Summary
According to the CNN News, after the Sikh temple had just recently opened up in California, stones by the entrance of the temple got vandalized the day after by spray-painted swastikas and the words “white power” on it. Shortly after, a neighbor saw the graffiti and covered it up with a tarp, as well as reporting the vandalism. When the graffiti was removed, Sacramento Valley’s executive order on American-Islamic Relations, Basim Elkarra, stated that “we must all stand up against hate in our communities” (Asmelash & Chan, 2020). This was said because even though people were attempting to support the Sikh community, there were individuals who were still racist and believed in white superiority. Moreover, such hate crime should not be targeted towards a place of worship. According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, there was no evidence or possible suspects on who could have committed this crime. In addition, there were no signs that labeled the temple as Sikh, so the police assume that the person who vandalized this property most likely believed it was a Jewish temple (Asmelash & Chan, 2020). Regardless of what the person thought this place represented, this act of vandalism demonstrates racism, hate crime, and white nationalism, which is something no community or religion should ever go through.
Sociological Reflection
As mentioned above, the racism that was demonstrated through the act of vandalizing this temple of worship classifies itself as white nationalism. According to class lecture, white nationalism is the “belief that the nation should reflect a white identity” which still goes on in life today (Galta, Chapter 3 Lecture, 2020). In this case, the individual who vandalized may have assumed that the temple was Jewish, so they made it clear that their belief in white power was far more remarkable than the religion that is being practiced in the temple. Such racism demonstrates that their set of beliefs claims that “white power” is more superior than over the racial and ethnic group of the Sikh community. There is also reason to believe that white nationalism exists because of the history that Europeans have been known to “divide and conquer”, thus having the assumption that because of their successions they have power that is far more dominant than any other race (Galta, Chapter 3 Lecture, 2020). Moreover, white people have also developed a successful country, while destroying others, so it’s no wonder why white individuals believe that they are able to discriminate others because of ones race. On the other hand, while they discriminate other minorities often and see nothing wrong with it, white people become defensive and call it “reverse racism” when they are being pointed out. Regardless of the endless attempts that are made to put an end to racism and discrimination, it still emerges.
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https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/14/us/sikh-temple-vandalism-trnd/index.htm
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