User:The Purple Hamster/sandbox

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Hello there,

I plan on making some additions to this article as I feel it is important to add some more information regarding Balbir Singh Sodhi, details regarding what he was doing at the time of the fatal shooting, his memorialisation, and additional background information regarding attitudes towards the Sikh community pre- and post-9/11.

First, I plan on including information regarding Sodhi’s family such that he was a husband and father to 3 adult sons in the “Background” section. The sources I will be using for this are an article in the Guardian and an article from the World Socialist Website.

To add additional information regarding the context surrounding the shootings and attempted shootings of Sodhi and others of the Sikh community, I will reference Patrick Martin’s article from the World Socialist Website again. Martin’s article was written in the week following the murder and features a statement from a Sikh spokesperson from Phoenix. The spokesperson states that because of the distinct appearance of their turbans and beards, Sikh men “look more like bin Laden than Muslims do”. This will be used in a later section of the article regarding discrimination against the Sikh community post 9/11. This article also mentions how many Sikhs were unable to safely go to work due to increased “overt harassment” following the attacks of 9/11. I will also cite a journal article which has specifically documented attitudes towards the Sikh community following 9/11. This article reiterates the statement from the Sikh spokesperson from Martin’s article regarding Osama Bin Laden. The article includes anonymous accounts of Sikh men and their experience with hate and discrimination post 9/11.

With regards to Sodhi's memorialisation I will reference how in the months prior to the 10-year anniversary of his death, the Arizona legislature decided that they wanted to remove Sodhi’s name and plaque from the state’s 9/11 memorial. This was fortunately vetoed by the governor after an outcry of advocacy from community groups in the area. This was mentioned in a published journal article, hence why I plan on citing this incident along with its relevance to the murder of Balbir Singh and attitudes towards Sikhs.

Along with more recent news articles and other journal articles, mainly pertaining to the experiences of Sikhs following 9/11, I plan on providing more information into the perception of Sikhs following 9/11 as this cannot be ignored as a component of Balbir Singh Sodhi’s death.

Overall, I plan on adding roughly 500-700 words (this may change as I do more research) and an extra section or two, one section being relevant to attitudes toward the Sikh community before and after the terror attacks of 9/11.