Members of California’s Sikh truck community say a fatal crash, including one of its own that sparked a fierce national debate over immigration, led to a surge in anti-Sikh rhetoric.
On August 12th, India-born truck driver Harjinder Singh made a U-turn on the Florida Turnpike. The crash and subsequent investigations sparked debate between Governor Ron DeSantis of the Florida Republican government and Gavin Newsom of the California Democratic government.
He also seduced members of monotheistic religions online who often longed for a high-paid trucking job that allows Sikh men to wear beards, hair and turbans.
“There are a lot of negative comments online,” said Prahb Singh, a truck driver in Riverside, California.
None of the people named in this story are in the same family. Singh is a common surname among Sikhs.
“People say, ‘Take the head of the towel from the street.’ “By taking migrants out of the streets, we make the roads safe,” said Singh, a US citizen who moved from India at the age of eight.
Sikhs play a major role in the US trucking industry
The US Sikh population estimate ranges up to 750,000, making it the largest concentration in California. Many work in the trucking industry and related companies, including restaurants and trucking schools along major routes.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of truck drivers and they’ve been saying, ‘People look at us differently,” said Sukhreet Waraich, a truck driver who owns an interstate freight carrier in Fontana, California.
The father of three and the earner of his family, he is worried about being unfairly targeted. Like other Sikhs, he lamented the crash in Florida and called it a tragedy. But he wants drivers to get a fair trial and people will understand that it is an isolated crash.
“I’ve been driving since 2019. I don’t have a single ticket,” Waleich said.
The Punjab Truck Drivers Association of North America estimates that Sikh labor accounts for around 40% of truck driving on the West Coast and about 20% nationwide. CEO Raman Dhillon said there is no official figure, but advocacy groups estimate that around 150,000 Sikh truckers in the United States could reach 250,000, given the high demand for drivers after the pandemic.
Since the fatal crash, the association has received many reports of Sikh drivers being harassed. In one example, Dillon said that while he was about to take a shower, a Sikh man was kicked out of a truck stop in Oklahoma.
The fatal Florida crash and partisan politics
In Florida, Haljinder Singh faces charges of manslaughter and vehicle murder and is being held unconfined. Florida officials say he illegally entered the United States from Mexico in 2018. But California officials say federal officials said they were legally in the country with a work permit when the state issued him a driver’s license.
The Trump administration said Singh never received a commercial driver’s license because he failed the immigration status and English proficiency test after crashing. However, New Mexico officials have released a video of a traffic stop showing Singh communicating with police officers in English.
DeSantis sent Florida’s lieutenant governor to California, overseeing the extradition of truck drivers, and said that Singh should never call him a “thug.”
“The sheriff’s job is done by the middle Li,” Dhillon said, “it was very low.”
Others in the Sikh trucking industry are worried about becoming scapegoats in the country’s fierce battle for immigration.
“This is a tragedy. It was an accident. Every Punjabi, every Sikh, feels the family of the victim,” said Hashimran Singh, CEO of Gilson Truck in Stockton, California, which has no driver connection.
“However, the way this incident was handled means that many people in my community are afraid of their future in this country.”
Since the crash, he said five Sikh drivers have quit and said they are no longer safe.
In signs of support, the United Sikh advocacy group recently held a gathering outside the Florida prison. They prayed for the victims of the crash and offered to help the family at the cost of funeral arrangements, but they condemned anti-Sikh discrimination.
“Many immigrants have settled here, fleeing religion and other persecutions, and we value the equal opportunities given to them by the legal system,” said Garvinder Singh, director of International Humanitarian Aid for a group that is also unrelated to drivers.
Sikhs find religious freedom through trucking
Sikhism was founded in the Punjab region of India more than 500 years ago. It is one of the largest religions in the world with around 25 million followers.
Over the years, Sikh migrants from Punjab (formerly Indian earners) have moved abroad in search of better opportunities. Fragile farm income and rare jobs have driven more recent escapes. The vast Sikh diaspora reinforces the belief that legal or illegal migration is the surest path to stability.
Since September 11, 2001, attacks, young Sikhs in the United States have faced discrimination, ranging from school bullying to racial profiling and hate crimes, especially against men with beards and turbans.
In his Gurdwara – Sikh worship house in Fremont, California, Jasdeepsin has heard reports that he has been bullied in schools since the crash.
“The whole community is on trial because we are so visible,” he said.
“It was always there, but now it’s on another level. On 9/11, they thought we were Muslims,” he said of the crime in which the attackers said they had mistaken Sikhs for Arab Muslims. “But this time there’s no confusion. If you ask me, that’s even worse.”
In California’s Central Valley, Sikh generations take pride in strengthening the US trucking industry.
Work is important to the community. Sikh migrants will help provide families and send their children to college, said Manpreet Kaur, education director for the Sikh Union. Trucking also allows Sikhs to practice their faith more freely, she said.
“They’re the ones who are fathered to a California truck driver in the 1970s,” said Cowl:
“For example, you can park and pray,” she said. “The community is afraid to lose (free) it’s negative rhetoric.”
Sikhs are worried about rhetoric that leads to violence
Beyond rhetoric, she hopes people can understand “there are different stories, there is another existence in the community that lives and thrives, and is actually the backbone of the American trucking industry.”
The Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh advocacy group in the United States, lament the lost lives in Florida while it hopes drivers will be on a fair trial. Herman Singh, executive director of the coalition, also flagged growing concerns that crashes are being used to “demonize” the entire Sikh community.
He said recent FBI data shows that Sikhs remain one of the most targeted religious groups in the country for hate crimes.
“When we hear and see the rise in rhetoric targeting the community and target articles of people’s faith, we suggest that our community is somehow lawless or criminal, which ultimately leads to increased violence,” he said.
The coalition is reaching out to Sikh truckers to ensure that they know their rights if stopped by the authorities.
“We want to make sure there are legal procedures and processes to ensure that families receive justice,” he said. “But it should happen in court. It should not happen through headlines. It should not happen on social media. And it certainly shouldn’t happen with very divisive rhetoric about the whole community.”
