In one word: yes.

Unfortunately, violence against Sikhs is common in the United States. What surprised me was that it has been over ten years since 9-11 and they STILL keep getting mistaken for Muslims (the killer was reported to have a 9-11 tattoo).

There is a lot of racial ugliness in this country that most people don't hear about because it never makes the news. This is not limited to Wisconsin hicks either, or even to white people. Over the past one or two years there have been many cases of Asian-Americans at the University of California threatening black people with nooses. I personally believe that in the US, the Asians are the most racist (even against immigrants from Asian countries), but they're just not as violent about it as whites are.