More than 300 violent hate crimes against Muslims and Sikhs have been reported nationally in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. In Phoenix, Ariz., Ballbir Singh died after a shooting in his family-owned store. A Sikh man was savagely beaten with a baseball bat in Richmond Hill, N.Y.
At the University, international students have mixed reactions to the attacks. Some are worried, others are unstoppably confident, but because of their physical appearances, regardless of how they feel, each one of hundreds Middle Eastern students may have to confront discrimination.
"We have been the victims of hate crimes simply because we wear turbans and have beards," said fourth-year College student JJ Singh, a Sikh-American student.
Sikhs are not Muslim but have been just as susceptible to the stereotypes placed on anyone who seemingly resembles Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the attacks. Sikhs do not cut their hair, thus making turbans and beards a very distinguishing factor in their appearance, which is similar to that of Muslims. Many Sikhs have been targeted during the recent spat of violent hate crimes because people associate Muslims, who have similar appearances, with bin Laden.
These attacks "go way beyond the curious stares we might have gotten before," Singh said of the Sept. 11 aftermath.
Singh's brother Rick works in New York and saw the entire attack on the World Trade Center from his office window. In the midst of the chaos on Sept. 11, Singhnot only had to cope with the tragedy, but because of his resemblance to Muslims, he had to endure racist slurs and threats from other Americans - some of whom he said wore business suits and carried briefcases.
"We shouldn't be left alone because we're not Muslims, but because we're human beings," JJ Singh said.
The feelings of shock did not stop at the places of attack. At the University, third-year Engineering student Shmuna Mizan, a Bangladeshi international student, said her initial feelings were those of shock.
"I didn't even think about this as a racial thing until someone mentioned it," Mizan said.
Yet she said her parents, who live in Kuwait, continue to be concerned about her safety as a Muslim in the United States. The week of the attacks, they called her at least twice a day, and although her first concerns rested on the fact that her parents are in a Middle Eastern country, they were more worried about her than themselves.
"I think that looking in on the attacks from the outside is very different than you would expect," Mizan said. "I don't think that they are very concerned with attacks on them in Kuwait, but more on the backlash effects that could happen to me."
Unlike Mizan, who did not express fear for her parents' safety, second-year Engineering student Sulove Bothra from India is extremely concerned for his parents there.
"There is an exodus of people in Afghanistan into India and Pakistan right now, and I am afraid of a regional war that will drag Pakistan and India into it," Bothra said. "Obviously big cities are the first targets, and since my parents are in Bangalore, a large city in Southeast India, I asked them to move to our farmhouse that's located in a smaller city outside of Bangalore."
Bothra's parents have not moved out of the city - their son's safety in America worries them more than their own. Even though his Buddhism-like Jainist beliefs are entirely non-Muslim, Bothra's parents have encouraged him to take precautions in the heated environment because of his ethnic heritage.
"The day of the attacks, I couldn't get in touch with them because all of the lines were busy," he said. "My parents thought that the country was in chaos."
Since the attacks, Bothra's parents have bought him a mobile phone and asked if he wanted to go to London, where his sister and brother-in-law live.
Although his parents think their son's situation should take precedence over their own, Bothra does not agree. Adding to his own qualms, he said that he "wouldn't want America to escalate the situation because the effects would be in the Middle East and South Asia."
Personally, Bothra has not felt any discrimination because of his brown skin, but a student in the University dining hall did ask him if he was Arab.
Third-year College student Samiur Rahman, the president of the Organization of Bangladeshi Students, said he has not felt at all threatened since the terrorist attacks.
"Some friends told me not to go out the first weekend after the attacks, but I thought nothing of it," Rahman said.
In fact, Rahman has been to fraternity parties since the first weekend after the attacks and even hitched a ride from the Corner to Oxford Hills from someone he identified as "a random white guy."
Samiur also drives buses for the University Transit System and said he feels nothing has changed in the way his passengers treat him.
Rahman has visited his parents, who moved to Baltimore from Bangladesh over the summer, since the attacks happened and he said that it still felt like the same home.
"No one looked at me funny," he said. "My brother who goes to a preppy, white school, hasn't had any problems either."
Rahman also added that the reason he has not been very affected by the attacks might have to do with the fact that he has been "desensitized by the frequency of deaths in Bangladesh" from the recurring cyclones and floods in that part of the world.
Even with all the prejudices rumored and real in America's current state, these students of Middle Eastern descent said they feel secure while in the University community.
Singh, in explaining why he felt safe, said University students "are educated, rational, and compassionate," echoing the sentiments of his peers.
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