Dr Prabhjot Singh at the press conference in Columbia Unviversity
On Saturday night at 8:15 pm, Dr. Prabhjot Singh, a Sikh professor at Columbia University, was brutally attacked by a gang of 15 to 20 people in New York in what seemed like a possible hate crime. Two days later, nobody was expecting the Sikh doctor, who suffered a fractured jaw and multiple injuries, to speak. But he did - about hope, faith and what it really means to be an American.
In a press conference in Columbia University, Dr Prabhjot Singh said, "This is not the Harlem I know, this is not the America I recognize. I do not want my 1 year old son to ever experience this. They beat me up calling me names like 'Osama' and 'terrorist', but to be American is not about what you wear or how you look, it is about your core values."
Dr Singh was attacked in Manhattan's Harlem district, which is generally considered safe and a place which the professor is familiar with. He lives within a few blocks and works within a short distance, in the prestigious Mt. Sinai Hospital where he is a resident physician and at Columbia University where he teaches International Affairs.
His friend and colleague Simranjeet Singh, who is a doctoral student at Columbia University, was one of the first to see him post the attack. "What is shocking is that this happened so close to his home, after he dropped his wife and 1 year old son. It reminds us that it could happen to any of us here," he said.
According to Jasjit Singh, Executive Director, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund or SALDEF, says, "A recent study conducted by Stanford University says that over 50% of Americans associate the Sikh turban to be a symbol linked to terrorism."
The United States is home to 700,000 Sikhs and since 9/11 has seen more than 700 attacks or bias related incidents against the community, according to reports. However, it is not Sikhs alone who face hate crimes. The same day that Dr. Prabhjot Singh was assaulted, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab was attacked in Times Square, a chilling reminder that minorities are still targeted in a country that is built upon diversity.