Rupinder Mohan Singh |

Heara Singh with bicycle, Crawfordsville, Oregon, c. 1900s. (Credit: Stephen Williamson)

Join the second annual Sikh Century Bike Ride on Nov. 2

October 25, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Saturday, November 2, 2013, a group of cyclists will be riding in the second annual Sikh Century Ride, a 100-mile route that begins in the historic city of Stockton, California and ends in Yuba City, where the largest Nagar Kirtan festivities in the United States will be taking place: We’re at it again! To commemorate the 100+ year history of Sikhs in the US and celebrate Sikh Awareness Month in California, the Sikh Century Ride will take place on […]

Categories: Events • Tags: California, Crawfordsville, Heara Singh, Oregon, Sikh Century Bike Ride, Stockton, Yuba City

"Sikh residents take part in a June 2013 parade in Salem, Oregon. Credit: Creative Commons/PhotoAtelier." (Source: Tikkun)

On American Sikh identification versus purpose

October 25, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Simran Jeet Singh and Dr. Prabhjot Singh consider the Sikh American balance of identity: American Sikhs walk a thin rhetorical line between declaring what we are—a group that aims to elevate the consciousness of all people to appreciate our common divinity—and declaring what we are not in order to avoid the short-term consequences of popular confusion. Within this tension lies the key to how American Sikhs can and should negotiate political life: we must engage with group cohesion in such […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reflections • Tags: Prabhjot Singh, Simran Jeet Singh, Tikkun

"Jasbir Singh oversees religious services at Dashmesh Darbar, Chico’s first Sikh gurdwara, or temple." (Source: Ken Smith | Chico News & Review)

The sprouting of a Sikh congregation in Chico, CA

October 24, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Chico News & Review profiles a fledgling Sikh congregation in Chico, California, a small town in northern California: On a recent Sunday, the diwan’s attendance numbered about a dozen, predominantly made up of women in traditional Indian garb, with long scarves covering their heads. Also present were a few men, most dressed in slacks and button-up shirts, and a pair of young boys who fidgeted—as boys of any faith might do—throughout the diwan, their actions intermittently corrected by stern […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: California, Chico, Chico News & Review, Dashmesh Darbar

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Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner (1785-1877), originally from Wisconsin, served as a colonel in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army from 1831-1849. He was one of three Americans to serve the Sikh empire. (Source: Wikipedia)

Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Americans

October 24, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

While we often discuss the first Sikhs who arrived in the United States (as early as the end of the 18th century, and more commonly in the early 20th), a recent article by Kulbir Colin Singh Dhillon provides short biographies about the earliest recorded Americans who served Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Punjab in the first half of the 19th century: In March 2007 whilst doing research on the Sikh Kingdom I came across a newspaper article titled, “A Yankee in the […]

Categories: Profiles • Tags: Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner, Colonel Canora, Josiah Harlan, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Sikh empire

"Freshman back Sofia Walia is one of two Sikh players on the Knights’ roster this season. She has nine points for Rutgers." (Photo: Tian Li | The Daily Targum)

Firsts in NCAA field hockey

October 23, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sofia Walia and Ashpal Kaur Bhogal — two Sikh women at Rutgers University in New Jersey — have become the first Sikh women to play NCAA Division I field hockey (it turns out that they are not the first — see update below): “It’s great because there are a lot of Sikh people on campus but they’re not involved in a lot of activities, especially sports,” [Sikh Student Association President Simran Farmah] said. “We never really had any Sikh athletes. […]

Categories: Profiles • Tags: Amrit Cheema, Ashpal Kaur Bhogal, Division I, field hockey, National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA, New Jersey, Rutgers University, Scarlett Knights, Sharan Kalla, Sofia Walia

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Gilbert Garcia has been arrested in the assault on 82-year-old Piara Singh on May 5 in Fresno, California. (source: Crime Voice)

Attacker of Fresno, CA, Sikh senior deemed unfit to stand trial

October 23, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Back in May, Gilbert Garcia attacked an elderly Sikh man named Piara Singh with a metal rod outside a Gurdwara in Fresno, California. Piara Singh, 82 years old, was hospitalized due to the injuries he sustained that included severe head injuries and collapsed lung. He was discharged home where he is recovering from his injuries. The attack was quickly deemed a hate crime based on statements made by Garcia after the attack. On Monday, after a third medical evaluation, it […]

Categories: Hate Crimes • Tags: California, Fresno, Gilbert Garcia, hate crime, hate crimes, Piara Singh

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The discrepancy between perception and reality as it pertains to what makes America exceptional. (Source: Visual.ly)

The cost of “American exceptionalism”

October 16, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Ahead of a review of the United States before a United Nations human rights committee, Hansdeep Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Hannah Shirley of the International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD) discuss how the concept of “American exceptionalism” has evolved to negatively impact ethnic and racial communities within our borders: Crudely put, the current notion of American exceptionalism at home spreads the ideas that: Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs, and south Asians are not American (and are often terrorists), Blacks and Latinos […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: American exceptionalism, Hannah Shirley, Hansdeep Singh, ICAAD, International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination, Jaspreet Singh, United Nations Human Rights Committee

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Digital worship

October 16, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

An article in The Detroit News discusses the growing use of technology in places of worship and by followers of a variety of faiths, including the Sikh faith: In the Sikh community, followers often take advantage of apps such as Gurbani Anywhere, which can translate prayers into English. “It is very useful and innovative,” said Kabeer Singh, 18, a college student from West Bloomfield Township. Sikhs also are aided during services at their worship sites, known as gurdwaras, with SikhiTotheMAX, […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: mobile, Religion, technology

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Recognize Columbus Day as Mistaken Identity Day

October 11, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Never admitting that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies he had set out for, Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands he visited indios (Spanish for “Indians“). — Wikipedia entry on Christopher Columbus. Americans celebrate Columbus Day in October each year in honor Christopher Columbus, the Spanish explorer who landed in the Caribbean in search of a westerly trade route to Asia in 1492. This year, the commemoration occurs on Monday, October 14. […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Events, Hate Crimes • Tags: Caribbean, Christopher Columbus, Columbus Day, Harleen Kaur, mistaken identity, New World

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Author Archives: Rupinder Mohan Singh

Join the second annual Sikh Century Bike Ride on Nov. 2

On American Sikh identification versus purpose

The sprouting of a Sikh congregation in Chico, CA

Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Americans

Firsts in NCAA field hockey

Attacker of Fresno, CA, Sikh senior deemed unfit to stand trial

The cost of “American exceptionalism”

Digital worship

Recognize Columbus Day as Mistaken Identity Day