A Sikh Man Was Planting Flowers When He Was Killed — 25 Years Later His Story Still Matters

The First Victim of Post-9/11 Hate

Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh man, was outside the gas station he owned tending to his flowers when he was shot and killed by Frank Roque, a man who was targeting people who resembled the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks. It was September 15, 2001 — just four days after the World Trade Center fell. His killing became the country's first known post-9/11 hate crime. Twenty-five years later, his name still carries weight.

After the twin towers were attacked, Balbir Singh Sodhi told his brothers he wanted to travel to New York to help with rescue efforts. His brothers discouraged him, saying he didn't have the training. But in the following days, when their phones were flooded with calls of Sikhs and Muslims becoming victims of post-9/11 hate crimes, they decided to hold a press conference to deliver a message of peace. Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed the day before that planned press conference. The cruelty of that timing is almost impossible to absorb.

A Community Gathers to Remember

Sodhi's family, members of the Sikh community, and lawmakers gathered at the gas station's parking lot, where a memorial now stands to remember his life and his impact on the community. The September 15 commemoration drew people from across the country, united by grief and by purpose. Speakers at the event included Rana Sodhi, the brother of Singh Sodhi, Valarie Kaur of The Revolutionary Love Project, Aasees Kaur from the Sikh Coalition, and many other representatives from various religious and human rights groups.

For Rana Singh Sodhi, Balbir's brother, the anniversary recalls not only the killing but how abruptly life changed for Sikh Americans after 9/11. "Before 9/11, I didn't think about going anywhere with concern for my life," Rana said. His brother's death didn't break him — it redirected him. Rana Singh Sodhi spoke about the role of education in combating hate. "I think the hate is part of the education. People don't have enough education to respect other people. As soon as people get more educated, the hate will go away," he said.

The Broader Wave of Violence

Balbir's death marked the first deadly post-9/11 hate crime and kicked off what would become a rising stream of hate incidents against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians. The scale of what followed was staggering. Between 2000 and 2001, hate crimes against Muslims surged 1,617%, according to the FBI. The Sikh Coalition documented over 300 cases of violence and discrimination against Sikh Americans in the first month after the 9/11 attacks alone.

Another of Balbir's brothers, Sukhpal, was killed 10 months later as he drove his cab in San Francisco, though authorities did not confirm the second killing as a hate crime. The Sodhi family bore a grief that compounded — and yet they kept showing up. Balbir's brothers held the planned press conference anyway on Sept. 16, 2001, and have honored his life every year with a vigil and remembrance.

A Legacy Built on Love, Not Bitterness

Members of different religious and rights organizations stated that Singh Sodhi's story and memory were reminders of solidarity and humanity no matter the race or religion of an individual. According to Kiran Kaur Gill, executive director of the Sikh American Defense and Education Fund, there is a universality in Singh Sodhi's story — and that is the call to see humanity in one another.

Balbir Singh Sodhi's five children are doing well — two of whom have relocated to India, while one manages the gas station. That gas station, once a crime scene, has become something more. It has become a site of pilgrimage for many Sikh Americans. As the 25th anniversary passes and new generations learn his name for the first time, the question Balbir's story poses remains urgent: how does a nation reckon with the violence it turns inward on its own people — and what does it owe those it failed?