Indian Sikh immigrant Rana Singh Sodhi still preaches love and tolerance 18 years after his brother was gunned down in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by a man who mistook him for a Muslim because of his turban and beard.
"I want there to be more awareness, more peace in the world," said Sodhi, who spent much of the first year after his brother Balbir Singh Sodhi's death speaking at schools and houses of worship."I believe education is very important for our community. I made a commitment to reach as many people as I can."
The shooter Frank Roque is serving life in prison for the first-degree murder of Sodhi's older brother at his Mesa, Arizona, gas station on Sept. 15, 2011. Balbir was the first of scores of Sikhs as well as Muslims targeted in hate crimes after 9/11. Sodhi said the family immigrated to the U.S. in 1985, one year after anti-Sikh violence killed thousands of people in their native India. They first settled in California, then Arizona.
Attacks against Sikhs following 9/11 helped spark the creation of the Sikh Coalition , the largest Sikh advocacy group in the United States. Several documentaries about the attack on Sodhi's brother were produced. Most Americans know little about the monotheistic faith founded more than 500 years ago in India's northern Punjab region that rejects the caste system and idolatry. The coalition says it is the world's fifth-largest religion with about 25 million adherents worldwide, including about 500,000 in the United States.
Earlier this year, the coalition and other Sikh groups spoke out about the Nordstrom department store's marketing of a blue Gucci turban as a fashion accessory, calling it offensive. Nordstrom apologized.
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