Valley Sikhs Want Justice, Tolerance

[me moorakh mugadh]

Valley Sikhs want justice, tolerance

Jim Walsh

The Arizona Republic

Jun. 29, 2003 12:00 AM

Like many Sikhs, Harjit Singh Sodhi left his home in northern India and moved halfway around the world to the United States, where the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.

Following Harjit's advice, his brothers, Balbir, Sukhpal and Rana, also immigrated, but their thoroughly American epic ended in tragedy, cloaked in the hatred and intolerance their religion deplores.

Four days after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, a gunman retaliated by shooting Balbir, 49, to death outside his Mesa gas station, a hate crime that reverberated around the globe.

Nearly a year later, Sukhpal, 50, also was shot to death as he drove a cab through San Francisco's Mission District, a slaying widely viewed by Sikhs as a hate crime but by police as random gang violence.

"I told my whole family that American people are the most wonderful people in the whole world," said Harjit, 43, owner of an Indian restaurant. "They respect human life. They love each other. There is freedom of religion.

"After September 11, it's not looking to me the same way. No family is suffering more in this country than our family."

Valley Sikhs are hoping for justice, along with more understanding of their religion and culture, when jury selection begins July 21 in the death penalty trial of Frank Roque, 43. Prosecutors portray Roque as a racist out of control, while the defense casts him as a schizophrenic pushed over the edge by the terrorist attacks.

The U.S. Justice Department rejected Harjit's application to have B

albir designated a victim of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Because their religion condemns vengeance, Valley Sikhs say they don't care if Roque is executed, but they long for his conviction as a statement that killing an innocent man out of hate will not be tolerated.

"The whole world is watching this trial to see what the American people do to someone who kills someone else out of hate," said Rana Singh Sodhi, also Balbir's brother. "This is against our country; this is against our Constitution, and you will get punishment. We believe in our religion, and we still believe in our justice system."

Roque's attorney plans a "guilty by reason of insanity" defense, saying that because of his mental illness, Roque heard voices from God telling him to kill Muslims.

link----http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0629hatetrial29.html