Second hate-fueled crime against Sikhs in Queens.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: In yet another dastardly hate-filled attack in New York, a Sikh man and his mother, who was visiting him from India, were assaulted by a group of 10 teenagers in Roosevelt Island, with the man requiring treatment at a hospital for punches he received on his face and neck.
The unidentified Sikh male victim was called “Osama Bin Laden” and assaulted Thursday night — the second attack against a member of the religion in recent weeks, authorities said Friday, reported the New York Daily News.
The victim, 34, said he and his mother were nearing his car on Main St. at 8:15 p.m. Thursday when a group of teens ran up and started yelling at them, calling the woman “a b—- with facial hair.” They then punched the man in the face and in the back of the neck, leaving him with minor injuries, the Post reported.
“I want the New York Police Department to investigate this attack as a hate crime and arrest the people who attacked me before they hurt someone else. I want witnesses to come forward and contact the police immediately,” the unidentified male victim was reported as saying by the Press Trust of India.
Of his mother visiting him from India, who was also attacked, he said: “She thought that Americans respect religious freedom and that the police and the government here do everything in their power to prevent violence and arrest criminals. I don’t want her to lose faith that justice will be done.”
The Sikh Coalition released a statement urging witnesses to call federal authorities giving any information they may have on the 10 teenagers. The group included a white male, three females while the rest were black men.
“We’re tired of being targeted again and again by bigots, but Sikh Americans are not afraid and are not going to let a small group of narrow-minded individuals get us down,” Rajdeep Singh, Director of Law and Policy at the Sikh Coalition, said. “We look forward to working with the New York City government, including the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio, to arrest the attackers, stop hate crimes in New York City, and make all of our communities safe.”
Recently, a Queens businessman Sandeep Singh, 29, was almost killed when a man in a pick-up truck first racially abused him, and then ran him over when Singh tried to reason with him that he was not a “terrorist”.
The perpetrator of that hate-fueled attack is still at large.