Sikhs Haunted by Hate-Crime Backlash

EULESS, September 24--His is the most hated face in America.

On television screens, photographs and wanted posters, the image of Osama bin Laden, with a dark beard and wearing a turban, has provoked revulsion and fear.

Among some Americans, that image has also served as an excuse to hurt innocents, including American Sikhs who wear turbans and beards as articles of a separate faith.

Sikh garb bears a superficial resemblance to bin Laden's, and that likeness has become dangerous since the terrorist attacks in New York and near Washington, D.C., Sikh community leaders in the Metroplex say.

Many Sikhs who live in Dallas and Tarrant counties say they fear attacks by their neighbors. They stay in their homes, only go out in groups and try not to travel after dark. They fear the fate that befell a Sikh man in Arizona, who was killed solely because of his appearance, according to police there.

Manmohan Singh Chima of Plano says he was filled with horror at last week's attacks. Now he is concerned for his family and worried that America's future as a haven of freedom is at stake.

"The images in the media say, 'Hey, these are the bad guys,' " Chima said. "If we allow the terrorists to create a division amongst us ... it can lead to instability within the country. Our borders need to be secure, and our citizens need to be able to express themselves and live up to the ideal of American culture."

Sikhs say they have been especially guarded since a gunman drove into a Chevron station in Mesa, Ariz., and shot to death the owner, Balbir Singh Sodhi. The gunman fired at a Lebanese clerk and then shot into the home of an Afghan family, police say.

As the suspect, Frank S. Roque, was arrested, he called himself "a patriot," The New York Times reported. He is charged with murder, two counts of attempted homicide and three counts of drive-by shooting.

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