Washington: Sikhs in US have planned to help their beleaguered community find acceptance in the country. For this, they have hired a high-profile media consultancy founded by President Barack Obama which helped him manage his campaign during elections and made him win a senate seat and White House respectively.
The Chicago-based company known as AKPD, formed by David Axelrod and David Plouffe had successfully driven Obama's election campaigns.
The turban-clad community has been in US for a long time however, they have been threatened and attacked several times by those who knew either little or nothing about them, especially after the September 11 twin tower attack.
A country-wide survey was conducted by Hart Research to identify the problem of such ignorance towards the community and suggest remedies for them. The findings of the same were released on Tuesday which concluded that 60% Americans knew nothing about Sikhs and most of them were either neutral in their feelings about them (54%) or cool (16%).
However, upon learning about the community they warmed up to it, across demographics.
Gurwin Singh Ahuja, co-founder of National Sikh campaign in US told Hindustan Times in a telephonic conference that the media campaign is expected to roll out later in the year – the third quarter.
On contacting AKPD, they chose not to respond to the request.
Apparently, the Sikh community has suffered quite a lot for its uniqueness. Balbir Singh Sodhi, a gas station owner in Messa, Arizona, was killed just days after 9/11 - on September 15 - by a man who was looking for "towel-heads" to avenge the attacks. The killer thought Sodhi was a mid-easterner.
There were other instances too of Sikhs being targeted for exactly the same reason. The worst of them was the killing of six Sikhs by a white supremacist at a Gurudwara in Silver Oak, Wisconsin in August 2012 on which the stunned community resolved to act. AKPD is known to be its newest initiative to do the same.
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