Rupinder Mohan Singh |

Gulwinder Singh was attacked by another driver after a minor vehicle accident in Manteca, CA. (Photo: KTXL/Fox40)

CA Sikh man attacked after vehicle accident

July 5, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

During his commute on Tuesday morning, in Manteca, California, Gulwinder Singh was involved in a minor accident with another car, and then brutally attacked by the other driver: “I asked him for his license and he pulled a gun on me. And I said, ‘O.K., O.K., it’s cool, I’m leaving,’” Singh told FOX40. Walking back to his car, the other driver attacked Singh – first hitting him in the back of the head with a rock and then pulling a […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Attempted murder, California, Gulwinder Singh, Manteca

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"Union workers march along the street with a huge American flag during a May Day rally in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 1, 2013. In celebration of May Day, people have gathered across the country to rally for various topics including immigration reform." (Photo credit: AP Photo | Jae C. Hong. Source: OregonLive)

Patriotism as a double-edged sword

July 5, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

An essay in The Berkeley Blog by author Jeremy Adam Smith (via The Dish) frames patriotism as a double-edged sword — as both a unifying and dividing influence — and proposes a focus on “authentic pride” versus hubris: If we feel pride, it should be in the accomplishments of our fellow citizens and in any contributions we ourselves have made toward making our country and community a better place, however small and local. Pride of simply being born American leads […]

Categories: Reflections • Tags: Independence Day, Jeremy Adam Smith, Patriotism, United States

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Happy 4th of July!

July 4, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

During a conversation last night, a friend reminded me of one of the earliest accounts of a Sikh in the United States, in which a merchant trader from Massachusetts named Captain Stephen Phillips wrote in his journal about a Sikh man that he brought back from India in the late 1700s: After his retirement in the late 1700s, he apparently brought back to his home town of Salem a tall, intrepid Sikh who ‘stalked around town in the turban and […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Events • Tags: Declaration of Independence, Fourth of July, freedom of religion, Independence Day, Massachusetts, Salem, Stephen Phillips, William Bentley

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"Ikman and Manjot Singh, shown here with their children, were forced to leave an AMC theater in Emeryville, Calif., after security guards accused the couple of carrying weapons." (Source: India West)

Religious freedom at the movies

July 3, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A recent incident in which a Sikh couple was ejected from an AMC movie theater in Emeryville, California, because they each were wearing a kirpan, a small sword that is a recognized article of the Sikh faith (worn by Sikhs who are initiated into the Khalsa order), has raised the issues of religious freedom and racial profiling: On June 22, Manjot and Ikman Singh were preparing to watch the new Superman movie, “Man of Steel,” at AMC’s Bay 16 theater […]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: AMC, AMC Theatres, California, Emeryville, Ikman Kaur, Khalsa, Kirpan, Manjot Singh

Zahir Janmohamed. (Source: ZahirJanmohamed.com)

Writer Zahir Janmohamed on being one of color

July 3, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In Guernica, writer Zahir Janmohamed reflects on being a writer of color (via the blog Love, Inshallah): I wanted to say I am not a political writer. My life has never been political, but sometimes, like that one time when I was dressed in my swim trunks and flip flops and flew to Miami with my friends and a TSA agent pulled me aside and questioned me about the nature of “my business in the U.S.,” well, then the story […]

Categories: Literature, Reflections • Tags: 2002 Gujarat violence, Guernica, Transportation Security Administration, Zahir Janmohamed

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"Jaljit Singh Khalsa, of Beaverton, sets the beat during the procession during annual Sikh celebration honoring Guru Arjan Dev Ji at it leaves the Dasmesh Darbar Sikh Temple, in South Salem, on Sunday, June 16, 2013." (Photo: Timothy J. Gonzalez | Statesman Journal)

Picture of the day: Nagara (traditional drum) in South Salem, OR

July 1, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Two weeks ago, the Sikh community near Salem, Oregon, commemorated the anniversary of the martyrdom of Guru Arjun (fifth Guru of the Sikhs) in 1606, with a Nagar Kirtan (religious procession) through South Salem: The Dasmesh Darbar Sikh Temple organizes the event yearly to commemorate the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji. And while the Salem Sikh community is small — a few hundred families — the event is among the largest in the Pacific Northwest, attendees said. Sikhs from […]

Categories: Events, Sikhism • Tags: drum, Guru Arjan, martyrdom of Guru Arjan, Nagar Kirtan, Nagara, Oregon, Salem, South Salem

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Johnston, Iowa, Dastar Bandi ceremony. (Source: Des Moines Register)

The tradition of dastar bandi in Iowa

July 1, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Des Moines Register in Iowa features a dastar bandi ceremony (tying of the first turban) at a Gurdwara in the town of Johnston: About 100 people sat cross-legged on the floor watching Sunday’s ceremony. Midday light poured in the picture windows, lighting up the all-white interior of the temple. Members sang to the tune of a harmonium, an instrument similar to an accordion played on the ground. The five boys prepared to live out their commitments. Dastar bandi ceremonies […]

Categories: Sikhism • Tags: dastaar bandhi, dastar bandi, Des Moines Register, Iowa, Johnston, Turban

A service by The Sikh Gurdwara of San Francisco. (Source: The Sikh Gurdwara of San Francisco Facebook page)

Bay Area synagogue opens doors to Sikh congregation

June 28, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The San Mateo Daily Journal provides a profile of The Sikh Gurdwara of San Francisco, a Sikh congregation in the West Bay area of greater San Francisco, California. The Gurdwara, having just celebrated its first year of existence, is unique: the congregation actually meets monthly in a space provided by a synagogue called Peninsula Temple Beth El: “We’re willing to make room for them whenever we can … until they expand or run out of space [for their services],” [Peninsula […]

Categories: Interfaith, News Bits, Profiles • Tags: Blair Brown, California, Mehar Singh Mahal, Peninsula Temple Beth El, San Francisco, San Mateo, San Mateo Daily Journal, The Sikh Gurdwara of San Francisco, West Bay

Attacker of WA Sikh cab driver pleads guilty to hate crime

June 28, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Last October, Jamie W. Larson severely assaulted a Sikh cab driver for whom he was a passenger near Seattle, Washington: Jamie W. Larson attacked the cab driver during an Oct. 17 ride after commenting on the man’s turban. According to charging documents, Larson, 48, tore out chunks of the man’s beard during the assault, which also loosened one of the driver’s teeth. During the attack, Larson issued various epithets and made derogatory comments about the victim’s ethnicity. As a result, was […]

Categories: Hate Crimes • Tags: Federal Way, hate crime, hate crimes, Jamie W. Larson, Seattle, Shepard-Byrd Law, taxicab, Washington State

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Author Archives: Rupinder Mohan Singh

CA Sikh man attacked after vehicle accident

Patriotism as a double-edged sword

Happy 4th of July!

Religious freedom at the movies

Writer Zahir Janmohamed on being one of color

Picture of the day: Nagara (traditional drum) in South Salem, OR

The tradition of dastar bandi in Iowa

Bay Area synagogue opens doors to Sikh congregation

Attacker of WA Sikh cab driver pleads guilty to hate crime