Biden remembers victims of Oak Creek Gurdwara shooting
WASHINGTON: Admitting that there has been a rise in hate crime against Asian-americans, US President Joe Biden mourned the loss of Sikhs in a shooting by a white supremacist at a gurdwara in Wisconsin nine years ago.
“On this day, in 2012, I was with another friend who’s half Sikh -- he’s a Sikh. And we were dealing with 10 people shot in a hateful act of bigotry at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Seven people lost their lives that day. Today, we honour everyone impacted by the tragedy,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
In an interaction with reporters during his meeting with AAPP civil rights leaders, Biden acknowledged that there has been a rise in hate crimes, harassment, bullying and other forms of bias against Asianamericans during the pandemic. “It seems not to stop,” he said.
Several Indian Americans were invited to attend Biden’s meeting at the White House. Prominent among them were Seema Agnani from the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD); Satjeet Kaur from Sikh Coalition; Kiran Kaur Gill from Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF); and Neil Makhija from Indian American Impact.
In a separate statement, Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, thanked Biden for his “compassion” and a “strong stand” against hate and violence. “The Sikh community was shaken by this tragedy and our community still is concerned about the hate filled rhetoric being condoned by some political interest groups,” he said.