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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

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White hate self portrait (source: Mr. Fish/truthdig)

Is white supremacy in the US on the cusp of a renaissance?

January 28, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On truthdig, Chris Hedges examines the “disquieting renaissance” of white supremacy in the southern United States (via @jakaramovement): The steady rise of ethnic nationalism over the past decade, the replacing of history with mendacious and sanitized versions of lost glory, is part of the moral decay that infects a dying culture. It is a frightening attempt, by those who are desperate and trapped, to escape through invented history their despair, impoverishment and hopelessness. It breeds intolerance and eventually violence. Violence […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Chris Hedges, hate crimes, Ku Klux Klan, Oak Creek, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, slavery, Southern United States, White supremacy, Wisconsin

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Tejdeep Singh Rattan dons a gas mask during his military training in 2010. (source: US Army)

US military lifts ban on women in combat; could Sikhs be next?

January 24, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Yesterday, it was announced that the Pentagon will be lifting its 1994 ban on allowing women solidiers from serving in combat situations: [Defense Secretary Leon] Panetta’s move comes in his final weeks as Pentagon chief and just days after President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech in which he spoke passionately about equal rights for all. The new order expands the department’s action of nearly a year ago to open about 14,500 combat positions to women, nearly all of them in the […]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: DADT, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Employment Discrimination, gender discrimination, Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, Pentagon, Simran Jeet Singh, Simran Lamba, Tejdeep Singh Rattan, United States, United States Armed Forces, US Army, US military

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"President Obama signs gun-violence-related executive actions following an announcement at the White House Wedensday." (source: CNN)

Gun control is about more than gun rights

January 16, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In recognizing Religious Freedom Day, President Obama made a proclamation that celebrated the right to religious freedom in the United States: Because of the protections guaranteed by our Constitution, each of us has the right to practice our faith openly and as we choose. As a free country, our story has been shaped by every language and enriched by every culture. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, Sikhs and non-believers. Our patchwork heritage is a […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Barack Obama, gun control, gun violence, Oak Creek, Religious Freedom Day, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Wisconsin

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California Governor Jerry Brown (seated) signs AB1964 and SB1540 into law at a rally at the California State Capitol last Saturday. Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (standing left of the Governor), Dr. Onkar Bindra (standing right of the Governor) and Sikh Coalition Advocacy Manager Simran Kaur (far right) joined the Governor. (source: Instagram user i2theb)

The Top 5 Sikh American Stories of 2012: Victories in employment equality

January 9, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In 2012, there were two significant achievements for Sikh Americans in the realm of employment discrimination on each side of the country: the decision by Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department to accept observant Sikhs as full police officers, and the signing of a workplace religious freedom act in California. Both achievements have the potential to act as precedents for further success in dealing with employment discrimination that Sikhs have faced in the United States due to lack of accommodation of […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reflections • Tags: AB1964, California, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Employment Discrimination, Jerry Brown, Mariko Yamada, Metropolitan Police Department, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition, Top 5 Sikh American Stories, Washington DC, Workplace Religious Freedom Act

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A Bible, gun, keys and wallet on top of a table. (source: FMG Law)

When Amendments collide

January 9, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States recently refused to hear an appeal challenging a law in the state of Georgia that banned firearms from places of worship: The high court today refused to hear an appeal from GeorgiaCarry.org, which wanted the justices to overturn a lower court decision upholding Georgia’s law banning guns in churches and other places of worship. GeorgiaCarry.org argued that the ban applying specifically to places of worship burdens “religiously motivated conduct by regulating […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Georgia, GeorgiaCarry.org, gun control, Second Amendment, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, United States Supreme Court

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Senator Dick Durbin speaks at a press conference alongside representatives of a variety of groups at the Senate hearing on hate crimes and domestic terrorism last September (photo credit: Dosti.com)

Moving beyond “mistaken identity”

January 4, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

After the subway hate crime in New York a week ago, Laurie Patton, in Religion Dispatches, suggests an approach beyond that of education to combat hate crimes: A second focus is necessary: we might view such confusions of identity as opportunities to make common cause with other victims of hate crimes in America. The fact that Erika Menendez included both Hindus and Muslims in her rage means that both groups continue to be vulnerable in the United States. The fact […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Erika Menendez, hate crimes, Laurie Patton, mistaken identity, New York, Oak Creek, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, subway murder, Sunando Sen, Wisconsin

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An outdoor mural in Sacramento, California featuring representations of various faiths.

The growth of America’s religious diversity showed in 2012

December 28, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On the First Amendment Center, Charles C. Haynes discusses the emergence of religious diversity in America during 2012: The growing visibility and strength of America’s religious diversity is good news for religious freedom. The First Amendment affords legal protections, but it cannot fully prevent people in the majority from imposing social discrimination and political exclusion on those in the minority. As James Madison argued at our nation’s founding, religious freedom is best secured in a society of many faiths and […]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: First Amendment Center, First Amendment to the United States Constitution, freedom of religion, James Madison

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Police action during the shooting attack on the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in August 2012. (source: Daily Record and Sunday Mail)

White Supremacy: The Unspoken Truth

December 27, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Co-blogged with Nina Chanpreet Kaur “All the talking is done and now it’s time to walk the walk / Revolution’s in the air 9mm in my hand / You can run but you can’t hide from this master plan.” (Song lyrics by Wade Michael Page’s band End Apathy) A few weeks ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) closed its investigation into the mass shooting that occurred at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in August, in which six Sikhs were […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: FBI, FBI Hate Crime Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, hate crimes, Oak Creek, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, United States Department of Justice, Wade Michael Page, White supremacy, Wisconsin

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Decade of Disappearances Art Contest first place winner by Priya Handa (source: Ensaaf Facebook page)

Picture of the Day: Winning artwork from Ensaaf’s “Decade of Disappearances” contest

December 21, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Ensaaf, a human rights organization focusing on state crimes that were perpetrated in Punjab and India, has announced the winning entries into their “Decade of Disappearances” Art Contest. The evocative artwork above, by artist Priya Handa, was selected as the winning piece: This painting represents the disappearances and the injustice Sikhs have had to suffer. In this painting nothing is still or concrete. Everything is either moving or blurred, just like history and time. I use an infusion of my […]

Categories: 1984, Art, Civil Rights, Events • Tags: Decade of Disappearances, Ensaaf, Priya Handa

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