Via Roger Ebert, this timely little documentary:
Hate crimes against North American Sikhs are nothing new, any more than is racist hatred against anyone who isn’t white (or, in the case of Latin@s and Jews, “white enough”). Yesterday’s neo-Nazi shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin immediately reminded me of the firebombing of another Indo-American religious institution, the Hindu Samaj Temple in Hamilton, Ontario, just four days after 9-11. It doesn’t really matter if you’re Sikh or Hindu or Muslim. It seems that anyone who’s brownish and of a non-Christian religion is automatically suspect, and therefore subject to attack. And it’s hard NOT to see racism in the assaults on these people.
These angry white supremacists are generally complete and utter failures (in their personal relationships as well as in their ability to negotiate a harsh capitalist reality) and they fail on a daily basis.
This level of incompetence is no doubt infuriating and racist theory goes a long way to allow them to blame others for what is either the result of terminal stupidity or something systemic that they’re not bright enough to comprehend.
Blaming minorities and immigrants means your opponents are weaker than the real culprits. Cowardice and racism tend to go hand-in-hand.