American Turban Guest Contributor |

Members of the Dashmesh Sikh Gurudwara at the rose planting ceremony, August 5th, 2014 (photo by Lori Way).

Fort Wayne, IN, commemorates Oak Creek shooting with 6 Days of Seva

August 13, 2014 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a town located about four hours southeast of Oak Creek, Wisconsin. A small but growing Sikh population there recently commemorated the second anniversary of the mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in which six people were murdered by a white supremacist. Over six days, the community honored each of the victims with a seva (selfless service) project. Lori Way, a regular contributor to this blog and a Sikh Coalition Volunteer Advocate in Fort Wayne, […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Events, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: 6 Days of Seva, Fort Wayne, hate crime, hate crimes, Indiana, Lori Way, Oak Creek, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Wisconsin

1984 through Indian Eyes: Part II — Amu by Shonali Bose

July 9, 2014 by American Turban Guest Contributor

1984 through Indian Eyes: Literary Accounts of Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Pogroms By Lori Way Part II – Amu by Shonali Bose In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar in Amritsar, India, in June, 1984, and the anti-Sikh pogroms that took place the following November in New Delhi, Lori Way continues her series of essays discussing works of literature focusing upon these events. You can read the first article in her series, in which she discusses Amandeep […]

Categories: 1984, Literature, TV/Movies • Tags: 1984, Amu, Lori Way, Operation Blue Star, Operation Bluestar, Shonali Bose

1984 through Indian Eyes: Part I – Roll of Honour by Amandeep Sandhu

June 6, 2014 by American Turban Guest Contributor

1984 through Indian Eyes: Literary Accounts of Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Pogroms By Lori Way Part I – Roll of Honour by Amandeep Sandhu As we look back upon the 30th anniversary of the June 1984 attack on the Golden Temple at Amritsar, many Sikhs and non-Sikhs around the world will remember this event and the massacre of Sikhs that followed later that year as some of the most brutal acts of violence within India’s recent history. In […]

Categories: 1984, Literature • Tags: 1984, Amandeep Sandhu, Lori Way, Operation Blue Star, Operation Bluestar, Roll of Honour

Kaur Foundation at a Punjabi mela (festival) in Washington, D.C., in May. (Source: Kaur Foundation)

The Kaur Foundation: promoting cultural diversity and Sikh awareness

June 14, 2013 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Founded in 2002, the Kaur Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create awareness of the Sikh identity, heritage, and secular values, while promoting and pursuing cultural literacy through education in classrooms. As its primary focus, the organization works to accomplish these goals by providing teachers and students specific tools and resources for use in their classrooms. Through its innovative outreach programs, the Kaur Foundation is building institutional partnerships to help create safe and inclusive learning environments for […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Education, Resources • Tags: Jessica Arora, Kaur Foundation, Sikh awareness

A new Gurdwara for Fort Wayne, Indiana

June 4, 2013 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Friend and colleague Lori Way provides an update on the Sikh community in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they recently broke ground on a new Gurdwara for their growing congregation. See previous contributions from Lori Way here. Last April 21st marked an important milestone for those who attend the Dashmesh Sikh Gurdwara in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The day began with the raising of the Nishan Sahib and ended with the groundbreaking for a new Gurdwara, which is scheduled for completion by […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Dashmesh Sikh Gurdwara, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Karnail Singh, Lori Way, Onkar Mann

Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple in Jackson, Mississippi. (source: Google)

Celebrating Vaisakhi in Jackson, Mississippi

April 19, 2013 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Alex DiBlasi and Alexa Altman are a pair of writers who left their lives in NYC to go on a cross-country adventure to “see what it’s all about.” A friend and colleague, Alex is also a committed civil rights advocate with the Sikh Coalition. During their travels, Alex and Alexa recently visited the Gurdwara in Jackson, Mississippi, to join the local Sikh community in their commemoration of Vaisakhi (one of the most significant celebrations on the Sikh calendar). Below, Alex […]

Categories: Events, Profiles, Reflections • Tags: Alex DiBlasi, Alexa Altman, Baisakhi, Jackson, Mississippi, Sikh Coalition, Vaisakhi

Wearing a turban at school for the first time

March 21, 2013 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Gurmun Singh is a young Sikh high school student in California who just this week wore a full turban at school for the first time. He was nice enough to share his thoughts about his experience on this blog. Thank you and congratulations, Gurmun! I was born in New York, but now I live in California. I am 14 years old and I go to Sheldon High School as a freshman. I decided to wear a dastaar (turban) on Wednesday […]

Categories: Reflections • Tags: California, dastaar, Gurmun Singh, Turban

An open letter to French President François Hollande

February 15, 2013 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Mallika Kaur is a lawyer who focuses on gender and minority issues in the United States and South Asia. She has been to France as a young girl with Professor Karanbir Singh Sarkaria, her mathematician father, who went there—turbaned and bearded—almost every summer for over a decade, as a regular invitee to a famed research institute. He no longer travels to France. Neither does she. Mallika holds a Juris Doctorate (JD) from Berkeley Law and a Master in Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School […]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: François Hollande, France, law 2004-228, Mallika Kaur, turban ban

Alan Cooperman, Associate Director of Research, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Pew Forum discusses lack of available census data on Sikhs

December 20, 2012 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Alan Cooperman is the Associate Director for Research at the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life. In response to yesterday’s post about the Pew Forum’s latest report The Global Religious Landscape, Mr. Cooperman provides more insight about the study, and about the dearth of statistics available related to Sikh counts in countries around the world. His feedback and the information that he provides is very much appreciated and acknowledged. You can read more about Alan Cooperman at […]

Categories: Reports/Studies • Tags: Alan Cooperman, Global Religious Landscape, Pew Forum, Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life, Pew Research Center, Sikh census

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

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