When the Sikhs moved into the Pacific Northwest of the United States in the city of Bellingham a feeling of anxiety struck the locals of the region and period called “Dusky Peril” soon followed.
The newspapers of the times referred to the Sikh as Hindus but they were actually Sikhs from Punjab who migrated around 1906.
The main reason for such a migration was to look for better jobs outside India and they soon became the backbone of the thriving logging industry. Sikhs proved to be the most trusted and desired employees due to their hard work and ethics. The owners of the mills have been recorded stating that white men aren’t steady workers and that when they ware most needed they don’t want to work.
Due to Sikhs taking up high employment of the industry, the locals became angry by it and soon violence followed.
The local community got together and warned the newspaper of the area Puget Sound American that the “invasion” of the Sikhs “threatens to overshadow the ‘yellow peril,’ has reached this city.”
After the publication of the highly controversial newspaper article on the Sikhs, a mob of white workers beat up hundreds of Sikhs on the streets and forced them to move away from the town.
This caused the Sikhs to move to different parts of the country, some moved to Canada while others moved towards southern California.
The people of the United States have forgotten the anti Sikh riot crime against the Sikhs in California and is reminder that even in the most “free” country their existed racist crimes against people of other faiths.