Suman Raghunathan and Lakshmi Sridaran: Honor Sikh temple shooting victims by making a change

Three years ago on Aug. 5, a white supremacist killed six Sikh Americans at their gurdwara, or place of worship, in Oak Creek, Wis. We need to alter our policies and our political discourse to make sure such a tragedy never occurs again.

Unfortunately, what happened that day is becoming less of an anomaly due to a number of factors: South Asians are the most rapidly growing demographic group in the country and unrelenting hate-related violence continues to target South Asians and other communities of color.

In the last six months alone, there have been violent incidents toward Hindu, Arab and Sikh communities in New Jersey, North Carolina and California. Current policies do not allow for such incidents to be easily categorized as hate crimes. This must change.

Sadly, our political debate is increasingly characterized by rhetoric that paints some communities as disloyal, suspicious and un-American. The report, “Under Suspicion, Under Attack,” released last September by South Asian Americans Leading Together, documented 78 instances of xenophobic political speech over the previous three years.

For example, former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said in 2012 of President Barack Obama, “I think it is very bizarre that he is desperately concerned to apologize to Muslim fanatics while they are killing young Americans.” Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to Congress, was called a “radical Islamist” the same year by his opponent, Lynne Torgerson, who then falsely declared that Islam was not fully protected by the First Amendment.

We can only expect the debate to get worse this election cycle.

GOP presidential contender Donald Trump has described Mexican immigrants as “rapists and murderers.” Republicans in Congress continue to push an anti-sanctuary-cities bill that will undermine relationships between law enforcement and immigrant communities. We have also seen the Countering Violent Extremism program emerge from the federal government that disproportionately focuses on Muslims and not enough on the real threats of white supremacists and domestic terrorism. The Oak Creek and Charleston, S.C., shootings are the most violent in this alarming trend.

Communities continue to push for change. The Oak Creek killings helped drive a critical adjustment in the FBI hate crimes reporting protocol this year. For the first time, there are now categories for crimes motivated by anti-Sikh, anti-Hindu and anti-Arab sentiment.

The White House also created a high-level task force last year focused on addressing hate violence nationwide.

It is critical that there are strong hate crime policies at the state and local level, which is where the relationships between local residents, community-based organizations and law enforcement are most important. The mayor of Oak Creek coordinated his city staff, police and fire departments to develop a model first response municipal policy after the shooting. The Arab American Association of New York and others successfully advocated for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to establish a unit dedicated to investigating hate crimes last year.

We need to build on such policies and engage in civil political debate. Only then will we truly honor the Oak Creek victims.

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Suman Raghunathan and Lakshmi Sridaran: Honor Sikh temple shooting victims by making a change."