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| A vandal was sentenced to perform community service at a Sikh temple he damaged mistakenly, thinking it was a mosque. Photo: Gurdwara Singh. |
In December 2015, 21-year old Brodie Durazo vandalized a Sikh house of worship, under the impression that it was a Muslim mosque. Although vandalizing a mosque wouldn’t have been any more acceptable, he vandalized a Sikh religious building.
Durazo’s mistake highlights how Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims because Sikh men that act as visual cues for bigots who want to target Muslims for hate crimes often wear turbans and beards.
He was charged with vandalism of a place of worship, which could usually carry up to a year of jail time. Instead, he has been sentenced to three years probation, 24 hours of graffiti cleanup, and 80 hours of community service.
A condition of his punishment was that he perform his community service at the house of worship he damaged. In addition to these components of his sentence, he will have to pay an undisclosed amount of restitution to the property owners.
The community service is where this sentencing shines. While it may seem like he got off with a light sentence, the Sikh community in Orange County is quite happy with the result, as it is well in accordance with the Sikh ethos, and the community specifically requested this.
They Sikh’s believe that by requiring Durazo to spend time with people in their community it will be more difficult for him to commit subsequent offenses against them, having hopefully built a connection to them.
Durazo has already apologized, but the congregation hopes that his community service will help open his eyes to another community he obviously isn’t very familiar with at this time.
Crimes against Muslims and Sikhs mistook for Muslims have increased since the San Bernardino shooting in December of last year. This dangerous growth in crime has brought the Sikh community into the news with increasing frequency.
But Sikh communities have met these crimes with compassion, and have continued to support their Muslim neighbors as well. Perhaps in spending time with Sikhs, Durazo will learn to have compassion for other groups as well, which would make this an incredibly effective sentence indeed.
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