I have had a fever for most of the day, so when I woke up and checked my GMail, I thought I was hallucinating while reading something sent out via ASATA (Alliance of South Asians Taking Action). SALDEF (The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund) just issued a press release regarding an incident which makes me sick; Kuldip Singh Nag, a Sikh American VETERAN was assaulted by the Joliet police, in front of his six-year old child and wife. His crime? Parking a van with expired tags in his driveway. What. The. Fuck.
I can’t find anything beyond a useless mention of Nag’s arrest on a “police blotter” type of article, so if any of you know of further developments, please let us know. The following is from SALDEF:
On Friday March 30, 2007 at around 3:00pm, Mr. Kuldip Singh Nag, a Sikh American who was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in the U.S. Navy during the first Gulf War, was at his home in Joliet, IL when a local police officer noticed that a van parked on Mr. Nag’s private property had expired registration tags. Upon being confronted with this, Mr. Nag’s wife, Vera Kaur Nag, informed the officer that the van is parked on their driveway and was inoperable.
Mr. Nag then came outside to answer the officer’s questions regarding the van. The Joliet police officer then demanded that Mr. Nag park the van inside his garage and not on the driveway, to which Mr. Nag responded to the officer that it was not possible and that regardless, the van is parked on his private property and he has a right to park it on his driveway.
At this moment, the officer pulled out his pepper spray and attacked Mr. Nag. As Mr. Nag screamed in agony, the officer removed his baton and violently struck Mr. Nag numerous times until he fell to the ground. While the assault ensued, the officer was reported by both Mr. and Mrs. Nag as saying, “You f****** Arab! You f***** immigrant, go back to you f****** country before I kill you!â€
Mr. Nag’s wife and six year-old child both witnessed the violent assault, which resulted in Mr. Nag immediately being admitted to the hospital where he stayed for five days due to complaints of intense pain and head trauma. Mr. Nag also received numerous bruises and a serious head injury which have caused him to go blind for several minutes at a time.
I join SALDEF in calling for an immediate investigation into this brutal crime. Kuldip Singh Nag served the very nation this xenophobic police officer screamed at him to leave and while a few of you may question my emphasis on his military service, I just think it adds an extra ungrateful, deplorable angle to an incident which is already appalling.
“This case seems to be a clear incident of police misconduct in Illinois,†said SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh. “We are horrified at the anti-immigrant sentiment the officer allegedly used as he violently accosted Mr. Nag, and further that his six year old son was a witness to this violent assault. We call upon both Joliet and Illinois officials to investigate this incident and for the Illinois community to stand in solidarity with Mr. Nag.â€
Illinois desis, where you at? And will there ever be a point in my lifetime when someone doesn’t tell a South Asian American to go back to where they “fucking came from”?
UPDATE [By Ennis]: I spoke to somebody at SALDEF who said that Mr. Nag’s legal counsel can indeed verify that he is a Veteran.
RC, wrong thread, perhaps? (the Papaya is further up the page)
There have been efforts by Sikhs. Without going into details, I was disappointed in the big ethnic groups. After 9/11, the NAACP wouldn’t even come out and condemn profiling in the broader security context, even though they had spent years trying to discredit it as a crime fighting tool. Honestly, the one ethnic community that has responded most has been Japanese Americans who are very concerned about the shrinking sphere of civil liberties. However, in general, it’s not African-American, Latino, or Asian-American groups have been very interested in supporting Sikhs when incidents like this have arisen, it’s mainly been religious civil liberties groups (the ADL has done good things in cases I know about) instead.
The problem there, Ennis, might be that alliances built on ethnicity concern themselves with just that: ethnicity. So, rather than seeing themselves as foremost a civil rights organisation, the NAACP might be more concerned with living up to its name. It’s the shadow-side of identity politics. The identity ends up trumping everything else.
I think there is a great deal of work yet to be done in getting ethnic minorities to recognize that they have common cause in America. What happened to Mr Nag should shock any right thinking African-American. Sharpton and Jackson should be in Joliet taking names and kicking ass.
And, beyond ethnicity, all marginalized groups (the poor, the disabled, gays, Indian-Americans, women, whomever) in America need to see that they have something in common: a system that’s often too eager to make them suffer.
Camille # 201, NO not a wrong thread. I was just expanding on “Whose God is it anyway”‘s comment about whether or not MSM will pick up this story, which is a lot more important than American Idol. BTW I had never watched American Idol before and I dont give a rats ass who wins or loses.
“Do we have any assassins/ninjas in the group here? Your services may be required by the Indian community.”
He told myself he would never go back to that lifestyle again. He though he put it behind him, but now when push comes to shove, the brown ninja is back and is thirsty for blood!
ShallowThinker stars in “The Brown Plague”
Coming to a theater near you!
It’s now in the Times of India:
“Ex-Navy American Sikh faces police racism”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ex-Navy_American_Sikh_faces_police_racism/articleshow/1900260.cms
Isn’t Manmohan Singh’s daughter an attroney at ACLU? Maybe someone should bring this to her attention.
