Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 15, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported on the Vaisakhi celebration in Los Angeles, CA that featured a "parade of thousands of Sikhs celebrating the founding of their religion with a day of unity and prayer... at the Los Angeles Convention Center." The report also noted that because of some in America confusing turbaned Sikhs with followers of the terrorist Osama bin Laden, many Sikhs "marching in the parade carried American flags... The Sikh religion has about 500,000 followers in North America."