Valarie Kaur and Dawinder "Dave" S. Sidhu

The Pluralism Project
Discrimination & National Security Initiative

Project Description

Following the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001, Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim encountered an almost immediate and wide-ranging backlash in the United States. In particular, Muslim-, Arab-, South Asian-, and Sikh-American communitites were targeted on the basis of their appearance and subject to murder, physical assault, verbal harassment, profiling, and other discriminatory conduct. The consequences of this hate violence and bias implicates not only the safety of the victims themselves, but more broadly it denies the realization of a free and equal society for all Americans, and challenges the embrace of pluralism, the effectiveness of tolerance, and the existence of mutual respect.

In response to the post-9/11 climate, advocacy organziations defending the rights of these groups and engaging in efforts to combat the ignorance that allowed for Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim to be equated with the terrorists of 9/11. Two Sikhs -- filmaker Valarie Kaur and civil rights attoreny Dawinder "Dave" S. Sidhu -- noted the conspicuous absence of academic information on the backlash and particularly on the human consequences of the mistreatment on these targeted communities. Accordingly, in 2004 the Pluralism Project at Harvard University established the Discrimination & National Security Initiative (DNSI), to explore the human costs of the post-9/11 backlash in a scholarly format. DNSI's specific charge is to examine mistreatment of minority communities during times of war or national emergency, especially post-9/11 America.

In furtherance of this objective, DNSI has engaged in two independent, though overlapping, efforts: 1) to perform original research on the human consequences of the discrimination faced by Muslims, Arabs, South Asians, and Sikhs after 9/11, and 2) to issue a documentary, "Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath," which offers a close look at members of America's Sikh community in the aftermath of September 11.

DNSI was officially established on December 18, 2004, the 60th anniversary of Korematsu v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the forced exclusion of citizens of Japanese ancestry. The dissenting justices warned of the use of perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin as a proxy for suspect qualities, including subversion and disloyalty to the union, during wartime. Over sixty years later, Sikhs and others in the United States have been subject to discrimination on the basis of their perceived identity. DNSI is therefore interested in examining discrimination and its social impact not only since September 11, 2001, but in historical and international contexts that touch upon the tension between equality and concerns for national security.

Project Research

“Civil Rights And the Wartime Supreme Court,” 22 February 2010.

"Civil Rights in Wartime: the Post-9/11 Sikh Experience," is an academic textbook prepared by Mr Sidhu and DNSI legal fellow Neha Singh Gohil on the challenges faced by turbaned Sikhs following 9/11 (Ashgate Publishing, 2009).

"The Sikh Turban: Post-911 Challenges to this Article of Faith," examines the tangible and intangible discrimination faced by turbaned Sikhs in the wake of the 9/11, terrorist attacks. It provides an overview of Sikhism, incidents of discrimination, broader challenges to Sikh identity, and legal remedies available to victims.

“We are Americans Too: A Comparative Study of the Effects of 9/11 on South Asian Communities,” addresses the impact of and the responses to the discrimination that South Asians faced since 9/11, focusing specifically on Indian Hindus, Pakistani Muslims, and Sikhs in the Washington, DC area.

"First Korematsu and Now Ashcroft v. Iqbal: The Latest Chapter in the Wartime Supreme Court’s Disregard for Claims of Discrimination," analyzes a recent Supreme Court ruling dismissing a Muslim plaintiff's allegations of discrimination.

"Wartime America and The Wire: A Response to Posner’s Post-9/11 Constitutional Framework," critiques a prominent professor and judge's proposals on the direction of the wartime Constitution.

"The Chilling Effect of Government Surveillance Programs on the Use of the Internet By Muslim-Americans," looks at the chilling effect of government surveillance measures on the use of technology, principally the Internet, by Muslim-Americans.

DNSI drafted and filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States case, Iqbal v. Ashcroft, S.Ct. No. 07-1015 (2008), which concerns allegations of discrimination by a Muslim detained in New York after 9/11.

Divided We Fall

Staff

Founders
Dawinder S. Sidhu
Valarie Kaur

Fellows & Interns
Neha Singh Gohil
Morgan Hargrave
Sakhiba Khairullah
Sarah Mazzochi
Randa Zakhour
Brian Chan
Gauri Patil
Jamila Willis

Contact Information

Inquiries may be sent, via email, to Valarie Kaur at valarie@dwf-film.com or Dave Sidhu at dsidhu@gmail.com.

To contact the Pluralism Project, email staff@pluralism.org. Please write to us with suggestions about new books, articles, or sites to include, with announcements of conferences or special events, or with corrections.

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