BATHINDA: As the US is all set to remember the victims of the most deadly terrorist act 25 years after its occurrence, various South Asian communities, mainly Sikhs, are getting ready to observe the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and the aftermath which led to a surge in hate crimes.The communities are equally concerned about the broader aftermath, memorialising not only close to 3,000 people who were killed in the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, but all those who have been affected by violence, hate and discrimination ever since.The most commemorated event within the Sikh community is the killing of 52-year-old Balbir Singh Sodhi, who was the first casualty of the hate crime in the aftermath of 9/11.Sodhi was killed at his gas station in Mesa, Arizona, on September 15, 2001, and every year Sikhs assemble at the Chevron gas station in Mesa to commemorate his death anniversary.A score of action plans have been prepared during September 2026, which include five policy actions to be forwarded to Congress, prepared by Sikh advocacy group Sikh Coalition; the launch of a webpage, [http://www.25-yearslater.org](http://www.25-yearslater.org), by South Asian Coalition, an emerging network of local and national organisations across the United States committed to collective liberation, collaboration and solidarity; and the founding of Revolutionary Love Project (RLP) by civil rights activist, filmmaker and author Valarie Kaur, to equip people to build a beloved community, centred on the ethics of love to produce educational tools, artwork, films, music and mass mobilisations to empower citizens and harness love as a force for justice.25 years later, stories of survival and solidarity is a community hub that brings together publicly available resources developed by organisations and advocates responding to the effects of 9/11 and the domestic and global war on terror.The 25th anniversary of 9/11 is a moment to reckon with our past and reimagine our future. We grieve the thousands of lives lost in the terrorist attacks on that day.We remember the numerous lives shattered by hate violence, state violence and warfare that followed 9/11 and that continues even now for decades-long impact of 9/11 on people of colour, mainly the Sikh community, states the Sikh Coalition, adding that they remember, apart from those who were killed in the attacks and their families, first responders who suffered long-term medical complications for their heroism and members from communities harmed or killed by subsequent hate violence.South Asian Coalition and Sikh Coalition, with allies, have created a state- and local-level resolution/proclamation toolkit as well as five federal targeted action campaigns.People from Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian, Hindu and other communities have been asked to take action by proposing a state- or local-level resolution or proclamation to recognise the experiences of impacted communities, reaffirm a commitment to combat hate, protect the civil rights and religious freedom of everyone regardless of their identities, and safeguard all communities through equitable and responsive policies, state Sikh Coalition executive director Harman Singh and Sikh Speakers Network member Sameep Singh.The community members have been asked to send messages to elected officials in Congress urging them to make efforts to:
- Pass House Resolution 741: Introduced in 2025 to mark the 24th anniversary of 9/11, it calls on the US government to acknowledge wrongdoing against communities in the post-9/11 environment and convene an independent commission to craft recommendations on repealing harmful policies.
- Pass the No Ban Act: The executive branch currently has the power to design and implement racist and xenophobic travel bans, including those targeting Muslims. The No Ban Act (House Resolution 924/Senate 398) would limit the President’s authority to suspend or restrict groups of people from entering the United States; it further prohibits religious discrimination in various immigration-related decisions.
- Pass the Improving Reporting to Prevent Hate Act (IRPHA): Hate crime data at the national level is woefully incomplete. IRPHA (House Resolution 2558/Senate 3724) would require state and local law enforcement organisations to report hate crime data to the FBI annually; those that do not report, or report zero hate crimes, would be required to conduct public education campaigns in order to maintain eligibility for certain federal funding.
- Repeal the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs: The 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) is the broadest war authorisation in the history of the United States. Together with the 2002 AUMF, which authorised the invasion of Iraq, it has been used by administrations from both parties for 25 years to expand the Global War on Terror into new countries. Repealing both AUMFs is an essential step to stopping endless armed conflicts.
- Refuse to reauthorise Section 702 of FISA: Congress recently neglected to reauthorise a previously bipartisan portion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Since 2008, Section 702 has allowed the US Intelligence Community to legally conduct warrantless surveillance on persons outside the United States and, in doing so, incidentally surveil people inside the United States that those non-US persons are communicating with. It is critical that this authority be left in the past where it belongs.
As per hate crime data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 14, anti-Sikh hate crime incidents increased by 24.6% in 2025 as compared to 2024.The anti-Sikh hate crimes were reported at 177 in 2025, up from 142 in 2024. The anti-Sikh hate crimes peaked in September 2025 when 26 incidents were reported in 30 days, as it was a month following the road accident involving truck driver Harjinder Singh in Florida.In 2025, anti-Hindu hate crime incidents increased by 12%, from 25 in 2024 to 28 in 2025, while anti-Buddhist hate crime incidents increased by 7.7%, from 26 in 2024 to 28 in 2025.
