I remember landing at what was then Idlewild Airport 41 years ago.

I was riveted by the Kennedy-Nixon debates that occurred weeks later. Some years later I became an American citizen. I am a Sikh and have always worn a turban and beard but I have changed in important ways. My American friends often remind me how Indian I still am in my ways while my Indian friends joke about how American I have become. I suppose they are both right. And for me there is no other country.

When I came here in 1960 there were no more than a handful of Sikhs in New York and I often searched in vain for a friendly face in a sea of strangers. People looked at my turbaned face with friendly curiosity, many invited me to their churches and synagogues. I had never met a Jew until the taxi driver who brought me from the airport invited me to his house for dinner. The process of my Americanization brings back memories of amazing generosity of kind strangers. Many of these strangers became life-long friends. I am now a Sikh-American with a turban and beard.

I have traveled into the hinterlands and seen many small villages and hamlets of America. People have been curious, sometimes hostile, but rarely threatening. Certainly there were periods of uneasiness. When Iran took American hostages and for many months television flashed pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini with his turban and beard, many Americans mistook Sikhs for Iranians and hassled us. During the Gulf war some Americans thought the bearded and turbaned Sikhs were Arabs.

But this past week has been the worst. I can understand why Americans are angry; I, too, am an American. Americans have been violated in their own home by terrorists, apparently directed by Osama bin Laden who wears a beard and turban.

In the aftermath of such a horrendous tragedy many Americans have vented their anger and grief by targeting Sikhs because we also wear beards and turbans. But this is where our resemblance to bin Laden ends.

Sikhism originated in India and is now the fifth largest religion with a worldwide distribution of about 20 million followers. Nearly half a million make their home in North America. The Sikh message emphasizes the humanity common to us all and does not look for a Sikh God, Muslim God, Christian, Jewish or Hindu God.

I have nothing in common with bin Laden except the turban and beard. But on the subway and in the streets the smiles of friends have turned into the stares of strangers. The polite excuses as we dodge each other in the crowds have become scowls and glares. Anger is driving some Americans to hostility towards any Sikh or anyone who is Asian or Arab in features. This is not the America that I know. I am a Sikh and Sikhism is not the enemy. But then nor is Islam or any other religion. The Sikh-American is not the enemy and nor is any other American of Arab, Chinese, Irish, Italian, East European or any other ancestry.

I entreat my fellow citizens to hold tight to the rich tradition of tolerance that is the hallmark of American society. America is a mosaic of many hues, colors, religions and races. Our common enemy is not a particular religion or ethnicity but fanaticism, hatred and intolerance.

I know that the inherent American values of tolerance will soon resurface. In the meantime, once again I look for a friendly face in a sea of strangers