New York, United States (May 20, 2013): According to a newsletter by the Sikh Coalition, the US Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at a Justice Department oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in Congress on May 15, 2013 and publicly expressed support for adding Sikh, Hindu, and Arab-American categories to the FBI’s Hate Crime Incident Report (Form 1-699).
As per information the Sikh Coalition had first requested revisions to Form 1-699 in January 2011.
Eric Holder, US Attorney General
“To date, our request has been endorsed by more than 135 members of the U.S. Congress, and the Civil Rights Division and Community Relations Service of the U.S. Department of Justice. Since we first called for revisions to Form 1-699, Sikhs have continued to endure hate crimes: two elderly Sikhs were murdered in Elk Grove, California; a Sikh cab driver was assaulted in Sacramento, California; a Sikh transit worker was assaulted in New York City; a Sikh cab driver was assaulted in Seattle, Washington; a Sikh business owner was shot and injured in Port Orange, Florida; a Sikh grandfather was assaulted with a steel rod in Fresno, California; and six Wisconsin Sikhs were murdered by an attacker with known ties to hate groups in one of the worst attacks on an American place of worship in history” reads the news letter by the Sikh Coalition
According to information the final decision about whether to begin tracking hate crimes against Sikh, Hindu, and Arab-Americans is scheduled to be made by the FBI in June 2013.