Just days after horrifying footage of anti-Muslim rhetoric proudly on display in California surfaced, two elderly Sikh men in California were gunned down in a suspected hate crime. Please read and share the blog below, written by my dear friend and colleague Valarie Kaur. Valarie and I spoke by phone this afternoon, both fighting back tears, trying to make sense of such a senseless act. What I said to her, I’d like to say to you — to all of you who read my blog, to all of us who have committed our lives to the work of building relationships of understanding and inclusion: “What makes this work — the work of bridging divides, of championing diversity, of fighting for cooperation — so rich and rewarding, is also what makes it so difficult on days like today: it’s personal. If you are truly invested in it, it can’t not be.”

Today, let’s not forget why this work is so deeply personal: it is about other human beings. We mourn this horrible act because, though we did not know these men personally, they were and are our brothers.

Two elderly Sikh men, who wore turbans and beards, were gunned down in Elk Grove, CA during their daily afternoon walk. Hate is not the confirmed motivation but likely, according to officials. This news comes in a time when anti-Muslim rhetoric is once again reaching a fevered pitch. A few weeks ago, protesters screamed “terrorists” at Muslim children walking to a charity fundraiser. Last week, Tennessee legislators proposed a bill that would essentially criminalize Islam in the state. Last year, following the Park51 firestorm, mosques in Tennessee, Oregon, and Georgia reported arson. And next week, Peter King holds a Congressional hearing investigating the loyalty and “radicalization” of American Muslims. Our culture treats Muslims and anyone who ‘looks’ Muslim, including Sikh Americans, as perpetually foreign, automatically suspect and potentially terrorist.

I received this news on the other side of the country, while writing a reflection essay on the ten-year 9/11 anniversary.  As a Sikh American, it’s hard to ‘reflect’ when news of violence is ongoing.  Wiping away tears to post this.

I take heart in gestures of solidarity. Last month, my colleague Chris Stedman and I responded to the brutal murder of Ugandan gay activist David Kato with a piece on the Huffington Post: “From Ground Zero to Gays in Uganda: A Millennial Response to Moral Crises.” It called for people to join together struggles to end anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, and anti-LGBT policies and violence — so as to stand up for and with one another. A quiet way to do so today: light a candle for the grieving families (pictured above) and spread the word.

Here’s the story in the Sacramento Bee:

Police said Saturday that they don’t know why someone gunned down two men – frail from heart attacks and advancing years – as they slowly ambled through a quiet Elk Grove neighborhood during their daily afternoon walk.

Surinder Singh (pictured right), 67, died Friday afternoon on the sidewalk along East Stockton Boulevard near Geneva Pointe Drive. Gurmej Atwal (pictured below), his 78-year-old friend, was shot twice in the chest. His family said he was in critical but stable condition.

In a statement released late Saturday, Elk Grove Police Chief Robert Lehner called on witnesses to come forward and said, “We have no evidence to indicate there was a hate or bias motivation for this crime; however, the obvious Sikh appearance of the men, including the traditional Dastar headwear and lack of any other apparent motive, increasingly raise that possibility.”

Lehner also said he had “made preliminary notification” to the local FBI office.

Relatives and friends in the tightknit Sikh community to which the two men belong were not as hesitant to call the shooting a hate crime.

Singh and Atwal, like many Sikh men, had thick beards and wore turbans – traditions that have made Sikhs the target of bigotry and violent attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Read the full story here.

Valarie Kaur is the Executive Director of Groundswell, a movement of Millenial, religiously diverse people working to combat anti-Muslim, anti-LGBT, and anti-immigrant rhetoric and violence. An award-winning filmmaker, public speaker, and writer in her third year at Yale Law School, Kaur wrote and produced Divided We Fall (2008), the first feature film on racism in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and winner of more than a dozen international awards.