Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Directed by Sharat Raju and written by Valarie Kaur

When images of a bearded and turbaned Osama bin Laden flashed on TV screens across the United States after 9/11, Sikhs became targets of hate crimes. First-time filmmaker Valarie Kaur crisscrosses the country telling the stories of average Sikh Americans, from family members of Balbir Singh Sodhi, who was killed less than a week after 9/11, to one of the first doctors at Ground Zero. Though this wasn't the first time Sikhs were targeted, 19 people - mostly Sikhs - were killed in hate crimes in the aftermath of 9/11. More than 100 gurdwaras were attacked and thousands subjected to government profiling. The film, part video diary narrated by Kaur, a thirdgeneration Sikh, delves into her family history. The movie is clearly targeted for mainstream America and tries to cover a lot, but even the most politically savvy will learn from it, including a 101 on Sikhism. I can see it being used in high school and college classrooms across the country as a lesson on what happens to communities when our country is divided by fear and hatred. - Momo Chang