User:The Purple Hamster/Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi

Background
Born in Punjab, India, Balbir Singh Sodhi was a member of the Sikh religion. He was also a husband, and father to three sons. He immigrated to the United States in 1989 and initially resided in Los Angeles, where he worked as a computer engineer and analyst at HP. He saved enough money to buy a gas station and several affiliated franchises in Phoenix, Arizona, and moved there. Sodhi's gas station had been running for just a year prior leading to his murder and in that time he had become known amongst the community as a generous and kind man who often gave free candy to children who came in.

Shooting of Sodhi, others
On September 15, 2001, Roque took his Chevrolet S-10 from the Wild Hare sports bar in Mesa, where he had reportedly been ranting about immigrants, and drove to the Chevron gas station owned by Sodhi. Roque shot Sodhi five times from his truck with a .380 handgun, killing him. At the time of the shooting, Sodhi was helping landscaper Luis Ledesma plant flowers in order to commemorate the lives of those lost in the 9/11 attacks around the edge of his gas station. Roque, who apparently wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks, racially profiled him as an Arab Muslim because of the clothes he wore, his turban, and his beard.

Roque then drove to a Mobil gas station 10 miles away. Twenty minutes after the first shooting, he shot at a Lebanese-American clerk from his truck, but missed. Roque then drove to his former residence, which had been purchased by a local Afghan family, and fired multiple rounds at the outside of the house. After fleeing the scene of the final shooting, Roque was reported to have gone to a local bar and boasted, "They're investigating the murder of a turban-head down the street."

Attitudes towards the Sikh Community Post 9/11
Sodhi's murder was preceded by multiple hostile incidences in the Phoenix area, targeted at Sikhs in the days following the 9/11 attacks. A Sikh spokesperson stated that it was difficult for Sikhs in the community to go to work at gas stations or to work as cashiers because of the rise in overt harassment towards them. This spokesperson also described how the appearance of Sikh men make them easy targets due to their beards and turbans which make Sikh men “look more like bin Laden than Muslims do”.

After the 9/11 attacks, there was a lot of eagerness to retaliate against those who perpetrated the terror attacks, and members of the Sikh community, mainly men, became the targets of these retaliations. Sikhs became the victims of a multitude of hate crimes such as murder, redundancy, threats, and the burning of their places of worship (Gurudwaras).

Many Sikhs began experiencing acts of discrimination within their friendships and relationships that were formed prior to the terror attacks. Their relationships became strained due to suspicion with Sikh men being asked to cut their hair and to stop wearing their turbans in order to mitigate further suspicion.

Memorialization of Balbir Singh Sodhi
In the months prior to the 10-year anniversary of Sodhi's death, the Arizona legislature decided that they wanted to remove Sodhi’s name and plaque from the state’s 9/11 memorial. This was vetoed by the governor after an outcry of advocacy from community groups in the area.