Family of man slain after 9/11 gets apology
A state representative who introduced a controversial bill to alter the Arizona 9/11 Memorial apologized on Tuesday to the family of hate-crime murder victim Balbir Singh Sodhi, saying he misunderstood the case.
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, also said he agreed to a plan that would put Singh Sodhi's name back on the memorial even if Gov. Jan Brewer signs his bill into law.
House Bill 2230 would remove 11 phrases Kavanagh considers offensive from the steel memorial.
But he said the new wording describing Singh Sodhi's murder would be more specific, dropping the phrase "fear of foreigners" and replacing it with "First backlash hate-crime murder victim."
Singh Sodhi, a Sikh and Mesa gas-station owner, was gunned down four days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His killer mistook him for an Arab.
"I apologized for dredging up the sorrow once again. I apologized for any misunderstanding," Kavanagh said.
Rana Singh Sodhi, Balbir Singh Sodhi's youngest brother and a Mesa restaurant owner, said he still opposes Kavanagh's bill, which would require panels on the memorial to be removed by Sept. 11, 2011, the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
By agreeing to introduce follow-up legislation in January to correct the slight vs. Balbir Singh Sodhi in the original legislation, Kavanagh is admitting the original bill is flawed, Rana Singh Sodhi said.
"He is also agreeing it's not right," Rana Singh Sodhi said.
But Rana Singh Sodhi said he appreciates Kavanagh's apology and his offer to correct the error if Brewer signs the bill.
"I am so comfortable. When I met him, he apologized. I have no revenge," Rana Singh Sodhi said.
Kavanagh said he met with Rana Singh Sodhi, his brother Harjit, and Gururoop Kaur Khalsa, a Sikh community spokeswoman.
"I was very much impressed by their respectful, very open and kind attitude," he said.
Matt Benson, Brewer's spokesman, said Brewer has not acted on the bill and she has until Monday to decide whether to sign it, veto it or do nothing and allow it to become law. A meeting between the Singh Sodhi family and Brewer was requested late Monday, but no meeting has been scheduled.
Opposition to 9/11 alterations is growing, with the Asian community united with the Singh Sodhi family in urging a veto, and the 9/11 Commission, a citizens committee that planned the memorial, also seeking the legislation's demise.
Kavanagh said he was more upset by other panels in the memorial, which he has described as "America bashing," than by the present panel describing Balbir Singh Sodhi's murder.
"I really thought the other ones were the most offensive ones," he said.
Because it will take at least a year to raise donations that would pay for new panels, there is plenty of time to introduce a new bill in January to restore Balbir Singh Sodhi's name to the memorial, Kavanagh said.
The other panels to be removed if the bill becomes law include, "You don't win battles of terrorism with more battles" and "Feeling of invincibility lost."
Kavanagh, a retired police officer with the New York Port Authority, said he responded to the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and lost friends and former colleagues who died in the 9/11 attacks.