Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin. This is the audio version of each episode of

the Empire Files hosted on Telesaur English. You can watch every episode at the Empirefiles.tv.

With the rise of Islamophobia in the United States, harassment and violence not only impacts Muslims, but people

perceived to be Muslims. In particular, people of the sick faith. Four days after 9-11, a 49-year-old

sick man named Balbir Singh-Sahdi was shot to death outside of the gas station he owned, marking the first

hate crime casualty after the attacks.

According to witnesses, the perpetrator had said he wanted to go shoot some towelheads to avenge the actions of Osama bin Laden.

In just the first month after 9-11, the Sikh Coalition documented more than 300 cases of violence

and discrimination against Sikhs in America.

Hate crimes against Six peaked in 2012 when Wade Michael Page charged into a sick temple

in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, murdering six sick Americans in cold blood.

It was the deadliest attack against a place of worship since the Jim Crow era.

The Trump phenomenon gave new energy to Islamophobes, with hate crimes against

Muslims and those perceived as Muslims skyrocketing over the past year. On March 6, 2017, a sick

man was shot on his driveway by a mass dissonant who told him to go back to your country. A week

prior to that, an Indian man was shot to death in a bar by a man

who told him a variation of the same racist slur before opening fire on him and his friend.

The perpetrator said he thought they were both Iranian. Sickism is the fifth largest

religion in the world, but six are one of the most mistaken and misunderstood minority groups

in the country. A 2015 Stanford study

found that 70% of Americans misidentifies Sikhs with beards and turbans as Muslims. The same study

found that 49% of Americans think Sikhism is a sect of Islam. There are currently an estimated

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