New Jersey’s new Attorney General came to Camden last week to announce arrests in an interstate gun trafficking ring.

Gurbir Grewal was a striking figure at the presser, and not just because this was his first visit to South Jersey as the state’s AG.

He’s tall, yes. And he wore a suit, unlike the police officials who surrounded him, all in their respective uniforms.

But that wasn’t what made him unique.

Grewal wore a turban, the same color blue as his suit.

He’s the first Sikh to hold the office of Attorney General in New Jersey. And when I wrote the story for the Courier-Post, I knew what photo we needed to run on the front page: We needed a straight-on shot of Grewal, in his turban, flanked by men with the same clean-shaven faces, the same high-and-tight haircuts, the same look.

Our photographer, Joe Lamberti, knew it, too. That was the photo on the front of the C-P.

Here’s a similar shot I took with my iPhone.

 

Sadly, as much as I knew how powerful that image would be to some in a positive way, representing New Jersey’s diversity and openness, I also knew it would elicit some… well, not-so-positive responses, too.

Here’s one, from a reader who emailed me:

“I just saw my Courier-Post for today. I said ‘who is that man with the turban on his head?’ I read and find out we have a Muslim for NJ’s Atty General? He was appointed? By whom? I don’t believe that Muslims should be anywhere near anything for our government. He better not be a secret terrorist. You never can tell. If I would have known that NJ was accepting anyone to be attorney general – I would have put my name on the list – I am a born here American. I belong here – he doesn’t.”

The ignorance in that email is staggering.

I tried to remedy some of that ignorance in my reply.

Mr. Grewal was appointed by the new governor, Phil Murphy. All incoming New Jersey governors appoint attorneys general. The state Legislature then confirms the governor-elect’s nominees, as was the case with Mr. Grewal and all of his predecessors.

He is Sikh. He is not Muslim. Sikhs wear turbans; Muslims do not. That’s only one of the differences between the two religions. https://www.sikhnet.com/pages/who-are-sikhs-what-is-sikhism

Even if he were Muslim, he as much a right to participate fully in our society as any other person, regardless of religion, creed or ethnicity. https://www.archives.gov/founding…/constitution-transcript

He is not a “secret terrorist.” He is a New Jersey native, born and raised in Essex County. https://www.nytimes.com/…/new-jersey-attorney-general…

People born in the United States have committed terrorist acts. Here are only a few of them:

http://www.history.com/…/columbine-high-school-shootings

https://www.fbi.gov/…/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing

https://www.usatoday.com/…/newly-released…/794585001/

https://www.cbsnews.com/feature/las-vegas-shooting/

https://www.cnn.com/…/nikolas-cruz-florida…/index.html

Good day.

Phaedra Trethan
Journalist
American
Baseball fan
First Amendment enthusiast

Unfortunately, my dear reader did not seem to bother reading any of the links I sent to her, since she wrote back insisting that Grewal “looks like a Muslim” and that all the people who committed the acts of terror I listed were “influenced by Muslims.” And Muslims, she wrote, have no place in America.

“I’m blunt,” she added, “and proud of it.”

I wrote back again, telling her this was my final reply since she seemed proud not of her candor but of her ignorance, and nothing I wrote would change that. I did leave her with this thought, though:

“Mr. Grewal does not ‘look like a Muslim,’ whatever that means. He looks like an American, because he is an American, just like you or me.”

Good luck, Mr. Attorney General. I wish you success not only in your efforts to make New Jersey a better, safer place to live–but also as you struggle against ignorance and hatred.