Rupinder Mohan Singh |

Lessons learned in NY and the CA Workplace Religious Freedom Act

July 26, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The New York Times published an editorial last month about the workplace discrimination case involving the city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority and their Sikh and Muslim employees: This settlement should have been reached years ago. By dragging things out so long, the M.T.A. has deepened the sense of injury in the Sikh and Muslim communities. Prominent in the Justice case was Kevin Harrington, a subway train operator and a Sikh who wears a turban. After the 9/11 attacks, he was commended […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: AB1964, California, Metropolitan Transit Authority, MTA, New York, New York Times, Workplace Religious Freedom Act

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Conflict at CA Gurdwara results in violence, police action

July 24, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sikh24 presents news about a conflict over the management of the Sikh house of worship in El Sobrante, California (officially called the Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area) that turned into a physical altercation and required police intervention: One individual was hurt during the altercation, he later told the police that Darshan Singh had allegedly cut him on the forehead with his small kirpan. The victim had a two inch gash and was bleeding. This is a gross violation […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: California, El Sobrante, Gurdwara, Gurdwara conflict, Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area

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Sikhs are the proud 1% – of Asian Americans

July 24, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Pew Forum has released the second report based on their survey of Asian Americans. The first report, The Rise of Asian Americans, was an analysis of the survey data based on a variety of demographic metrics. The second report – entitled Asian Americans: a Mosaic of Faiths – looks at the survey data through the religious lens: When it comes to religion, the Asian-American community is a study in contrasts, encompassing groups that run the gamut from highly religious […]

Categories: Reports/Studies • Tags: Asian American, Asian Americans: a Mosaic of Faiths, Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life, Pew Research Center, The Rise of Asian Americans

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Stockton, CA Gurdwara hosts community clergy breakfast

July 23, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“I see a community stepping up, rising up,” Johnston said. “Each of us has a role. It is a great gift to our community to have the Sikhs here in Stockton.” — Stockton, California Mayor Ann Johnston comments after her visit to the “Sikh-American birthplace”, the Sikh house of worship in Stockton, California that is considered the first and oldest Gurdwara in the country. The Gurdwara is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Ann Johnston, California, Stockton, Stockton Gurdwara Sahib

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Historian identifies Oregon’s forgotten Sikhs

July 23, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Johanna Ogden, in the Center for Columbia River History, brings together data from a variety of sources to map the Punjabi – and predominantly, Sikh – communities that lived along Oregon’s portion of the Columbia River at the turn of the century. In doing so, she sees evidence of the framing of early Sikh Americans as the “other”: Historical silences occur through the exercise of shared assumptions and work in devastatingly simple and effective ways. White pioneers are Oregon Country’s […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Resources • Tags: Columbia River, Johanna Ogden, Oregon, Punjabi, Sikh diaspora

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Applications invited for Junior Sikh Coalition leadership program, due July 25, 2012

July 19, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

If you are a Sikh high school or college student in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut and are interested in working to help your community, the Junior Sikh Coalition leadership program might be for you: Junior Sikh Coalition members gain valuable skills and training in youth leadership and will have multiple opportunities to utilize these skills within their communities and the Sikh Coalition network. In the past, youth members have led community organizing campaigns, organized anti-bullying conferences, participated in […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Events • Tags: Connecticut, Junior Sikh Coalition, New Jersey, New York, Sikh Coalition

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Xenophobia, by any other name

July 17, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A commenter writes in response to my post on “Sikhophobia”: Sikhophobia would be an appropriate term if the person who has the phobia knew anything about Sikhs. I think Turbanphobia might be more like it. The folks who have the phobia are not bad people, it is the lack of knowledge and their fear that kicks in. The only way, this will work in our favor if someone in NBC, CBS or ABC hires a Turbaned Sikh to play a […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes

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“America’s Interfaith Infrastructure”: Interfaith work in 20 American cities

July 16, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Harvard University’s Pluralism Project recently released “America’s Interfaith Infrastructure“, a pilot survey of interfaith activity in 20 American cities: For twenty years, the Pluralism Project has followed the development of America’s fast-changing religious landscape and studied new forms of civic and interfaith relationships. The events of 9/11 demonstrated the importance of interfaith groups already formed; in the ensuing decade we have witnessed the growth of hundreds of new interfaith initiatives. Given this rapid expansion, what we might describe as the […]

Categories: Interfaith, Reports/Studies • Tags: Gagandeep Kaur, Guru Nanak, Harvard University, interfaith, Pluralism Project

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Presidential Town Hall discussing API Issues on July 21st

July 13, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

APIAVote (Asian Pacific Islander Vote) is a national organization that aims to increase the civic participation of the Asian American/Pacific Islander community. On July 21, the organization is holding a town hall meeting in which the presidential nominees from both major parties in this election cycle have been invited to discuss issues important to the Asian/Pacific Islander Americans. According to SALDEF (Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund), one of the event’s sponsors: Hear the campaigns of the Presidential candidates, President […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Events, Politics • Tags: APIAVote, Asian Pacific Islander Vote, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Presidential Town Hall, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Author Archives: Rupinder Mohan Singh

Lessons learned in NY and the CA Workplace Religious Freedom Act

Conflict at CA Gurdwara results in violence, police action

Sikhs are the proud 1% – of Asian Americans

Stockton, CA Gurdwara hosts community clergy breakfast

Historian identifies Oregon’s forgotten Sikhs

Applications invited for Junior Sikh Coalition leadership program, due July 25, 2012

Xenophobia, by any other name

“America’s Interfaith Infrastructure”: Interfaith work in 20 American cities

Presidential Town Hall discussing API Issues on July 21st