As time moves forward, Sikhs should consider how our actions and allegiances today will be looked upon by future generations. In America, the Sikh community finds itself in one of those moments.
Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Politics, Reflections • Tags: black lives matter
In response to our letter, Cenk Uygur’s campaign manager sent to us his reply around his comments about Sikh religious practices.
Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Politics • Tags: Balpreet Kaur, CA-25, California 25th Congressional District, Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks
In light of his comments about Sikh religious practices, we are writing to request CA-25 Congressional candidate Cenk Uygur make a public pledge to protect Sikhs and other religious minorities worldwide from discrimination and violence in the event that he is elected to Congress.
Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Politics • Tags: CA-25, California 25th Congressional District, Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks
A long time and proud resident of Bakersfield, California, Balmeet Singh was assaulted and had his life threatened by an individual invoking racist slurs outside a restaurant two nights ago. In this blog post, he recounts and reflects on the experience. Many thanks to Balmeet for sharing his thoughts about the incident.
Categories: Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: Bakersfield, Balmeet Singh, California, hate crime, Racism
Over his two terms, President Obama has recognized the Sikh community (and seems comfortable in doing so) perhaps more than any other US president in history. In his recent speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, he makes reference to the Sikh American community as victims of anti-Islamic bigotry in the United States. However, it was lacking in specific proposals to help counter America’s Islamophobia.
Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Interfaith, Politics • Tags: Baltimore, Barack Obama, Islamophobia, Maryland, President of the United States
While in 2012, the Republican Party offered sympathy and support to the Sikh American community, by 2016, this sentiment has ostensibly been disregarded — and even reversed — by the dominating Republican candidate for President who openly disparages a Sikh article of faith. And, there has been little tangible response from the Republican Party or the other Republican candidates to this incident or other similar protests. One wonders how or why this shift occurred.
Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, News Bits, Politics • Tags: Arashdeep Singh, Donald Trump, Iowa, Ishwar Singh, Muscatine, Nikki Haley, Oak Creek, Republican National Convention, Republican Party, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, xenophobia
In an article published in Lawfare, law professor Dawinder S. Sidhu offers an coincidental counterpoint to Monday’s post about the concept of “mistaken identity” and its use to explain hate crimes in which Sikh Americans are victims. Professor Sidhu finds that dismissing mistaken identity arguments is problematic and counter-productive to addressing hate crimes affecting the Sikh and Muslim communities in the post-9/11, post-Paris and post-San Bernardino environment.
Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Dawinder S. Sidhu, hate crimes, Islamophobia, Lawfare, mistaken identity
“Mistaken identity” has become the de facto explanation for hate crimes perpetrated against members of the Sikh American community, the logic being that Sikhs are being targeted because their articles of faith — particularly the turban, men’s beard, and brown skin — are confused by attackers for identifiers of Muslims, the latter of whom are being confused as terrorists. Both law enforcement and Sikh community leaders have defaulted to this explanation, pointing to post-9/11 backlash as the causal motivation for […]
Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Donald Trump, hate crimes, John McCain, mistaken identity, Uncle Sam, White supremacy, xenophobia
Recent terror attacks around the world, and in particular, the United States, have called into question what we mean by “terrorist,” whereby the label appears quickly applied to non-white perpetrators of mass violence. However, conversations around counter-terrorism, regardless of the source or cause, has not seen the same level of volume. One interesting theory about counter-terrorism strategy has been posited by Dr. Ajit Kaur Mann (featured on this blog before) offering a non-violent approach with a level of depth and sophistication. This framework, based […]
Categories: Hate Crimes, Literature, Profiles • Tags: counter-terrorism, Dr. Ajit Kaur Mann, Internarrative Identity
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