In the movie **Dysfunktional Family** 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!’
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.
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, it 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. The movie may spark a wave of hate crimes against Sikhs