes of terrorists — a dangerous linkage that has been perpetuated for years in popular media. This association has left Sikh Americans vulnerable to targeted hate, violence, and discrimination. Therefore, it becomes imperative to impart right kind of training on key Sikh identity feature, that
includes turban, beard, and mustache, to the law enforcement entities at the local, county and state level to identify the anti-Sikh hate cases. This bill calls for developing training modules and disseminate that to law enforcement bodies so that hate cases do not get misclassified.

Ever since the FBI has started recording the anti-Sikh hate incidents in 2015, there has been an exponential increase in the hate crime against Sikhs community, many of which go unnoticed and unreported. The Sikhs are ranked as the 2nd most religiously targeted community with 2023 FBI report
noted the highest ever victimization rate in the country for Sikh community. The law enforcement bodies in various parts of the United States report the hate and bias violations to the FBI on voluntary basis which is leaving a gap in the accurate assessment of the actual number of hate crime occurring rather than what being reported. Through this bill it is being mandated for the law enforcement bodies at the local, county and state level in New Jersey to report all the hate and bias violations to the State and Federal law enforcement bodies.

Over the years, the Sikh kids and adults alike has faced discrimination, hatred, prejudice, and bigotry majorly due to lack of awareness and education about Sikh identity, culture, history, and heritage. The bill asks the Department of Education to submit an annual report to the Governor and Legislature on the steps taken to implement the Sikhism education across different grades across the township boards
of education curriculums.

The bill further calls the NJ legislature to appropriate $100,000 for 3 consecutive years to the Office of Attorney General to fund Sikh awareness educational initiatives through public platforms and step up the outreach efforts to Sikh community.

The bill drafted by Sikh Youth Alliance has been introduced in Assembly as A 4561 by Hon’ble Carol Murphy and in Senate as S 3532 by Hon’ble Angela V. McKnight. The key highlights of the bill are below:

– Includes Sikhs as protected class in bias intimation law
– Adopt State definition for anti-Sikh hate and incorporate the
definition across the different public entities bias
intimidation and inclusivity promotion policy.
– Mandate the local, county and state law enforcement
entities to report all the hate and bias violations to state
and federal law enforcement entities.
– Develop a transnational repression recognition and
response training program
– The Department of Education to submit an annual report to
the Governor and Legislature on steps taken to include
Sikhism curriculum across different grades across towns.
– Develop training, for the dissemination to county and local
law enforcement agencies, on Sikhism and the visible Sikh
identity features
– Appropriate $100, 000 for 3 consecutive years to the Office
of Attorney General to fund Sikh awareness educational
initiatives through different public platforms and outreach
efforts to the Sikh community.

Sikh Youth Alliance is determined to continuously advocate with lawmakers in Assembly and Senate to advance the bills through the legislative processes.