Yes, let’s all read one side of the story and jump on the bandwagon, just like we did with those lacrosse players.
Rediff has a piece up now. And like most articles on Rediff, it has attracted its share of trolls and the comments have seemed to have taken a “desis are more racist than anyone else” angle. One commenter who seems to be leading the discussion has this viewpoint.
In all fairness, the article SALDEF’s press release only partially and does not mention the racial slurs that Mr.Nag was subjected to. So if I did not know the background of the case via SM, I would look at it with some suspicion. I do not have a valid Rediff email id, so I can’t respond there, but if someone here can post a link to the SALDEF press release on the Rediff comments section, that would be a good step going forward.
Ooops.. the Rediff.com article is here. But like I mentioned above, it’s an incomplete description! The otherwise TOIlet rag seems to have done better, though!
Ennis, I know this. I know we chastise the NAACP for not saying anything about profiling, but at the same time, where were Sikhs and what were we saying when African Americans were being racially profiled? It’s a two-way street. I’m glad that people are finally reaching out to other communities, and I’ve appreciated the work done locally and nationally through alliances with JACL and interfaith groups. All I’m saying is there is room for growth, and we can do more.
Nifong really created some problems, didn’t he? I mean, this is the problem with high profile cases that are badly handled.
The thing is, I read the press release and I still have some questions. I agree with ANNA and Ennis when they state that what people want is an investigation and for the truth to come forward: No initial rush to judgement for anyone.
Also, the readers at DailyKos have gone through the relevant local laws and think it’s pretty unlikely that the cop could tell somebody to move a car from his driveway simply because it had expired tags.
Enough. They were exonerated and the cop might be, too ONCE THERE IS AN INVESTIGATION. All we are asking for is that this incident be looked in to– and there is no harm or shame in that. No one here fancies themself judge or jury.
You are not witty or snarky with the Duke refs. Further comments about lacrosse players? Deleted. Stay on topic.
I have submitted a Digg notice about the news item, linking to this blog. Call me stupid or naive… dirty cops must be rooted out, but I do not support blanket statements that all cops are inherently dirty/racist. Such smears won’t help Mr. Nag’s case.
Labelling the whole country as racist because of this incident, isn’t that a bit premature. People of all colors get abused by the police, let’s wait and see what happened and if this story is correct what happends in the court.
Saying that, cops. Why am I not surprised? It’s not that cops automatically have bad character, it’s the nature of their job and the society they live in. So aggressive, so paranoid. Anyway, I’ve ran into cops many times, this is not my general experience.
and then, the racism that we desis experince, it’s almost laughable. It’s because we look like arabs. How the hell do you tackle that!?
I suggest skin bleach and t-shirts which say “Don’t beat me, I’m not an Arab!”
That’s a good point. Blanket statements make it easier for others to dismiss us. Yes there are larger issues at play here, but right now let’s focus on THIS particular case, please.
“It’s because we look like arabs. How the hell do you tackle that!?”
Well… a while ago I created an “Anti-Paranoia T-Shirt” on CafePress, with this slogan printed in back and front:
That I look “Arabic” to you doesn’t mean that I carry a bomb in my bag. Please show a little bit of common sense.
Nobody’s dared to wear it yet… ;-P
Agreed. Also a precedent must be set so people will think twice before indulging in this kind of behavior.
Why just a shirt? Go for the whole kit:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2670145
Ennis
Wouldn’t skin bleach make us look even more like arabs? 😀 I suggest we all put a tip on our foreheads or something and at the department store we all buy pork and tell it out loudly.
Long time lurker here. Off-topic request. I find Sepia Munity to be a good website for receiving desi related news. Wondering if it’s possible to implement a rating systems like slashdot.org uses for the purposes of filtering responses?
Also is it possible for someone to consolidate links on the ways to help Mr. Kuldip Singh Nag as an update to the main article?
A hearty thanks to the people who run the website. I appreciate your energy and time to making it a worthy normal read-site.
Just 5 diggs so far including mine!! Digg it http://digg.com/search?section=news&s=joliet
It is now top 10 on digg…
Might be a good idea to circulate (along with the press release) a “What you can do” type list. Lessee, what’s been said so far: – contact your senator, police dept, mayor, newspaper – contact the relevant ones in Illinois (senator, police dept, mayor, newspaper) — put their phone numbers, email addresses, websites here as appropriate – blog it and digg it – email all your lists and friends – anyone with journalism/pr experience? how to get it on the newswires so that the major news organizations notice it?
Guys, stick to one Digg article and keep digging it instead of dividing your diggs on a dozen articles of basically the same story.
This one has about 874, so DIGGIT
Jeet: This is the description on that article! The emphasis (bold text) is mine…
sigh!
US Gulf War veteran of Arabic descent assaulted by cop for not moving his inoperable van from his driveway into his garage. Proof that all it takes is 1 bad seed to make life hell for minorities.
Whaaat? My head is in my hands.
Here is something else you can do besides digging the story.
Quoted from a friend.
