Listen to the discussion here.

The first homicide of 2016 in Fresno was of a Punjabi man at a liquor store. A week earlier an elderly Sikh man was deliberately hit by a truck and then beat up by two men. Police consider the attack a hate crime and are offering a $12,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the two men suspected.

This week on Valley Edition we discuss the reasoning behind the hate crimes against the Sikh community and why criminals are confusing Sikhs and Muslims in their hate acts. Listen to the discussion above.

GUESTS:

Deep Singh is one of the cofounders of the Jakara Movement, a Sikh youth organization working on issues of social, health, and educational justice. Deep volunteers with the Fresno based branch of Jakara.

Arjun Singh Sethi is the Director of Law & Policy for the Sikh Coalition. He is responsible for advocating and promoting policy solutions to civil rights issues that impact Sikhs and the broader American public. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera America, CNN, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.