:dateline:Responding to reports that NSA and FBI officials used the ethnic slur �raghead� in surveillance programs targeting American Muslims, the Sikh Coalition yesterday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with both agencies. This request demands production of all employee emails since September 11, 2001 that contain the epithets �raghead� and �towelhead.�
According to the FOIA request, �[d]isclosure of the requested information to us is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the extent to which [agency] employees have used epithets indicating prejudice in official correspondence.�
Since the 9/11 attacks, Sikh Americans have repeatedly endured violence and bigotry because of their religiously-mandated turbans. Many have been called �ragheads� or �towelheads.� In August 2012, a gunman with known ties to neo-Nazi groups attacked a Gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six worshippers and injuring several others, including a local law enforcement officer. In the months after the massacre, a Sikh business owner was shot and injured in Port Orange, Florida; a Sikh octogenarian was beaten with a steel rod in Fresno, California; and a Sikh professor was assaulted in New York, New York.
Given the persistence of hate violence against Sikh Americans, and after a lengthy campaign by the Sikh Coalition, civil rights groups, and numerous members of Congress, the FBI finally agreed in 2013 to begin tracking hate crimes against Sikhs.
�As Americans, we expect law enforcement officials to behave professionally,� said Amardeep Singh, Program Director of the Sikh Coalition. �The Sikh Coalition will not tolerate the use of racial and religious slurs by people who are supposed to protect us. We therefore demand a full accounting of NSA and FBI emails to determine the extent to which agency employees are combating bigotry, not promoting it.�
