January 26, 2004

"I want you off this train," Thomas Brand was saying on the Long Island Rail Road that night, washing down hate with a can of Bud in a brown paper bag.

His target was Gurpreet Singh, 25, a technology consultant who lives in Syosset. Singh is a Sikh who was born in Afghanistan and raised in Flushing. His parents are from India. He is neither Arab nor Muslim.

Brand, 33, who awaits sentencing after a guilty plea last week to a misdemeanor charge of aggravated harassment, couldn't see beyond Singh's long black beard or the turban wrapped around his head.

"Get off the train now!" Brand shouted, following Singh through the car of a Huntington train that February night, bumping him menacingly.

Occasionally, somebody steps up to dispel the widely held belief that New Yorkers don't get involved. This time it was Stephen Hughes, 44, an off-duty New York City police captain with more than 20 years on the job. Hughes invited the Sikh to sit next to him. Then, he turned to Brand.

"Why don't you leave him alone?" Hughes asked.

"I lost four friends on 9/11," said Brand.

"I understand, but he's not even a Muslim," Hughes said.

"That doesn't matter to me."

"Let it go," he added.

"Why are you defending him? All these foreigners, that's the problem."

"Why don't you go to the next train and relax. Leave it alone."

"He should be out of this country," Brand said.

Brand, tall and burly, poked a finger into Hughes' chest.

"Do something," he said.

"I'm not getting into a fight with you," Hughes said.

Eventually, other LIRR riders also defended Singh. The trouble dissipated. In Hicksville, the police arrived and several witnesses came forward.

Brand, who lives in Huntington, was given a summons charging him with second-degree harassment. The charge was later upgraded to aggravated harassment because the incident was a bias crime.

Brand pleaded guilty last week in First District Court in Hempstead. The maximum is one year in jail but no one expects him to do time. Brand wouldn't comment on the case yesterday. His lawyer did not return several calls.

At sentencing on March 18, Singh said, he will ask the court to impose community service time with a civil rights organization like The Sikh Coalition. The nonprofit was established by Sikh professionals in response to a dramatic rise in hate crimes after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"It can only help fight his own hate or fear," Singh said. "Doing time is only going to build more hatred. This will force him to deal with something he's not comfortable with."

It is easy to dismiss racial profiling and other examples of prejudice as minor vexations when the nation faces deadly attacks on its citizens both here and abroad.

Since 9/11, however, a pall of suspicion has been cast over Arabs, Muslims and even people from South Asia, such as Indians and Pakistanis, who often are mistaken for Arabs.

Singh has been working as a technology consultant in Columbus, Ohio, and commuting home to Long Island on weekends. The taunts over his appearance have only subsided slightly. Osama bin Laden's name is frequently uttered around him.

The Sikh Coalition Web site chronicled more than 300 bias incidents and hate crimes against Sikhs since Sept. 11, 2001.

"I hope people keep reporting things like this," Singh said. "Many times people just say, 'Whatever.'"

As for Brand, Singh would only say: "I wouldn't mind talking to him and letting him know that this is something I had to do. It was nothing personal."