CA Sikh Man Called Taliban in Hate Stabbing

8/18/06

On July 30th, a 66 year old Sikh man, Iqbal Singh, was stabbed in the neck with a steak while waiting with his two year old daughter to go to religious service in Santa Clara County. Everett Thompson, the 25 year old perpetrator, was Singh’s neighbor and had mistaken him for a Taliban. Thompson said that stabbed Singh because he wanted to kill a Taliban. Santa Clara, a county that has on average 5 reported hate crimes per month, was experiencing a hike of 13 total reported hate crimes in June.

At Thompson’s arraignment on August 2nd, he was charged with premeditated murder and hate crime. If convicted of these charges, Thompson could face a life sentence in prison. He is currently being held without bail.

Singh was hospitalized for his injuries and is currently in stable condition. Despite this incident, the Singh family does not plan to move anywhere because of it. Gurmeet Singh commented “These are the incidents that can happen to anybody.”

Since 9/11, rising incidents like these have been threatening the Sikh community, whose traditional turbans are may seem similar to those of the Muslim Taliban.