Singh was the victim of a racial attack in New York City.
By Raif Karerat
Dr. Prabhjot Singh, an Indian American professor at Columbia University and noted community activist, was honored by “Asian Americans Advancing Justice” on Oct. 1 along with former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, and Google at the organization’s Annual American Courage Awards in Washington D.C.
Singh was given the Distinguished Service Award, which acknowledges an individual who has advocated on behalf of the demographics most vulnerable in their community and brought attention to trials and tribulations facing Asian Americans.
Singh has long been a proponent for stronger measures to deal with the endemic nature of hate crimes across the United States.
Two years ago, Singh, who wears a turban and beard a part of his Sikh faith, was attacked while walking in Upper Manhattan. Unknown assailant shouted anti-Muslim epithets, knocked the professor down, and punched him repeatedly in the face.
“I saw young men on bikes. I heard, ‘Get him!’ and ‘Osama’ and ‘terrorist,’ not all at the same time,” he told Huffington Post. “I felt somebody grab my beard and hit my chin while on a bike. I started running in the direction away from where all the bikes were mobilizing, and then was punched while running. Eventually they surrounded me, and [I] was hit to the ground with punches to the face and torso.”
At the time, Singh said that the incident is a reminder that we need to have a “national conversation” about what it means to be American.
“Ultimately, to simply punish the individuals who’ve acted out on hate crimes is insufficient,” he told HuffPost Live. “More broadly, we need to have a real national conversation around who looks American, what does it mean to be American.”
Singh earned his M.D. at Cornell University and a Ph.D. in neural and genetic systems at Rockefeller University, with a postdoctoral fellowship in sustainable development at Columbia University.
He is also the chair of the One Million Community Health Workers Campaign, which is an initiative of the African Union and U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, according to the Mayo Clinic. Domestically, he is the founding technical adviser of City Health Works and practices medicine in East Harlem, New York.