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The Sikh Captain America takes on New York

November 7, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The FXX network’s television show Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell has not shied away from Sikh-related topics. After the mass shooting of Sikhs by a white supremacist in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in August of last year, the show featured a segment to help eliminate confusion about the Sikh identity, and last month, highlighted the issues Sikh Americans face with TSA screening policies. Vishavjit Singh is an editorial cartoonist who in the past year experimented with wearing a Captain America […]

Categories: Art, Civil Rights, TV/Movies • Tags: Captain America, Hari Kondabolu, New York, Totally Biased, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, Vishavjit Singh

Depiction of the execution of Bhai Mani Singh in 1737.

Rejecting the victimhood narrative

October 10, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

There has been significant conversation from and within the Sikh community in regard to the recent hate attack on Dr. Prabhjot Singh a few weeks ago, of the response, and about what is needed to prevent future attacks and discrimination. Citing the story of Bhai Mani Singh (who was brutally executed in 1737), Simran Jeet Singh discusses the concept of victimhood (or lack therof) in the Sikh faith to provide context around the reaction by many Sikhs to the attack […]

Categories: Hate Crimes, Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: Bhai Mani Singh, New York, Prabhjot Singh, Simran Jeet Singh, victimhood

The “t-word”

September 26, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

After the apparent hate-motivated attack on Dr. Prabhjot Singh last weekend in New York, I wrote an essay that was published by The Revealer today about the emergence of the word “terrorist” as a racial epithet, but one that carries dangerous consequences for its target: …what is apparent is that the word has now become a racial epithet – it is often directed to innocent people who exhibit certain physical features, rather than used as a descriptor of a person’s […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: New York, Prabhjot Singh, racial slurs, t-word, The Revealer

Prabhjot Singh. (Source: Columbia University)

Sikh man attacked in apparent hate crime in New York

September 23, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The news spread very quickly yesterday that another Sikh American has been attacked in what appears to be a bias-based assault. Dr. Prabhjot Singh, a Sikh physician and professor at Columbia University, was attacked in Harlem, New York, on Saturday night by a mob of young men on bicycles who issued epithets such as “Osama” and “terrorist” during their attack. Dr. Singh was taken to hospital and discharged on Sunday with a fractured jaw and other injuries. “We heard ‘get […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Columbia University, Harlem, hate crimes, New York, Prabhjot Singh

"One Step Forward, Half a Step Back" -- A study by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Sikh Coalition about bullying in NYC schools, was released earlier this month. (Source: Sikh Coalition)

Study of Asian American students in NY finds increase in reports of bullying

September 18, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Two weeks ago, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and the Sikh Coalition released a report entitled “One Step Forward, Half a Step Back,” gauging the implementation of New York Schools Chancellor’s Regulation A-832, issued in 2008 “which established policies and procedures on how New York City schools should respond to bias-based harassment, intimidation, and bullying in schools.” The New York City Department of Education serves 1.1 million students across 1,800 schools. For Sikh American students, the […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Education, Reports/Studies • Tags: AALDEF, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, bullying, New York, New York City Department of Education, One Step Forward Half a Step Back, Sikh Coalition

BREAKING NEWS: There are racists on the internet

September 17, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — After New York’s Nina Davuluri became the first Indian American to win the title of Miss America, racist tweets surfaced on Internet social media sites on Sunday, catching news outlets across the country by surprise. “Was there a terrorist attack or something?” one dumbfounded news editor asked. “We have a black president and everything so I’m not sure where the hate came from after what’s-her-name won the pageant. If she was Arab or Muslim or something, […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Humor • Tags: Miss America, Miss New York, New York, Nina Davuluri, Racism

Vishavjit Singh dressed as comic book hero Captain America. (Photo. Fiona Aboud. Source: Salon)

When Captain America wore a turban

September 13, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Earlier this summer, Sikh cartoonist Vishavjit Singh provided a glimpse of his foray through New York City dressed as the superhero Captain America. In an article in Salon magazine published this week, Vishavjit Singh shares more about his experience in challenging stereotypes: I have been skinny all my life, and I felt a stirring of anxiety to be so exposed. Family and friends have pointed out my thin-ness for years, and the self-consciousness has sunk deep into my psyche. Before […]

Categories: Art, Civil Rights, Reflections • Tags: Captain America, comics, Fiona Aboud, hate crimes, Navdeep Singh Dhillon, New York, Sikhtoons, Vishavjit Singh

Scene from Inside Man (2006). (Source: YouTube)

Your weekend Waris, Part IV

September 13, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

This week, a movie scene featuring Waris Ahluwalia from the film Inside Man (2006) is used to open a news story on radio station WNYC, New York’s National Public Radio affiliate. The narrator, Arun Venugopal, highlights aspects about Sikh American history and experience, touching on the history of 1984, race relations between African Americans and Sikhs since 9/11, and of dastar bandi, the Sikh turban-tying ceremony: …we examine the age-old persecution of Sikhs, from India to post-9/11 America. Why do […]

Categories: 1984, Civil Rights • Tags: Arun Venugopal, dastaar bandhi, dastar bandi, Inside Man, Naunihal Singh, New York, Saihajdeep Singh, Waris Ahluwalia, WNYC

Picture of the Day: “Turban Day” in New York

September 10, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Sunday, The Surat Initiative held its first ever “Turban Day” in New York to help raise awareness and understanding about Sikhs and the turban by tying turbans on to curious members of the community: The Surat Initiative organized its first Turban Day at Union Square in New York City this past Sunday. Volunteers came from all over the northeast and tied over 700 turbans on their fellow Americans. Hundreds of other New Yorkers stopped by to speak with young […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Events, Interfaith • Tags: New York, Surat Initiative, Turban Day

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: New York