Sir,
In the history of mankind religion and ethnicity have been great binding forces .Whether because of some underlying animal instinct or fear psychosis this affinity has proved a hindering for man to lead a natural, harmonious life. Wars in the name of religion or even between sects of same religion are a testimony to the egoistic concept of supremacy of one’s own class, category or background. The killings of Sikhs in Wisconsin gurudwara gathering by a white skinned supremacist testify the existence of such a mindset.
But if such an incident had occurred in India or some south Asian country the reaction of community victimized, majority community or of govt. would have been entirely different. There ,the people behaved in a very civilized manner, the majority community commented to assuage the hurt sentiments of the Sikhs and the timely statement of the president Obama did act as dressing for the wounds caused on the Sikh psyche by this heinous act of supremacist. President’s statement and the statement of his representative attending the memorial to those killed have been taken as proof of sincerity of the govt. The sacrifice of six people has jolted the conscience of Americans and it is hoped that this tragedy will go a long way in remodeling the attitude of American civil society towards its minorities.
Pertinent to mention that despite assertions that Americans and for that matter all European call themselves most advanced, human rights guardian and people of scientific outlook, the fact remains that the germs of superiority are still lurking somewhere in the minds of white skinned race especially those subscribing to the neo-Nazism.
Such like tragedies are a lesson for the entire world community and there is need to put in place concrete measures to stall such recurrences. This requires identification and isolation of people of such a mindset well in advance on the one hand and amending laws to suit the requirements of changing situation. In U.S.A. and also in many other countries possession of arms and ammunition is legal. But when tension and stress in the society crosses a certain limit then depriving people of certain rights becomes necessary and beneficial for the community on the whole. In America already a feeling is growing that possessing arms and ammunition be restricted but vote politics as everywhere else may be coming in the way for taking such steps. It is high time that Americans should stand in one voice against arms/gun manufacturing lobbies so that some hot headed supremacist may not play with the lives of peace loving innocent people because of their only ‘fault’ of being non-white skinned.
Yours etc….
Harjinder Singh
(Retd D.F.O.)
Nanak Nagar, Jammu
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel