Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On May 10, 2002, The Columbus Dispatch reported "Group Unites Eight Faiths for Mutual Enlightenment." It reported on the efforts of the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio: "Members of the 17-year-old association think that the community's religious tolerance, though a good start, isn't enough. 'We need to move beyond that to understanding and respect,' said Tarunjit Butalia, a spokesman for the association and representative of the Sikh community." The article noted that "The association also benefits from having been...

Source: Yahoo News

On May 3, 2002, The Associated Press reported "Teen Sentenced for Burning a Temple." The article noted "A teen-ager was sentenced to three to nine years in prison Friday for burning down a Sikh temple in anger over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Joshua Centrone, 18, is the second of four teen-agers to plead guilty in connection with the Nov. 18 fire at the Gobind Sadan USA Temple in Palermo, 30 miles north of Syracuse. ... Numerous hate crimes have been committed against Sikhs since Sept. 11. Sikhs have been mistaken for Arabs or Muslims...

Source: The Daily News

On April 29, 2002, The Daily News featured the article "Sikhism Demystified: Harassment based on ignorance, crusader says." The article reported on Swaranjit Singh's efforts to educate about the Sikh religion "in the hope that knowledge will cut down on the threats and harassment Sikhs have suffered since Sept. 11. Last week, Singh's group, the Sikhism Promotion Mission, joined with the Immigrant Community Council to give Brooklyn prosecutors a peek into the Sikh religion. District Attorney Charles Hynes said such meetings were even...

Source: Mercury News

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/3114529.htm

On April 22, 2002, the Mercury News reported that "in an unprecedented partnership, Santa Clara County [CA] and San Jose City College are teaching immigrants how to maneuver through the political system and build strong community networks... In doing so, the county hopes to groom a new generation of...

Source: The Post-Standard

http://www.syracuse.com/news/syrnewspapers/index.ssf?/newsstories/20020422_cffilm.html

On April 22, 2002, The Post-Standard reported that filmmaker Richard Breyer and screenwriter David Coryell, both professors at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications "are working together to document the aftermath of the Nov. 18 arson at Gobind Sadan USA, a Sikh temple in Palermo, [NY]... Ralph...

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."

Source: Newsday

On April 15, 2002, Newsday reported that "about 1,200 people... packed the [Plainville, NY Sikh] temple Saturday night to begin celebrating 'Vaisakhi'... Surender Singh Dhall, a founder of the Sikh temple, or gurdwara, in Plainview... and several hundred others returned [the next] morning for more prayers and hymns... Most of Long Island's Sikh community hails originally from Punjab, India. When the Plainview temple opened in 1988, about 100 families worshiped there regularly, Dhall said. Now about 400 families do, and a second Sikh...

Source: The North Jersey News

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On April 11, 2002, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that Cobb County in Georgia, "which in the past decade has become more and more diverse, has also become home to a handful of Sikhs... [County resident] Manjit Singh Narang estimates about 25 Sikh families --- about 100 people --- are in the county. Many Sikh families keep in contact through their Stone Mountain temple, called a gurdwara, or house of God... Worldwide, there are about 20 million Sikhs, with 500,000 to 750,000 living in the...

Source: Asian Week

http://www.asianweek.com/2002_04_12/bay_forum.html

On April 11, 2002, the Asian Week featured an article on an event organized by Northern California branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that "aimed to reach out to federal agencies along with Muslim and South Asian communities in the Bay Area [CA]." Government officials served on a panel answering the questions of "800 who gathered...

Source: The Register Guard

http://www.registerguard.com/news/20020408/2b.cr.sikhvandalized.0407.html

On April 8, 2002, The Register Guard reported that on March 29, Gurdial Singh Sarkaria's convenience store in Medford, OR, was vandalized. "After the store's windows were smashed... Sarkaria... removed the red turban of his Sikh religion. The price of wearing it, he says, is too high... [He] now...

Source: The Washington Times

On April 8, 2002, The Washington Times reported that "hundreds of Sikhs from across the [Washington D.C.] region gathered yesterday at the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate Khalsa Day, their new year festival, and many of them had one question on their minds: What do we do to be recognized as good Americans?... After September 11, Sikhs suffered tremendously in terms of racial profiling, beatings and harassments and in some instances murder... 'How do we let Americans know what our identity is so this doesn't ever happen again...

Source: The Appeal-Democrat

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/archive/2002/040602/040602Temple.shtml

On April 6, 2002, The Appeal-Democrat featured the article "Planning commission's approval of Sikh temple challenged" which documents that "appeals were filed... challenging the Sutter County [CA] Planning Commission's approval of a Sikh temple... The commission... voted 4-3 to allow the conversion of a home... into a temple...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1912000/1912221.stm

On April 5, 2002, BBC News reported "Death for 11 Sept revenge killer." The article reported that the man convicted in the murder of Sikh gas station owner Vasudev Patel received the death sentence. The article explained, "Stroman, 32, holding a small American flag, showed no reaction when the sentence was read. But as he stood up to be led out of court, he...