WHY PRODUCE MISTAKEN IDENTITY: SIKHS IN AMERICA ?

WHO WAS AMANDA GESINE, ACHORWOMAN & PRODUCER ?

"MISTAKEN IDENTITY ... Discovering SIKH AMERICANS" (Color made-for-TV 56 min) opens with full portait faced 21-year old Amanda Gesine WINKLEVOSS saying: "I knew nothing about ... about Sikhs ..." and represents mainstream America living behind the white picket fence ... apart from the influx of recent ethnic immigrant majority.of the 60s She represented America that stood stunned after 9/11, wondering ... questioning ... demanding to know - how anyone in the world could hate their country so much !

She was from Greenwich, CT, and had stood stunned on New York's Park Avenue watching the smokey, horrific terrorist attack in a distance on that day. What had America done that was so terrible, that strangers attacked her country so mercilessly ... leaving so many innocent people to die. On TV networks people were filmed jumping out from the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center.

National and international TV networks and media filled the screens and front pages with highlights of the attacks in New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

From Day 1, there were attacks on Sikhs began, mistaken for terrorists, simply because they wore turbans and beards for religious reasons . Scenes of young American men throwing beer bottles at turbaned taxi drivers (estimated 32% of South Asians who drive NY cabs), including beating up old men in turbans with baseball bats.

On Day 3, the film crew attended the candle light vigilance at Union Square where Amanda met and discussed what was happening with three to four Sikh men and women. The young girl, born in America, shared her story. She learned how Sikhs of different ages were being singled out because Americans blamed them for their resemblance to the suspected Arab perpetrators.

Hate crimes were being committed daily, as Amanda read of how turbaned Swaran Kaur Bhullar, 51-year-old mother of three, stopped at a red light. Two men on motorcycles yanked open her door and shouted, "We're going to slash your throat" and stabbed her head twice, leaving her for dead in San Diego, CA, one of the first 36 suspected "hate" crimes reported by the police.

Within days of 9/11, 290 crimes and other assaults on Sikh Americans were documented nationwide - a trend towards racial distrimination, verbal abuse and physical assaults and killings on people who wore turbans and beards - a misguided media portrayal which hit the Sikh community as the mistaken identities.

Amanda recalled the story of how as the first twin tower collapsed on 11 September, surgical resident, Dr. Nijher Singh, from Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn rushed to the scene, scavenging supplies from abandoned ambulances. He set up the first triage center at Ground Zero and organized the makeshift morgue.

Next day, American citizen Nijher ran his first public survival errand in Manhattan. Everyone stared at his turban and whispered: "There goes one of them now ." Someone yelled, "Go home to your country." He stood numb, because the day before he had worked a 24 hours shift and not a single word was uttered.

It became Amanda's mission to explain to Americans who Sikhs really were. It was her goal to make the film and have it broadcast on PBS throughout the USA. But at this point, she herself knew nothing about Sikhs and Sikhism and the film shows her fascinating journey into discovering her Sikh neighbors.

More information check out website: http://www.cultural-diversity.co.uk

MISTAKEN IDENTITY: A 9/11 Story

UNITED WE STAND...

Discovering Sikhs in America

Six days after 9/11 - six days after the wake of the Attack on America on 11 September 2001, it was 21-year-old Amanda Gesine who phoned me at midnight and said "Did you read there was one Sikh American shot and killed. The Internet news reported " ... he was mistaken for a Arab terrorist simply because he wore a turban and beard for religious reasons."

She felt it was a "senseless murder of 49 year old Balbir Singh in Mesa AZ who was killed by Francisco Roque who called it "a patriotic act".

"We've got to do something ... let's produce the film showing mainstream America who are Sikhs, what is Sikhism and what the Sikhs have contributed to America since 1880s, " she repeated.

We had been discussing the format of the documentary film and the effect of South Asians since day 2, after we learned that the first casualities were young Bangladesh waiters who served breakfast at IT Conference at the World Trade Restaurant in the sky. There was no mention of them in any American media.

By day 6, we found ourselves attending a candle light vigilance in Central Park where some Sikh Americans voiced their deep concerns and the need for greater understanding among their American neighbors. They emphazied the fact that they were next door ethnic immigrant neighbors, friends, business and professional associates and colleagues. American born Sikh children stood with their parents, who had considered themselves as part of the American family - attending public and private schools like all the children of America.

Everyone became conscious of the fact that New Yorkers and the American population needed to be educated. Amanda whispered: "Fear comes from ignorance ... from not knowing nor understanding".

How were we going to produce a film showing the neatly tied turbans and bearded practitioners of the Sikh religion and contrast them against those televised images of Osama Bin Laden, sporting a turban and beard ? He was constantly beamed and flashed across the front pages of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV sets throughout the country ? Bin Laden - the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks on New York, Washington and Philadelphia.

We both agreed the primary objective of the TV film program (working title): "Discovering Sikh Americans" - would focus on the inside story of Sikhs living in America, in order to inform, educate and dispel ignorance and fear. It would shed light on their traditional social culture, a 500-year old religion and the historical significance of Sikhism - a way of life. They are 20 million strong living on the sub-Continent of India, while over 250,000 were part of America's mosaic cultural diversity population.