Reflections | | Page 4

"A statue of Martin Luther King stands across from the historical Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala." (Photo: Ken Wells, Bloomberg. Source: USA Today)

Still “mountains to climb” to combat hate

August 26, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In USA Today, Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center offers an assessment of where the country is today, 50 years after the March on Washington: “We still have mountains to climb. The best estimates suggest there are a stunning quarter-million hate crimes in this country every year. Hate groups have been rising steadily over the last decade and now number more than 1,000. Our public discourse, including that of a shameful number of politicians, preachers and pundits, is […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: 16 Street Baptist Church, Alabama, Birmingham, hate crimes, March on Washington, Mark Potok, Southern Poverty Law Center, USA Today, White supremacy

A 1000-year-old coin from Pakistan in the collection of the father of Ravleen Kaur. (Source: Slant of Light)

The coin collection

August 26, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Slant of Light, Ravleen Kaur, a college student in Oregon, reflects about her father’s passion for collecting coins, particularly those struck during the era of Sikh rule in Punjab, India, and other historic relics: “You know, you know, legend goes,” Papa says, his cheekbones rising and nostrils flaring as they do when he shares oddball knowledge and fun facts, “that when the Sikhs took power in Punjab, they sometimes stamped their seal over old coins instead of minting new […]

Categories: Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: Coin, coincollecting, Ravleen Kaur

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"The Hindustan Times Newspaper Published on 15th August,1947." (Source: The Allrounder)

Independence and Partition: clear words, unclear legacy

August 15, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Coinciding with independence celebrations in Pakistan and India on August 14 and 15 respectively, an article in The New York Times features the 1947 Partition Archive, a project based in Berkeley, California, led by Guneeta Bhalla. The two-year-old project is creating an oral history archive of personal stories from survivors of the religion-based partition of Punjab and Bengal in 1947 that created the nation-states of Pakistan and India, and later, Bangladesh: …its dozens of volunteers have video-recorded 647 oral histories […]

Categories: Events, Reflections • Tags: 1947, 1947 Partition Archive, Guneeta Singh Bhalla, India, New York Times, Oral history, Pakistan, Partition of India

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Elderly Sikhs writing. (Source: SikhNet)

Are we heading towards a Sikh renaissance?

August 15, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On SikhNet, Dr. I.J. Singh and Guruka Singh survey the Sikh voice across its diaspora with a comprehensive inventory of bloggers, scholars and authors, but also look to the future of that voice: …in North America, a land with less than 300 years as a nation and a fickle memory, we Sikhs have a relatively formidable history; for instance, Sikh workers helped build the Panama Canal in 1903-04. But effectively as a community here we are only about 40 years […]

Categories: Art, Literature, Reflections • Tags: Dr. I.J. Singh, Guruka Singh, Sikh renaissance, SikhNet

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"We are all Sikhs" t-shirt. (Source: Rootsgear Clothing)

Sikhs, through Jewish eyes

August 14, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On The Jewish Journal, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin considers his Sikh American neighbors a year after the Oak Creek, Wisconsin mass shooting: Maybe they should consider modifying the turban requirement, and just make it optional? How American of me to think that. Sikh men simply know that they have to be at the airport that much earlier. That’s the price they choose to pay for walking a religious road with one foot, and keeping the other foot grounded in Western […]

Categories: Interfaith, Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: Jewish faith, Jewish Journal, Oak Creek, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Wisconsin

Demonstrators protest against violence towards women. (Source: Washington Post)

The role of the religious in ending violence against women

August 9, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

By coincidence, an article in The Washington Post by Satpal Singh of the World Sikh Council offers a corollary to the recent post about contextualizing God using male-oriented pronouns. Satpal Singh discusses the issue of the status of women and the role that faith must play in promoting gender quality: As a first step, we must stop accusing God of misogyny and of creating women as inferior to men. We must stress in our religious services that God does not […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: Satpal Singh, Sikh women, Washington Post, Women, Women in Sikhism, Women's rights, World Sikh Council

Pico Iyer at TED Global 2013. (Source: TED Blog)

Defining “home”: soil versus soul

July 22, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In this TED Talk delivered in Edinburgh, Scotland in June, writer Pico Iyer reflects on the meaning of “home” for people who are from diasporic communities: 220 million people live in a country that is not their own. Younger generations often find themselves influenced by overlapping waves of cultures — they have connections to the cultures of their parents (which are often different) and the cultures of their spouse. At the same time, they have their own connections to where […]

Categories: Reflections • Tags: Edinburgh, hyphenated identity, Immigration, Pico Iyer, Scotland, Sikh diaspora, TED, TEDx

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"A scene of the procession of the parade held in downtown Phoenix on April 21st." (Source: Valley India Times)

A country of many colors

July 18, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A man was giving small handbills to passersby. We saw a drawing of an American flag, and read this introduction:”We are loyal Americans. We join all Americans in condemning the violence in Boston.” I remembered the shootings at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., in August 2012. I finished the letter, and realized it was a plea not to blame the Sikhs of Phoenix for the bombs in Boston. — Melissa Musick Nussbaum writes in the National Catholic Reporter […]

Categories: Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: Arizona, Balbir Singh Sodhi, Boston, Boston Marathon, Melissa Musick Nussbaum, Mesa, Oak Creek, Phoenix

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Split image of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. (Source: Keene Trial Consulting)

Of racism, the victim and the perpetrator within

July 17, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sikh Americans continue to reflect about racial inequity after Saturday’s not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial in the murder of Trayvon Martin. Simran Jeet Singh discusses means of racial oppression and the dichotomous way such oppression operates within each of us — as both victim and perpetrator: The reality is that the global society is complicit in structural discrimination, and we have all become actors in that process. Sure in some way we are all Trayvon Martin. Each of […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: George Zimmerman, Racial profiling, Racism, Simran Jeet Singh, Trayvon Martin

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Category Archives: Reflections

Still “mountains to climb” to combat hate

The coin collection

Independence and Partition: clear words, unclear legacy

Are we heading towards a Sikh renaissance?

Sikhs, through Jewish eyes

The role of the religious in ending violence against women

Defining “home”: soil versus soul

A country of many colors

Of racism, the victim and the perpetrator within