Members of the California Sikh-Trucking community say that a fatal crash with its own that triggered heated national debates about immigration led to an boost in anti-Sikh rhetoric.
On August 12th, Harjinder Singh, a truck driver born in India, made Florida Turnpike, which the authorities say that a crash of three people was killed. The crash and the subsequent investigations aroused arguments between the Republican governor of Florida, Ron Desantis, and the democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom.
It also triggered online vitriol dismissal members of the monotheistic religion that often desire highly paid truck jobs that enable Sikh men to wear beards, uncut hair and turbans.
“There are many negative comments online,” said Prahb Singh, a truck driver in Riverside, California, who is not related to the driver.
None of the people mentioned in this story are in the same family; Singh is a constant surname under Sikhs.
“People say:” Take the towel off the street “and” Make our streets by taking immigrants off the street, “said Singh, a US citizen who emigrated from India at the age of 8.
Sikhs play an essential role in the US truck industry
The estimates of the Sikh population in the US US US field are with the greatest concentration in California. Many work in the truck industry and related companies, including restaurants and truck schools on essential routes.
“I spoke to many truck drivers and they said:” People look at us now, “said Sukhpreet Waraich, a trucker who has an inter -state freight in Fontana, California.
As the father of three children and the nutrition of his family, he fears that he will be targeted unfairly. Like other Sikhs, he complained about the accident in Florida and called it a tragedy. But he hopes that the driver will get a fair exam and want people to understand that it is an isolated crash.
“I’ve been driving since 2019. I don’t have a single ticket,” said Waraich.
The North American Punjabi Truckers Association estimates that the SIKH workforce is about 40% of the truck driving on the west coast and about 20% nationwide. There are no official figures, said CEO Raman Dhillon, but Advocacy groups appreciate that around 150,000 Sikh truck drivers in the USA could work, this number could be up to 250,000 in view of the high demand for postpandemic drivers.
Since the fatal crash, the association has received numerous reports on the harassment of Sikh drivers. In one case, said Dhillon, a Sikh man was ejected from a truck station in Oklahoma when he tried to take a shower.
Fatal Florida Crash and Partisan Policy
In Florida, Harjinder Singh is exposed to homicide and vehicle murder accusations and is held without binding. The Authorities in Florida said that he entered the United States illegally in 2018. However, the California officials said that the federal authorities were legally in the country with a work permit when the state gave him a driver’s license.
The Trump administration said that Singh should never have received a commercial driver’s license because of his immigration status and because he did not pass an English competence test after the crash. But officials from New Mexico published a video about a traffic stop where Singh communicated with an officer in English.
Florida’s lieutenant sent Desantis to California to monitor the handover of the truck driver. He would never have been behind the steering wheel and called him “racket”.
“The job of the sheriff is made by governor Leutnant”, whose name was “very low”, said Dhillon.
Others in the SIKH truck industry are worried that they become scapegoats in the bitter struggle for immigration in the country.
“This is a tragedy; it was an accident, and every Punjabi, every Sikh, feels for the victim family,” said Harsimran Singh, CEO of Gillson Trucking in Stockton, California, who is not related to the driver.
“But the way this case was processed … many, many people in my community are afraid of their future in this country.”
Since the crash, he said that five of his Sikh drivers stopped and told him that they no longer felt protected.
In a sign of support, the United Sikhs Advocacy Group recently organized a meeting in front of the Florida prison. They prayed for the victims of the crash and offered to assist families with the costs of funeral regulations while condemning anti-Sikh discrimination.
“Many immigrants have settled here and fled religious and other persecution.
Sikhs find religious freedom in the truck
Sikhism was founded more than 500 years ago in the Indian region of Punjab. It is one of the largest religions in the world with around 25 million followers.
Sikh migrants from Punjab – once India’s bread basket – have been moving abroad for many years to find better opportunities. Fragile farm income and tight jobs have driven the newer Exodus. The huge Sikh -Diaspora increases the belief that migration, legal or illegal, is the safest way to stability.
Since September 11, 2001, the juvenile Sikhs in the USA have been exposed to discrimination – from school bullying to racial profiles and hate crimes – especially against men with beards and turbans.
In his Gurdwara – a Sikh House of Worship – in Fremont, California, Jasdeep Singh reported that children have been bullied at school since the accident.
“The entire community was brought to trial because we are so visible,” he said.
“It was always there, but now it is on a different level. In September 11, they thought we were Muslims,” ​​he said of crimes in which attackers said they had thought Sikhs for Arab Muslims. “But this time there is no confusion. If you ask me, it’s worse.”
In Central Valley in California, generations of Sikh’s are proud to strengthen the US freight forwarders.
The jobs are of crucial importance for the community. Financially, they assist Sikh immigrants to take care of their families and send their children to college, said Manpreet Kaur, Education Director of the Sikh Coalition. Trucking also allows Sikhs to practice her faith more freely, she said.
“There is a certain agency that is granted to a person, especially for those who may wear a turban who holds their unshakable beards, which is not available at the normal workplace,” said Kaur, whose father became California in California in the 1970s.
“For example, you can park and pray,” she said. “The community is afraid of losing this (freedom) with the negative rhetoric that comes out.”
Sikhs worry about rhetoric that leads to violence
In addition to rhetoric, she hopes that people can understand: “There is also a different story, another existence of a community that lives and thrives and is really the backbone of the American truck industry.”
The Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh interest representation in the United States, mourns the loss of the Lost Lives in Florida while hoping that the driver will be given a fair attempt. Harman Singh, Executive Director of Coalition, also caused growing concerns that the crash “demonize” the entire Sikh community.
The youngest FBI data, he said, shows that Sikhs are one of the most targeted religious groups in the country for hate crimes.
“Every time an incident appears and we hear and see increased rhetoric that aims at the community and aim for people’s faith articles, which indicates that our community is somehow clearly lawless or criminal, which leads to increased violence,” he said.
The coalition has turned to Sikh trucker to ensure that they know their rights when they are stopped by authorities.
“We would like to make sure that there is legal procedures and a process to ensure that the family receives justice,” he said. “But that should happen through the courtroom. It should not happen through headlines. It shouldn’t happen on social media. And it should certainly not happen with a very splitting rhetoric over a community as a whole.”
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Associated Press Writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska and Rajesh Roy in Neu -Delhi.
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