Dennis and Judi off 101.5 - bigots

[Haggis for Breakfast]

6. The first victim of the post 9/11 anti-muslim backlash

was a 49 year old Sikh gentleman, Balbir Singh Sodhi, the father of two children. Mr. Sodhi was shot three times, outside of the Chevron gas station he owned in Mesa, AZ, while arranging a large display of American flags.

His assailant, Frank Roque, wanted to "kill Muslims" for the attack on NYC. He was tried and convicted of first degree murder (along with other charges for other attacks he carried out that day, including one on a Lebanese-American man) and sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison with no chance of parole.

To add insult to injury, at the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, Arizona Representative John Kavanaugh (R), sponsored a bill that would have removed Mr. Sodhi's name from an Arizona memorial, because according to Kavanaugh, "he was not a victim of 9/11." Further, Kavanaugh wanted to destroy "the myth that following 9/11, Americans went into a xenophobic rage against foreigners. That's not true. America's reaction towards foreigners was commendable."

Governor Jan Brewer vetoed the bill after public outrage reached national levels.