Sikh Leaders Hold Reflective Service At Sacramento City College

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Local leaders in the Sikh community are responding to the Wisconsin shooting by educating people here at home.

They held a special service at Sacramento City College, holding hands and singing praises of peace.

Hundreds gathered for service, the focus was what happened inside a Sikh temple more than a thousand miles away.

Dr. Gurtej Singh Cheema says seeing the images of the six Sikhs shot and killed brings flashbacks of September 11.

"I was scared and I was worried," said Cheema.

"This really needs to stop. Because, I mean, when is it going to stop," said Zaki Syed.

Syed says he was bullied physically and emotionally after September 11, because of his Muslim religion.

"Name calling, harassment and I just had to learn how to walk away because I couldn't fight everybody," said Syed.

Through his experience after September 11, he says it brought him closer to his Sikh friends and what they're dealing with right now.

"No one should be shot because of their religion or what they look like," said Syed.

No one knows what motivated the shooter to go inside the temple and open fire, but Cheema has his theories.

"I don't know if he knew we were Sikhs. I think he looked at our appearance with the turbans and he associated us with the terrorists Osama bin Laden, Taliban," said Cheema.

And, turn a negative into a positive for our future.

"We got to work hard and work together," said Cheema.

They work together to educate.

"Our job as human beings is to make this world a better place," said Cheema.

One of the Sikhs says he used to live in fear but actually now feels safer after this tragedy because more people are being educated about their background.