SAAJCO condemns the alleged mass shooting plot targeting a Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois. Police confirmed that the suspect’s vehicle was at the temple on October 11, and investigators uncovered a manifesto expressing white supremacist beliefs and violent threats against South Asians, particularly Indians. We are grateful to the coworker who alerted law enforcement and helped prevent a tragedy. Read the local reporting.
This comes just weeks after a Sikh truck driver, Gurvinder Singh, was stabbed 17 times at a Wyoming rest stop. His attack occurred just days after the Department of Homeland Security circulated social media posts singling out Sikh truck drivers. It was a painful reminder of the violence Sikh Americans endured in the aftermath of 9/11.
A recent Stop AAPI Hate report found that anti-South Asian slurs online have more than doubled since 2023 and that nearly half of South Asian adults experienced a race-based hate act in 2025.
The increasingly constant and brazen vilification of South Asians as people who do not belong in this country is dangerous. When political leaders and government officials portray immigrants and communities of color as threats, they contribute to a climate in which prejudice, discrimination, and violence can flourish. When government agencies themselves amplify dehumanizing messages, they lend legitimacy to the very prejudices they should be confronting.
These attacks do not happen in isolation, nor are South Asians alone in facing this hostility. Across the country, Black, Latino, Asian communities, immigrants, and people of different faiths and backgrounds continue to face hate, discrimination, and exclusion. While our experiences may differ, the forces that seek to divide, dehumanize, and marginalize our communities are often interconnected. An attack targeting one community should concern us all.
SAAJCO calls on public officials to unequivocally condemn anti-South Asian racism, reject rhetoric that dehumanizes immigrant and marginalized communities, and affirm the right of every person to worship, work, and live free from fear and violence. We are committed to working alongside community organizations, faith leaders, and allies across racial, religious, and immigrant communities to confront hate and protect the dignity, safety, and belonging of all.
Solidarity cannot begin and end when our own communities are targeted; it must extend to everyone whose dignity, safety, and belonging are under threat.
