Oral History Interview with Harpreet Singh Toor, conducted by the Columbia Oral History Research Office

Background: This oral history interview with Harpreet Singh Toor, collected by Gerry Albarelli, is a part of Columbia University’s September 11, 2001, Narrative and Memory Project. Toor was interviewed in December 2001 and again in December 2002. A fixture of the Punjabi Sikh community in New York City, Toor describes his childhood, family and community ties, and his experience after September 11. In this excerpt, he discusses how the Sikh community endured racism and maltreatment by law enforcement during a period of heightened surveillance and prejudice.

Harpreet Singh Toor: But yes, some people definitely suspected it because of the 9/11, that it could be, that after 9/11 some people, they are jealous. They look at us that we are Muslims; we belong to Bin Laden. For me, a person is a person. Doesn't matter what faith he believes in. You don't have to be a Muslim to be a criminal. You can be a Christian and criminal. You can be a Sikh and a criminal. None of the religion preaches any kind of that stuff, so some people--I think it is more out of ignorance . People, they don't realize, they don't understand those religions, and especially the Eastern cultures, and because of that ignorance the fear comes in, and that triggers whatever happens.

Q: Well, the suspicion is based on actual things that have happened to Sikhs from this community, right?

Toor: Oh, yes. Definitely there were reasons for that, because there are some instances where even the police force was not cooperative with some of the gentlemen, some Sikh gentlemen, after 9/11. Their attitude towards them, the way they spoke to them, the way they attended to their complaint itself was a telltale situation, that how they think about us.

I still remember one of the gentlemen. He approached the cops because his car was attacked, and the cops said, "Well, what do you expect, then?"

And I told him, I said, "You know what? You should have written down the shield number of the cop, asked him his name and his shield number. Then we can do something about it." But the people are ignorant. They don't know.

Source: Columbia Oral History Research Office, Columbia University, 2007. Interview of Harpreet Singh Toor by Gerry Albarelli on December 1, 2001, and on December 19, 2002, as part of the September 11, 2001, Narrative and Memory Project.