LAST SUNDAY, in yet the latest
random act of gun violence in the
country, six people were killed and
three critically injured in a shooting at a Sikh temple in suburban
Wisconsin. Fiona Aboud, a photographer, is currently working on a
project about American Sikhs, an
immigrant community with cultural traditions that make them easy
targets for the intolerant. “There
are approximately 600,000 Sikhs
in America,” Aboud notes. “Their
story is a microcosm of the classic American immigrant tension
between assimilation and tradition. Yet their path is fraught with
a deeper challenge as their tradition
of wearing turbans subjects them
to continual abuse in the shadow of
9/11.” We’re pleased to share some
of Aboud’s portraits with you here.
Above: Honored guests make up the front lines of the 2009 New York City Sikh Day Parade,
an annual meditation march which takes place in April to celebrate a festival called Vaisakhi.