SWD 31

American immigrant Balbir Singh Sodhi, white nationalist hate attack victim

“Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light…”
“'Why our family?' I asked God that question, but God never answered me.”

Portrait of American immigrant Balbir Singh Sodhi, born 1949, Punjab, India; shot by a Christian American terrorist, Mesa, Arizona, September 15, 2001

Art: 2018
Media: Ink, colored pencil, gouache on acid-free backboard, with collaged-on pieces of a (Segan-made) 1990 linocut, Tree with heart
Framed, 18 in. H x 22 W [45.7 cm. H x 55.8 W]

Background: “Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light…” is the first line of the American national anthem, written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. It became the national anthem by an act of Congress, 1931 / “'Why our family?' I asked God that question, but God never answered me.”  - quote from a brother of Singh, 2002.

Balbir Singh Sodhi, born 1949, from Punjab, India, emigrated to the U.S. in 1989. On Sept. 15, 2001 he was shot-to-death by a white Christian American terrorist, Mesa, Arizona. Sodhi was a member of the Sikh faith / His brother Sukpal became another victim of America’s genocidal gun terrorism when he was shot  to death in a “random” shooting, San Francisco, 2002.

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"That's the only question I have: 'Why our family?' I asked God that question, but God never answered me," said Lakhwinder Singh Sodhi, one of three surviving brothers who, after years of struggle and saving, have built several successful businesses in Phoenix. "Who could answer that question? Nobody.” - quote from an L.A. Times article: ‘Second Brother Dies for Dream,’ pub. August 07, 2002,  by L.A. Times staff writers Mike Anton and John Glionna.