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Summary Of Divided We Fall: Americans In The Aftermath

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Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath is a documentary by Valerie Kaur, in regards to the discrimination, hatred, and violence against the Sikh community after September 11. An American man admits that he takes revenge by murdering Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh immigrant from India, in front of his gas station in Mesa, Arizona. Valerie sees the news with words of caution and increasing number of hate crimes against Sikhs. Sodhi’s murderer assumes on the basis of seeing images of Osama Bin Laden and other turban wearing Arabs who were involved in the terrorist attacks. Balbir’s death inspires Valerie in making her film because she sees the inconsistency on television of the Sikh community. Therefore, she drives across the country to …show more content…

The word Sikh evolves from the word “Sisya” meaning disciple or follower. Sikhism originated the year of 1469 in Punjab (India and Pakistan), which is the land of the five rivers. Sikhism is a religion of ten Gurus, the first Guru being Guru Nanak Dev Ji and the tenth and the last being Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Guru Granth Sahib is the holy book of Sikh in which includes teachings and writings by all the Gurus as well as Sikh, Hindi and Muslim saints that are written in Punjabi. Every Sikh is supposed to keep the five K’s, which also serve to identify him as a Sikh: 1. Kesh: uncut hair 2. Kanga: comb; used to keep the hair clean 3. Kada: metal or steel bangle for strength and self-restraint 4. Kirpan: dagger; for self defense 5.Kaccha: special knee length underwear for agility. Sikhs are really devotional towards God. A Turban signifies a Sikh man, so others shouldn’t look at a turban with fear because they are also Americans, not …show more content…

In the film, Americans treat Sikhs unequally by saying “you better take that turban off terrorist”. They yell at them to go back to their country. Another incident involves an old man coming from gurdwara (church). A car surrounds him left and right and attacks with paintball. Two kids throw him down and hit him with baseball bats. Even after all his injuries, the man did not press charges against the boys. Along with adults, children were greatly affected by these hate crimes. Another man was arrested just because he looked suspicious. More than a thousand hate crimes occurred within a matter of time. Americans were just taking revenge on Sikhs for what they didn’t do. Sikhs seem to be visible targets that Americans punish without any evidence. Sikhs are also assumed to be terrorists because they are both communities that are from the Middle East and skin color is very

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