South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a national South Asian civil rights organization, mourns the loss of life in separate killings of South Asian Americans last week in California and Michigan, and demands that law enforcement investigate whether racial or religious animus motivated any of these incidents.
On May 4, Dr. Ramesh Kumar was found shot dead in his car on a highway near Detroit, Michigan. Hours later in a separate incident in Modesto, California, Jagjeet Singh, a convenience store clerk, was stabbed to death by a customer outside his shop. Racial motivations have been alleged in both cases.
"Our communities have faced a hostile climate of hate for years, with particular intensity since President Trump took office. This makes race as a possible motivation in these tragic killings a very real possibility," stated Suman Raghunathan, Executive Director of SAALT. "The President's divisive rhetoric and policies have fanned the flames of violence against our communities since his campaign, and now in his Presidency. Unfortunately, broad swaths of our nation's residents face hostility and violence as a result of the xenophobic and anti-Muslim rhetoric advanced by President Trump."
2017 has been a deadly year for our growing communities, including tragic shootings in Kansas and Washington State, numerous arson attacks and vandalism of mosques, businesses, and homes nationwide, and mounting fear experienced within our communities across the country. The nation has seen a groundswell of violence aimed at South Asian, Muslim and immigrant communities, with numerous perpetrators hurling epithets before committing acts of violence against community members. South Asians are the most rapidly growing demographic group nationwide.
These relentless and numerous tragedies build upon the historic violence of the 2016 presidential elections. In our latest report, "Power, Pain, Potential," SAALT documented 207 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric aimed at South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Arab, and Middle Eastern American communities during the divisive elections, 95% of which were animated by anti-Muslim sentiment. Notably, 1 in 5 xenophobic comments came from then-candidate Trump.
The President's rhetoric has been implemented with devastating effect via divisive policies such as two attempts at a "Muslim Ban", both of which have been halted by the courts. This week the administration is appealing a nationwide restraining order on the latest "Muslim Ban" in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia. SAALT and our allies rallied in staunch opposition to the "Muslim Ban" as part of the #NoMuslimBanEver week of resistance. Lakshmi Sridaran, Director of National Policy and Advocacy of SAALT, stated, "The President may be a businessman at heart, but civil rights do not belong at the negotiation table. SAALT, our allies, and our communities will continue to be at the vanguard of efforts to resist this and any administration's efforts to strip us of our dignity and justice."
