On Oct. 11, the first day of Navaratri, my family and I were worshipping at our Hindu temple in Aurora. My 80-year-old mother and 87-year-old father were singing Hindu prayers to celebrate one of the most important holidays of our faith. Little did we know a 19-year-old white supremacist was waiting outside with an AR-style rifle and roughly 300 rounds of ammunition, according to police, as he prepared to commit a massacre targeting Indian Americans.

According to prosecutors, the suspect tried to fire at a passerby, but his rifle jammed. He left the temple, returned home, searched online on how to fix his weapon, and told a coworker he planned to return and try again. That coworker alerted police, and officers from the Palatine and Mount Prospect police departments arrested him before he could return. I cannot explain why the rifle jammed, but I consider it nothing short of a miracle. That malfunction saved countless lives, including those of my own family. I always will be grateful to the coworker who sounded the alarm and the police who intervened.

The suspect hated Indians, but his hate did not discriminate. According to court documents, his manifesto described Indian, Jewish and Black people as “subhumans” and outlined plans for mass murder. He called himself a “sociopathic white supremacist neo-Nazi filled with hatred,” and investigators recovered hundreds of rounds of ammunition and Nazi imagery from his home.

Hatred toward minorities is not new in America, but the recent surge in hostility aimed at Indian Americans is staggering. A study released in September found monthly posts on X of anti-South Asian hate rose 240% between January 2024 and June 2026, while Stop AAPI Hate found 48% of South Asian adults experienced a race-based hate act in 2025. Political candidates, media figures and even our own government have helped promote the idea Indian Americans are foreigners who threaten this country. Those of us in public office and those with media platforms have a responsibility to challenge this prejudice, not legitimize it.

In September, South Asian students at the University of Texas celebrated a Longhorns football victory. Republican candidate Bo French circulated their photographs and subsequently wrote: “Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners. It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.” He knew nothing about their citizenship or their lives. Their faces were enough.

French’s post helped inspire a podcast episode titled “The Indian Question,” in which conservative activist Christopher Rufo and Jonathan Keeperman discussed whether Indian Americans could assimilate. The title itself evokes the infamous “Jewish question.” Keeperman argued: “It’s important even to preserve a white majority and preserve this white, Anglo-Protestant sort of character.”

In Frisco, Texas, opposition to Hindu temples and a mosque fueled claims of an Indian takeover, and a protester tore apart an Indian flag near City Hall. At a City Council meeting, far-right activist Jake Lang declared: “The Hindus and the Muslims are teaming up to take over Texas. This is not Muslims versus Hindus here. They are here to eradicate the Christians.”

Suhag Shukla: As a thwarted mass shooting in Aurora shows, we can’t ignore hate against Hindu Americans

The Trump administration also has reinforced this prejudice. In September, the Department of Homeland Security published a deportation graphic depicting a man labeled “Mr. Singh” as a villain and ordering him to “get off our roads.” My colleagues and I condemned the use of a common Sikh name to cast suspicion on an entire community.

In 2025, Palm Bay, Florida, City Councilman Chandler Langevin demanded the government “deport every Indian immediately.” When I objected this year, he called me a “foreign occupier,” mocked my name and suggested that I, too, should be deported. My parents brought me here from India when I was 3 months old, and I’ve lived here ever since. In September, he wrote to me: “I won Rajesh. Take your curry and go home.”

Children are not born to hate. They are taught to hate. The suspect in Aurora was radicalized in an environment of hatred, including online. According to prosecutors, he told coworkers he couldn’t wait to kill Indian people. Big Tech profits from the hatred spreading across its platforms, and these companies will not police themselves. Congress must close the loopholes that shield them from responsibility.

FBI Director Kash Patel must investigate the attempted attack in Aurora as a potential federal hate crime, disaggregate hate-crime data to track anti-Indian hatred specifically and devote more resources to combating domestic violent extremism instead of fruitless election-fraud investigations.

Public officials of all parties must condemn hatred wherever it appears. No community can defeat bigotry on its own. We must stand against antisemitism, anti-Black racism and hatred directed at Muslims, Latinos and every other community, just as we ask our fellow Americans to stand with us.

Last month, a Sikh truck driver was stabbed 17 times at a Wyoming rest stop. After he escaped his attacker and collapsed outside, a Hispanic family rushed to his aid. He later credited them with saving his life.

I believe being spared that Sunday gave me a responsibility to speak out against the hatred that almost killed my family. I refuse to let that hatred dictate how we live or worship. Americans of every faith and background must be free to practice their beliefs without fear, and we will not yield that freedom to extremists who seek to intimidate us. We must follow the example of the coworker who alerted police in Illinois and the Hispanic family who saved a wounded Sikh man in Wyoming, stand together across communities and confront this hatred before another family pays the price.

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat, has represented Illinois’ 8th Congressional District since 2017.

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