Two men sentenced for cutting hair and beard of a Sikh man

MAAN SINGH KHALSA looked at the two men who attacked him, dragged him out of his car  and cut off his beard. “I still consider you my brothers as human beings,” Khalsa said. “I hope one day you will consider me your brother too.”

Maan Singh Khalsa

The two defendants didn't respond to the Sikh man who stood only a few feet away as Khalsa described the physical and emotional trauma he suffered since they beat him last fall in Richmond, California.

Police call the attack a hate crime, mistaking Khalsa for a Muslim.

Chase Little, 31, of Beaumont, Texas, and Dustin Albarado, 25, of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, were in Richmond for contract work at the Chevron refinery.  They assaulted Khalsa on Sept. 25. The suspects beat him and cut off his religiously mandated unshorn hair and beard.

“It will take many years, maybe the rest of my life, to heal from this attack,” Khalsa said. “Just recognizing it as a hate crime is the first step in healing for me.”

Attacks against Sikh men have risen since 9/11  according to the Department of Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center. with their turbans and beards, the men are often mistaken for Muslims. Since Trump's campaign stoking Islamaphobia, the attacks have grown even more.

Sentenced to three years in prison, the cousins could be released in 18 months with good behavior..

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