A Dream in Doubt

[AlphaCentauri]

The journey from Punjab to USA is a long one. The journey from hate to hope and then hate and then again hope is a painfully tiring and trying journey. This is a journey the family of Rana Singh Sodhi has traveled in the last few years losing two family members and one friend in the process. This is the journey which the Sikhs as a people have traveled losing a number of their community members during the course of the last five centuries.

The exterior form given by Guru Gobind Singh to his followers in 1699 has given them a unique personality making them highly visible. Our journey of recognition and honour started in Baisakhi that year soon after the first baptism ceremony at Anandpur Sahib. This exterior form comes with a lot of responsibility that has to take the form of resistance to protect one’s honour and dignity, which comes through courage of conviction.

When Rana Singh Sodhi’s family decides to continue live in the US and carry on a mission to educate despite the heavy family toll, it is a tribute to their courage of conviction. When the Sodhi family did not press for death penalty for Sodhi's assailant, Frank Roque and all that they wanted was a guilty verdict, in a very strong way, they demonstrated the compassion of Sikhism.

The findings of the study by the Discrimination and National Security Initiative (DNSI) released in 2006 says that “83% of Sikh respondents said they or someone they knew personally had experienced a hate crime or incident”, show the extent of the malaise.

The founding director of DNSI, Valarie Kaur has stated that "Many Americans know that hate crimes took place after 9/11, but we, as a nation, have yet to understood the ongoing impact of such violence, or how it continues to divide us."

The report says that bias motivates an unlawful act and it becomes a hate crime. Race and religion inspire most hate crimes, but hate today wears many faces. Bias incidents (eruptions of hate where no crime is committed) also tear communities apart — and threaten to escalate into actual crimes.

Hate and hate crimes in the US are not new, but it is significant that right thinking people in many parts of the US are fighting hate and promoting tolerance and inclusion. The courage of conviction of one individual, Tami Yaeger has resulted in a scholarly effort to fight hate and hate crime.

“A Dream in Doubt” will screened all across the US in the months of April and May through the joint efforts of SALDEF, ITVS, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and The Interfaith Alliance including a national screening on PBS on 28th May. The film has already won an honorable mention in January at the Slamdance Film Festival and it is surely expected that the film will clear the ground for a better understanding of what is prejudice and how to fight stereotypes.

The film “is an immigrant story in a world in which patriotism has morphed into murder.” This intimate, hour-long documentary of one man’s odyssey from persecution in India to embracing America as his homeland proves that courage and hope have the power to overcome hate.

“A Dream in Doubt” is an immigrant story of survival as a wave of deadly hate crimes terrorizes the Sikh American community in Phoenix, Arizona. The film features Rana Singh Sodhi, an Indian immigrant whose life is forever altered by the 9/11 terror attacks, because Rana’s turban and beard—articles of his Sikh faith—now symbolize America’s new enemy.

Rana’s eldest brother Balbir Singh Sodhi—who also wore a turban and beard—was America’s first post-9/11 hate crime murder victim, gunned down at his gas station by a man named Frank Roque, who claimed he was rooting out a terrorist. “A Dream in Doubt” travels to Rana’s hometown to explore post-9/11 America from his perspective, telling a personal story of national tragedy, murder, family, community, and the American Dream.

“A Dream in Doubt” shows the daily horrors that Rana and the Sikh community experience as misunderstood Americans. In August 2002, Sukhpal Sodhi, Rana’s next-oldest brother, is murdered in mysterious circumstances while driving a cab in San Francisco. Nine months later in May 2003, Rana’s friend, Avtar Chiera, is shot by three men who yell, “Go back to where you came from!” Three weeks after Avtar’s shooting, another friend, Inderjit Singh is physically assaulted and threatened with death while working at a convenience store.

The film follows Rana as he seeks vindication for his brothers’ murders by working to educate fellow Phoenix-area residents about hate crimes; acting as the spokesman for his family and the Sikh community; running his gas station to support his family; and, most importantly, attempting to guard his own school-aged children—Rose, Satpreet and Navdeep—from bullying and harassment. Rana endures these injustices through a steadfast belief in the Sikh and American values of freedom, self-reliance and equality.

Like all Americans, the image of turban as a symbol of terror haunted the film director, Tami Yeager too. What she imbibed from her father who was a civil rights activist and a church minister enabled her to ask questions and seek answers from fellow Americans. As she says, “over the next two years, I watched as this phenomenon received no national analysis or significant media coverage. Why wasn’t America talking about this hate?”

Her association with the Sikh-American community for producing educational media projects helped her cross the bridges and follow the Sodhi family story.

While there have been other post-9/11 films about national security, civil liberties, and honored heroes, “A Dream in Doubt” is the first to explore hate crimes on a familial level. It offers a uniquely personal perspective about life in post-9/11 America. And for me, the Sodhi family’s story represents the country’s core values of freedom, justice, and the American Dream.

Interestingly, the producer of the documentary, Preetmohan Singh too escaped hate in India and emigrated to the US and the growing sense of danger there prompted him to sit back and strategise the next step for his family and his community. Having been asked to wear his patriotism on his car, he thought a better way would be to tell America about his origins and faith. Following the concept of “every Sikh is a missionary”, the young producer activist went from school to school, from town to town with his many associates to dispel doubts about Sikhism and raise consciousness that the turban is the crowning glory of human excellence and not of hate and criminality. Rana Singh Sodhi’s desire like Preetmohan Singh to spend the whole of his life to educate people is a tribute to his grit, self-respect and commitment to society.

Relying on interviews with the family and news footage of the events leading up to the trial (including police videotape of the suspect's interrogation), the movie reenacts the pain and hope saga of the family without losing the nuances.

The death of the Sodhi brothers has become the rallying point for the Sikhs to demonstrate their faith. When ordinary Americans say that Sikhs are different from Muslims and Hindus and that their religion teaches tolerance, a sense of relief dawns on the Sodhi family.

Many countries of the world would like to put the USA on trial for a variety of reasons. Those who come to the US with the hope of a new life, those who leave their home and hearth in search of survival and growth are worried at the new equations of hate. The wounds of the Sodhi family and their fightback have already put America on trial. What will be the eventual verdict, time will tell.

http://worldsikhnews.com/2%20April%202008/A%20Dream%20in%20Doubt.htm