Muslim on Sikh Hate Crime in New York

• Views: 2,279

In this Newsday article about an attack on a Sikh high school student in New York, we learn all about the victim’s religion—and nothing about the attacker’s: Hate-crime charges in haircut attack.

A Queens high school student was charged with hate crimes Friday for violating a Sikh student’s religious beliefs by forcing him to remove his turban and cutting his hair, the Queens district attorney said.

“The defendant is not accused of some schoolhouse prank, but an attack on the fundamental beliefs of his victim’s religion and his freedom to worship freely,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a prepared statement.

Umair Ahmed, 17, of 42-49 77th St., was arrested in the Thursday attack in a bathroom at Newtown High School in Elmhurst. Ahmed and another student allegedly forced the 15-year-old victim into the bathroom, and after threatening him forced the boy to remove his dastar, a traditional Sikh turban. The other boy, also 15, is being treated as a juvenile.

Ahmed used scissors to cut off his victim’s waist-long hair, then threw it in a toilet and on the floor, according to a spokesman for the district attorney. Cutting a Sikh’s hair is contrary to the Sikh faith, which considers hair a gift from God that should never be cut.

At the end of the article, they toss in a clue.

The boy said it was against his religion, but Ahmed showed him a ring and said, “This ring is Allah. If you don’t let me cut your hair, I will punch you with this ring.”

UPDATE at 5/26/07 10:28:31 am:

The sister of the Muslim student pushed her way into the press conference, and claimed that the Sikh student asked her brother to cut his hair; video is at 7Online.com. (Hat tip: NY Nana.)

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT
LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal
Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh
Why Did More Than 1,000 People Die After Police Subdued Them With Force That Isn’t Meant to Kill? An investigation led by The Associated Press has found that, over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds, stun guns, body blows and other force not intended to be lethal. More: Why ...
Cheechako
Yesterday
Views: 41 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 0
A Closer Look at the Eastman State Bar DecisionTaking a few minutes away from work things to read through the Eastman decision. As I'm sure many of you know, Eastman was my law school con law professor. I knew him pretty well because I was also running in ...
KGxvi
Yesterday
Views: 95 • Comments: 1 • Rating: 1