So get off your Kundis, make some calls. We are not saying that Mr.Nag was right or wrong, but until the mainstream media picks this up and an investigation happens, we will never find out.
karthik: that’s probably the most constructive comment I’ve seen yet.
Try the national Media – CNN.
Try the national Media Nancy grace show on CNN.
for the nancy grace show (i’m not a big fan, but she does have a big mouth and would bring this out onto the national light) call 1-888-GRACE-01 and/or email the show here
i think if we all cohesively bombarded them with calls and emails, it would get some airtime..
i say we do it.
Exactly right. Such selfish apathy leads to this:
“First they came for the Socialists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me.”
Any victim of any race or religion has to be defended by all who wish to preserve their rights and their dignity, else things go rapidly down the slippery slope. Too many desi-americans try to distance themselves from the discriminations and humiliations endured by african-americans, foolishly imagining they are a “priviliged community” with “high SES”. It was the black civil rights movement that even allows desis the rights they currently enjoy in America. We even see many sikhs/punjabis trying to distance themselves from the rest of desis who are seen by them as darker, inferior, less middle-eastern looking, less martial etc.
One lesson that should be clear is this: never argue with a cop no matter how wrong he is. That will only escalate the abuse. You can always report him later. Nag by the account was at the very least objecting to the cop’s demand that he move his car. How hotly he was objecting is unknown at this point. Chances are that he was angry and showed it. The cop, clearly a racist, which shouldn’t be surprising in America, saw that as an opportunity/justification to assault a despised non-white.
I just spoke to a woman at the Chicago Pubic Radio # that Karthik left. She said no one had called in the story before me, but she also said it’s better to email them the info at:
news@chicagopublicradio.org
i just called the nancy grace show.. their mailbox is full..so i sent the email instead.. and will try again later to call…
Its better to call than to email. That way its more personal. Plus if dozens of angry sounding folks call in someone is bound to notice.
Is it really in our best interests to ignore what they requested, when we’re trying to get them to cooperate with our wishes for exposure? Besides email = paper trail. Let’s not annoy those who can help us, IMO. Emails can be just as personal, if not moreso. And they do get noticed.
Good point, Intern. I guess I’m not thinking too clearly when i’m angry. Delete my previous comment or something.
Prema writes: >>One lesson that should be clear is this: never argue with a cop no matter how wrong he is. That will only escalate the abuse. You can always report him later.
You said it. This has worked for me everytime.
M. Nam
It doesn’t look like the Joliet Herald News is covering the story. You could write them. I have a hard time believing that a cop would go straight to violent abuse. If something that flagrant happened, he likely has escalated to it and a local newstory could flush out a history of abuse.
I’m not sure how many of you are in Illinois or have contacts in the media, but I do know for a fact that multiple S. Asian interest groups have already contacted the Joliet Herald as well as various print and broadcast media outlets in the Chicago area. I’m not sure why it isn’t being reported.
“A talking head on MSNC and a nut job on CNN both were mouthing this quasi-racist rant under the guise of entertainment/news. I dont have any hope of real journalism from the cable TV nut jobs. “
i try to avoid cable news like the plague. i don’t have much faith in channels that salivate over the “eagerly awaited” decision over who anna nicole’s “baby’s daddy” is. in the u.s. i stick to bbc world news and pbs. am disappointed that bbc world hasn’t gone full-time in the u.s. as announced several months ago. it’s not perfect but it’s much better than cnn (cnn international is better than it’s u.s.counterpart) and fox and the rest.
Then it would be your word against the Cops. Other good hearted Cops will not cross the blue line in such situation. What you are suggesting is accepting that Police have to be unreasonable or that Desis will always be abused because some how they are second class citizens. Both of those sentiments are bogus. One MUST resent wrong doing by law enforcement or any other party for that matter, when it happens.
A lot of Desis have this mentality of living invisible lives. That is no way of achieving respect.
Not arguing with cops is a matter of fact for white people too. That has nothing to do with being a second class citizen.
Yeah, but regardless of whether the cop’s actions might have been justified, the cop’s racist rant was not.
(…And if the amount of violence alleged was truly used, then it’s hard to imagine what Mr. Singh would have been doing which could justifiably provoke the cop’s response, but that’s a digression.)
[quote]Why is this not in the media?? The African-American community did not take Don Imus’s comments sitting down. Anyone makes an anti-semitic slur, it’s headlines. [/quote]
Ignoramuses like Ashi LOOOOVE to incite anti-semitic rancor of their own making by holding those darn Jews (and the media they obviously control, right?) up as standard bearers of the hypcorisy of the world. So, Ashi is free to spout generalizations like the above comment without even knowing that Imus once called CBS management “Jewish money-grubbing bastards,” and once called Howard Kurtz a “boner-nosed, beanie-wearing Jewboy.” And guess what? They didn’t make headlines! In fact, you never knew of it until today! Right?
But don’t let me interrupt your concentration camp building project.
I don’t think this has been posted: the news was reported on abc7news in Chicago.