Editorial: We are all Amrik Singh Bal

This is what a hate crime looks like.

You’re 68 years old and waiting in a Fresno neighborhood west of Highway 99 at 7 o’clock on a cold, foggy morning for a friend to give you a lift to work. Your job, despite your age, is working in the fields.

Two young men – fueled by ignorance, cowardice and cruelty – see you, stop their car and beat you up. They get back in the car, do a U-turn and smash into you with the car’s front bumper. You fall to the ground and break your collarbone.

The assailants speed off in their dark-colored compact, presumably trading high-fives and celebrating their attack, while you are left bleeding in the street.

Amrik Singh Bal rightfully feared for his life when the two thugs got out of the car. In fact, he tried to flee the scene, but his old legs were no match for those of his much younger attackers.

Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer says that the assailants did not attempt to steal from Bal.

But Bal was robbed, all right. Robbed of his dignity.

Amrik Singh Bal is a Sikh. In accordance with his faith, Bal wears a turban. That simple act of religious devotion was sufficient to provoke the hate-filled attack.

Imagine being chased and beaten and then hit by a car because you wear a crucifix around your neck. Or getting knocked to the sidewalk because you carry the Torah to school.

The Bee’s Andrea Castillo reported in a news story that police “don’t know whether Bal’s attackers thought he was Muslim. However, Sikhs have been mistaken targets of hate crimes and harassment since 9/11 by people who erroneously identify them as Muslim.”

This crime would not be any less heinous if the victim were Muslim.

We concur with the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno which released a statement condemning the attack and saying that like Muslim Americans, Sikh Americans are innocent of the crimes of extremists such as Islamic State and al-Qaida.

“No one should have to fear assault due to the perception of hateful people,” the statement says. “We have to remain united against all terror and fanaticism because when one of us is attacked, we are all victims.”

We stand in solidarity with the Sikh community and with all those who celebrate, practice and protect our constitutional right to religious freedom – and believe that America’s embrace of immigrants has made it a stronger, better country.

There is a $12,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Bal’s attackers. We expect that they will be caught because they have already demonstrated that they are as ignorant as ignorant can be.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Editorial: We are all Amrik Singh Bal."