Petition to Miramax to stop spreading hate against Sikhs

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	Background on the movie - Dysfunktional Family

March 26, 2003

Dear Mr. Weinstein:

The Sikh community across the globe, joined by all people fighting for justice and equality, is outraged at a preview of the film, Dysfunktional Family, in which the actor, Eddie Griffin refers to a Sikh man as "bin Laden." Griffin points to a turbaned Sikh man and says, "bin Laden, I knew you was [sic] around here!" As you may be aware, Sikhs have endured a large number of violent hate crimes in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, by persons who associated the Sikh turban and uncut beard (both articles of faith for Sikhs) with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Sikhs are a people and a religious group with an estimated population of 26 million world-wide, making Sikhism the fifth largest religion in the world.

We are concerned that the aforementioned preview, which directly associates the Sikh turban and beard with Osama Bin Laden, will very likely contribute to bigoted stereotypes against Sikhs in the United States and may potentially incite hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh-Americans.

If this scene is part of the movie, as is our assumption, your company will play a major role in the misrepresentation of Sikhs by linking them to a terrorist such as Osama Bin Laden. Almost all individuals in North America that wear turbans are Sikhs. Your movie may spark a wave of hate crimes against Sikhs and other minorities, especially during a time when the Federal Bureau of Investigation has expressed concern about "vigilante attacks and other hate crimes" against Sikh-Americans and others as backlash to current world events. (FBI National Press Office, February 28, 2003.)

The timing of this preview and the release of the movie is incredibly troubling given the fact that the present war in Iraq has already caused bigoted persons to attack Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, and South Asians. On March 29, 2003, New York City police apprehended a man who murdered four people because according to the New York City Police Department the murderer was disturbed by the September 11 attacks and wanted to hurt persons he believed to be of Middle Eastern descent. In short, Sikhs, and all other persons perceived to be Arab or Muslim, are in immediate danger of suffering hate crimes. The preview for your movie only makes this dangerous situation much worse. It is even more troubling that the short version of the preview (now playing on television) eliminates much of the content from the online version, but insistently includes the closing line where Eddie Griffin calls a Sikh gentleman, "Bin Laden." On September 15, 2001, Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot dead in a hate crime. Misrepresentation of Sikhs in your movie may incite such violence against Sikhs and other minorities.

While we advocate freedom of expression, we also recognize a corporate and moral responsibility to ethical business practices that should guide your decision-making process. Our hope is that your awareness of the serious ramifications of involvement in this film and the international outcry against its derogatory nature will prompt you to remove objectionable portions of the film from the preview trailer and the full-length feature immediately.

We are seeking an agreeable resolution to a situation that appears to support stereotypes that lead to bias, hate, and violence. Your movie is a vehicle towards defamation of the Sikhs worldwide. In addition to immediately editing or removing the preview trailer on your corporate website and on websites of your affiliates, we request Miramax to:

1. Issue an apology to Sikhs, Arabs, Muslim and South Asians worldwide.
2. Remove all objectionable portions of the film from the full-length version of Dysfunktional Family immediately.
3. Remove all objectionable material on Sikhs from the aforementioned preview trailer.
4. Design and implement a program to educate Miramax employees and others about the Sikh religion and its articles of faith.
5. Contribute towards image-building of Sikhs, Arabs, Muslims and South Asians and make attempts to reverse the damage to the Sikh image caused by the movie's unacceptable content.

At a time when the world is grappling with issues of the war in Iraq, extremism, and racism, Sikhs and all people in support of justice and equality are deeply concerned about media stereotypes in the film industry that depict derogatory stereotyping of people from a particular faith, ethnicity or origin.

The undersigned organizations stand in solidarity with 26 million Sikhs worldwide in strongly objecting to Miramax's irresponsibility in allowing this film to air as is.

Sincerely,

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	Background on the movie - Dysfunktional Family