Diverse Communities Unite for Hearings on Post-9/11 Backlash and Discrimination
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| Sapreet Kaur, Executive Director, Sikh Coalition, opens the New York City 9/11 community hearing with welcome remarks. |
September 9, 2011 (New York) – Over 200 community members from the Sikh, Arab, Muslim, and South Asian American communities—as well as government officials, advocates, and scholars—came together for two hearings last month to reflect on the realities of post-9/11 bias.
Spearheaded by the Sikh Coalition, and billed as the Unheard Voices of 9/11, the hearings in New York City and Mountain View, California featured testimony from individuals impacted by backlash discrimination, including targets of school bullying, job discrimination, and profiling.
Click here to view photos from the hearings
Apart from being live-streamed online throughout the world, the hearings and the associated UnheardVoicesof9-11 website generated news reports in media outlets such as:
- CNN.com
- NBC
- Washington Post
- New York Daily News
- New York One
- San Jose Mercury News
- Times of India
- Patch.com
All in all, the hearings generated over 60 news articles around the world, with over 7,000 hits to the Sikh Coalition's UnheardVoicesof9-11 website.
Watch Clips from the Hearings
Below are select clips of community testimony from the hearings. You can find a larger collection of video clips on the UnheardVoicesof9-11 website.
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How You Can Help this Project
As the nation mourns the victims of 9/11 one decade ago, it is important for the mainstream media to also pay more attention to communities impacted by post-9/11 discrimination. By doing so, they will create more public awareness about our communities and gradually diminish stereotypes that lead to violations of our civil rights. Please do your part by uploading your testimony to our Unheard Voices website. Click here to make your voices heard.
Notes of Thanks
The Coalition would like to thank the Asian American/Asian Research Institute of the City University of New York for co-hosting the New York hearing and live streaming it.
The Coalition would also like to particularly thank California Assembly Member Paul Fong, the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, the Council on American-Islamic Affairs – SFBA, and the Asian Law Caucus for co-organizing the Bay Area hearing.
A complete and comprehensive list of the over 40 national and local organizations and government agency officials who participated in the hearings in both New York and the Bay Area can be found here.
The Unheard Voices of 9/11 project has been made possible through the generous support of the Security & Rights Collaborative, a Proteus Fund Initiative, Open Society Institute - National Security and Human Rights Campaign and through individual contributions from the Sikh American community