Balbir was not a Muslim. But according to his killer and scores of Islamophobes, he looked Muslim—he wore the same beard, had the same dark skin, and donned a turban similar to those the terrorists on television wore. Was he part of the Taliban, the extremist Muslim group that controlled much of Afghanistan, blew up ancient Buddhist temples, forced its women to wear burqas, and adopted the arcane form of Sunni Islam peddled by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia? Or was Balbir a member or sympathizer of Al Qaeda, the transnational terror network behind the 9/11 terror attacks? No. He was neither, nor was he Shiite or Sunni Muslim, Arab or Middle Eastern. He was Indian American, and his religion was Sikhism. … But it did not matter. Because to Frank Roque, who murdered Balbir on September 15, 2001, Balbir looked the way so many non-Muslim Americans imagined Muslims to look. To Frank Roque, and the growing ranks of Islamophobes, Balbir's skin color, beard, and dress were enough to mark him as Muslim, and being Muslim was enough to mark him as evil.

QUESTION: How widespread is post-9/11 violence against misidentified non-Muslims like Sikhs? Worth tracking data on hate crimes against South Asians generally.

Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Unde…, loc. 270