The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a brutal attack on an elderly Sikh man in that state.
CAIR-SV said 68-year old Amrik Singh Bal was hit by a car and beaten by two white males as he waited for a ride to work in what Fresno police are investigating as a hate crime. Bal was transported to Community Regional Medical Center, with a broken collar bone.
"We condemn the brutal attack on Mr. Bal and reject the religious and ethnic hatred that leads to such cowardly attacks," said CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra.
[NOTE: Sikh men who wear beards and turbans as part of their faith are often targeted by bigots who mistake them for Muslims.]
Elkarra said CAIR has in the past spoken out against bias-motivated attacks on American Sikhs.
In 2013 CAIR-SV condemned a brutal attack on an elderly Sikh man.
CAIR also said that American Muslims "stand with their Sikh brothers and sisters" following a deadly shooting attack targeting a house of worship of that faith in Wisconsin.
In 2011, CAIR-SV offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals who gunned down two elderly Sikh men in Elk Grove, Calif.
In 2010, CAIR called for an FBI investigation of an attack on a Sikh cab driver in West Sacramento, Calif. The driver said his passengers made anti-Muslim remarks during the attack. Two men were later arrested on charges of felony assault and commission of a hate crime.
