Columbia University Professor, a Sikh Physician, Injured in Teen Mob Attack
Shortly after in Wisconsin and killed six worshipers last year, Dr. Prabhjot Singh, a Sikh-American physician and assistant professor of international affairs at Columbia University, co-wrote a column for The New York Times .鈥�
On Saturday night, on the edge of Harlem, Singh became a victim of the hatred and violence.
As he strolled down the street with a friend near 110th and Lenox at about 8 p.m., a band of up to 20 teenagers on bicycles surrounded Singh, shouting 鈥渢errorist鈥� and 鈥済et Osama.鈥�
Then, according to the and the , the teens began punching and kicking Singh, who wears a turban and beard in adherence to his Sikh faith. As Singh tried to escape, the teenagers chased him down the street, throwing punches and slurs, apparently mistaking him for a Muslim.听
Singh, according to the Sikh Coalition, suffered displaced teeth, severe bruising and swelling, a small puncture in his elbow and a possible fracture in his lower jaw. 鈥淚t could have been worse,鈥� Amardeep Singh, program director for the Sikh Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group based in New York, told Hatewatch today. 鈥淟uckily, there were a lot of people of good will, who intervened.鈥�
Amardeep Singh said several passersby physically tried to intervene, while others yelled at the teenagers that they had called the police.
Singh was taken by ambulance to Mt. Sinai hospital, where he is a resident physician. He was treated and released. He was scheduled to give a news conference in New York this afternoon.
The band of teenagers was reported to be mostly black, but Amardeep Singh said that both the Sikh Coalition and 鈥渢he victim鈥� 鈥� Dr. Singh 鈥� declined to answer questions about the race of the attackers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not helpful,鈥� Amardeep Singh told Hatewatch. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 helpful in reducing racial tensions. We鈥檙e trying to get the country to live up to its best values. We鈥檙e a community that is profiled. There鈥檚 no reason for us to profile anyone.鈥�
He said, for that reason, Dr. Singh was reluctant to cooperate with police sketch artists.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no real identifiable information,鈥� Amardeep Singh said. 鈥淚t was a sudden and intense attack. He was just trying to make sure he wasn鈥檛 injured further.鈥�
鈥淩ace is not relevant,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat is relevant is for whatever reason they had hate in their hearts and acted on it.鈥�
In a press release about the attack on Dr. Singh, the Sikh Coalition said the incident came less than two weeks after the first-ever nationwide public perception assessment of Sikh Americans, titled 鈥淭urban Myths.鈥� That survey shows that 70 percent of Americans misidentify turban-wearers 鈥� like Dr. Singh 鈥� in the U.S. as Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Shinto. Nearly all turban-wearers in the U.S. adhere to Sikhism.
鈥淲hat happened鈥� on Saturday night, Amardeep Singh said in the Coalition statement, 鈥渄id not happen in a vacuum. Here in New York City we regularly receive reports that Sikh schoolchildren are called 鈥楤in Laden鈥� or 鈥榯errorist鈥� by classmates and sometimes endure physical violence.鈥�
And when they grow up to be professors and physicians, the violence still follows them down the street.
