The September 11th attack
Confronting ethnic profiling: 'There's a price for freedom'
By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
The small American flag on Dr. Birendra Huja's desk in his Honolulu medical office has been there since he became a U.S. citizen 15 years ago.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Though it is a symbol of his love for his adopted country, Huja says he doesn't need to impress anyone with his patriotism. He would rather focus on fostering understanding in America.
Dr. Birendra Huja says he has become more cautious in dealing with strangers, who may be suspicious of him because of his appearance. Huja wears a turban as a symbol of his Sikh religion.
The turban he wears is a symbol of his Sikh religion. He wears it as a customary practice followed by members of his faith, though the turbans have made some the targets of harassment.
Huja has no political, religious or cultural ties to the followers of Osama bin Laden. He's not Muslim or even Middle Eastern. He came from India to Hawai'i in 1968 and loved it so much that he stayed.
But with his brown skin and his turban, Huja knows that his appearance leaves him subject to ethnic profiling and suspicion, especially in the wake of terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.
Balbir Singh Sodhi, the Sikh owner of a Mesa, Ariz., gas station, was wearing a turban when he was shot to death Sept. 15. With his death, the Arizona man became a symbol for backlash against Middle Easterners — or those who look like them.
Sikh priest Baba Amar Singh was ordered to remove his turban, though intrinsic to his faith, at Honolulu International Airport on Sept. 14, just after the government reopened the skies to commercial flights.
Friends and even strangers in Hawai'i have gone out of their way to make sure Huja does not feel discrimination. And Huja doesn't want his civil liberties to become casualties of war. But he believes life is different now.
"Now when I'm driving, I don't make that much eye contact with people," said Huja, who said he is not afraid, but has become more cautious.
If he's given second looks or stopped by security, he says he will understand.
"If that's what it takes to be safe, then it's OK, so long as it's not disrespectful," he said. "There's a price for freedom."
Lessons of war
Japanese Americans still feel the pain of their own legacy of wartime hysteria. After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, 120,000 Japanese Americans in the United States were sent to internment camps, an episode in history for which Congress has apologized and paid token reparation.
America should learn from its history that ethnic profiling is the wrong way to react during a time of crisis, said David Harris, a professor of law and values at the University of Toledo College of Law and author of "Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work."
"We need to be conscious of the fact that it's easy to overdo it," Harris said.
Using racial and ethnic appearance to predict who might be a terrorist sweeps a lot of innocent people into the mix, Harris said. A better solution is to focus on behavior rather than appearance, he said.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks on America, the FBI has reported 55 cases of hate crimes considered as backlash. President Bush responded that the government would bring justice to those who attack Arab Americans, Muslims and others.
But even as the president has urged tolerance, others have suggested ethnic and racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims might be justified.
Tolerance urged
In Minnesota, just after the attacks, passengers refused to board a Northwest Airlines flight unless three Iraqi men were barred. Other airlines reported similar stories. Delta Air Line's president sent out a memo urging tolerance.
Across the country, Arab students are withdrawing from schools, people who look different are being given second glances, and paranoia is on the rise.
The American Civil Liberties Union on the Mainland has been receiving reports of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment. Although Hawai'i hasn't experienced the hate crimes reported in other parts of the country, the local ACLU is among organizations that have fought racial/ethnic profiling for years, said Vanessa Chong, executive director in Honolulu.
But Amar Sappal knows judging by behavior rather than appearance is easier said than done.
Sappal, former deputy director of transit for Honolulu, has lived here for 30 years. He works as a consulting engineer, lives in Hawai'i Kai and is a practicing Sikh who doesn't wear a turban.
He took Singh to the airport Sept. 14, because the Sikh priest was an old friend who spoke no English and got rerouted through Honolulu on his way to Toronto.
His friend was stopped by security and then a National Guardsman, who asked the priest to remove his turban, Sappal said.
"He's a Sikh priest. He's not allowed to take the turban off in public," he said. "It's the worst thing you can do to a Sikh, take off his turban. They didn't have to humiliate him and me."
Since then, Sappal has gone about his business, avoiding travel until things cool down. He even avoided going out in public.
His routine was home and work, work and home, until Thursday, when he stopped by Office Depot.
"I was at the cashier paying money, when the Caucasian guy behind me remarked something like, 'Afghanistan,' " Sappal said. "I couldn't hear everything he said, but it was like, 'Are you buying that to take back to Afghanistan?'"
Sappal turned around and asked, "Do I look like I come from Afghanistan?"
"His response was, 'You guys all look alike. You can never tell,' " Sappal said.
Sappal walked away, wondering why someone would say something like that, and why such people can't see the contradictions in their stance. After all, when Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City federal building, Sappal didn't automatically assume everyone who looked like McVeigh was a terrorist sympathizer.
Liberty for all
Nana McCartney, a 30-year-old whose husband, Justin, is in the Navy, doesn't quite blend in on Hawai'i's military bases. She is Muslim.
She feels compelled to tell people she is against bin Laden and the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan.
"My husband's American. I'm normal, like others," said McCartney, who is Indonesian. "(The terrorists and Taliban) are using religion, but it's in a different way."
Hawai'i is known for its diversity. Yet the state has just seven Sikh families on O'ahu and one on Maui. The Indian and Pakistani population is limited to about 600 families. Muslims estimate their population in Hawai'i to be 3,000.
With so few people from these cultural and ethnic backgrounds in the Islands, some fear unfamiliarity will give rise to suspicion.
Mohinder Maan wants people to understand what he is not. He is not a terrorist. He is not Muslim. Maan, owner of Diversified Exterminators, is Sikh. And he is a United States citizen. He, too, wears a turban. And he has been keeping a low profile these days.
He says the United States must be vigilant in fighting terrorism, and in the process, he expects mistakes. He says education is the key to targeting the right people.
"If I am punched on the nose tomorrow, I will stand up and say, 'OK, I understand why you did that. But here's who I am,' " he said. "We who look different must reach out and explain who we are."
And he is willing to forgo some of his liberties for the safety and freedoms he enjoys.
"I am going to do anything the government asks," he said. "I will not be insulted or humiliated. I think we should do everything possible to bring terrorism to an end."
Reach Tanya Bricking at 525-8026 or tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com.
