THE PRESIDENT: It's my honor to welcome citizens from
all across our country here to the
Roosevelt Room and the White House to discuss our common
commitment to make sure that every
American is treated with respect and dignity during this
period of -- during any period, for that matter,
of American history, particularly during this time.
An American Sikh has been killed, unjustly so. These citizens
bring their hearts with them, and I can
assure them that our government will do everything we
can to not only bring those people to justice,
but also to treat every human life as dear, and to respect
the values that made our country so different
and so unique. We're all Americans, bound together by
common ideals and common values.
So I want to welcome you all here. I'm honored that you're
here in the White House, and I look
forward to a good, frank discussion. Thank you for coming.
Avtar Gill, Sikh Community of Central Valley, California
Balwinder Cheema, president, Sikh Cultural Society of
New York
Bhupinder Saini, executive committee member, Sikh Religious
Society of Wisconsin
Charnjit Batth, president/chair Pacific Coast, Khala
Diwan Society, Fresno, California
Darshan Dhaliwal, president, Bulk Petroleum Corporation,
Mequon,Wisconsin -- Charranjeet
Dhaliwal, Sikh, Mequon, Wisconsin
Daya Singh Khalsa, senior vice president, Akal Security
Inc. Santa Cruz, New Mexico
Didar Singh, ex-president and founder, World Sikh Organization,
Yuba City, California
Jason Thompson, vice president, Bulk Petroleum Corporation
Mequon, Wisconsin
Jaspreet Singh, Sikh Gurudwara, Bridgewater, New Jersey
Jessie Singh, B.J.S. Group, a computer company, Milpitas,
California
Kulwant Hundal, president, Sikh Religious Society of
Chicago
Mohinder Singh, president, Baba Makhan Shah Lubana Sikh
Center and coordinator of relief supplies
for victims of WTC tragedy
Dr. Prem Sharma, president, Wisconsin Coalition of Asian
Indian Association and president,
Milwaukee Ethnic Council, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Dr. Rajwant Singh, founder and leader of the local Sikh
congregation, Guru Gobind Singh Foundation
OTHER SIKHS IN U.S.A.
Devender Singh, a 1974 Sikh immigrant from India, puts up an American Flag outside his Reade
Street cigarette, candy and snack shop in downtown Manhattan Singh, a resident of Jersey City, N.J.,
who commutes in and out of New York City each day by train, says since the World Trade Center
disaster he has had to remove his turban and place a baseball cap on his head for the commute each
day because he is harassed by fellow commuters. Singh and his wife have two daughters,both born in
the United States. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
New Zealand
Terrorist tragedy seeps into every corner
By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter
It looks like business as usual at Auckland Airport, but
beneath the veneer of normality run the currents of change.
Speak to the security guard, to the businesswoman waiting
for her plane, to the man in the turban, and all seem to have
been touched by the United States terrorist attacks or the
woes of Air New Zealand.
Upstairs in the international terminal is Ramandeep
Bakshi, a bearded Indian-New Zealand Sikh wearing a
turban.
On Monday morning Mr Bakshi was visiting a bank in
Manukau City when construction workers asked if he was
an Afghan.
That night he dined at an Auckland restaurant when a man
who had been drinking walked towards him, stared, walked
back to his seat and kept staring throughout the meal.
Small incidents, perhaps, but enough to scare an innocent
man.
"We were pretty shocked - we just went there to get food,"
Mr Bakshi said. "They keep showing Osama bin Laden's
photo all the time on television, and people don't know the
difference. Ninety-nine per cent of people in a turban are
Sikhs, not Muslims."
Downstairs at Airways Florist, Michelle Foley-Taylor speaks
of unusual behaviour after the terrorist attacks.
The day after the World Trade Center towers crumbled to
dust she sold a lot of flowers for no particular reason. The
collective mood of passersby had changed.
"It was quite odd. People felt grief. You know when Lady Di
died? It was like that."
The staff are smiling behind the Air New Zealand counters.
Get them alone and it's a different story.
"I think the morale here is very low," says one airline
woman. "There's a lot of uncertainty and people are worried
about their jobs.
"I've been here during the good times as well and I've loved
it."
Perhaps the most visible change is with security. X-ray
Machines have been taken out of storage rooms where they
have been sitting since the Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting in Auckland in 1999. Nobody is
allowed into the United States unless all their luggage has
been scanned.
"It's causing all sorts of problems," says one airport official.
"Normally we don't screen hold luggage, and during the
weekend people were banked right up."
The official says the x-ray machines will stay in place for
three months at least, maybe permanently.
Now it's lunchtime, and diners at a downstairs cafe turn to a
big screen to see a photo of bin Laden over the words
"Wanted, Dead or Alive". There is news of a huge US
bailout for struggling airlines. There is less encouraging
news of a possible bailout for Air New Zealand.
Security is also tight at the domestic terminals. Passengers
flying on all aircraft with more than 90 people are having
their luggage x-rayed.
Waiting for one plane is a retired man from Blenheim who
has just returned from an impromptu holiday in Northland.
He should be on a one-month package tour of the US, but
his plane was grounded on Thursday after the terrorist
strikes.
His advice for travellers? "Make sure you get to the airport
early - all this security is definitely holding things up."
N E W S
END.