Republican Party | American Turban

The accidental benevolence of Donald Trump

January 26, 2016 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

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

Harmeet Kaur Dhillon campaign sign at the California Republican Party convention this past weekend. (source: KCRA)

Harmeet Kaur Dhillon wins CA Republican post amidst strong support

March 4, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“In any group of 1,600 delegates, you’re going to have a few crazy people and bigots,” [Harmeet Kaur] Dhillon told KCRA 3. — Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, who this weekend was elected as the Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party, comments after facing bigotry from members of her own party, and even during the California Republican Party convention this weekend. With strong support by membership and leaders, Harmeet Kaur has become the first Sikh and woman to be elected to […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: California, Harmeet Dhillon, Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, Republican Party

San Francisco, CA, Sikh politician faces racist smears from own party

February 28, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, a Sikh attorney and politician in San Francisco, California (and, who last fall ran an unsuccessful bid for a California State Senate seat), has reportedly been the target of racist smears by members of her own party as she now runs to become the Vice Chair of the California Republican Party. The bigoted comments were circulated on social media, according to the SF Gate: “I was told by one of Harmeet’s friends that because of her religion, […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: Ann Coulter, California, Harmeet Dhillon, Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, Republican Party, San Francisco

Republican candidate for California's 9th Congressional District Ricky Gill posted this photo of his attendance at a birthday celebration for the US Navy on Saturday night. After this article on American Turban, the Gill campaign deleted the photo. (source: Ricky Gill campaign Facebook page)

When a Sikh runs: the curious case of Ricky Gill

October 15, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The case of Republican candidate for Congress Ricky Gill, running against incumbent Jerry McNerney to represent California’s 9th Congressional District, makes for an interesting study about a Sikh American seeking public office in this country. His campaign, and his reluctance to publicly acknowledge his Sikh background, has been a recurring topic on this blog. On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to observe Ricky Gill in person. I had attended the Centennial celebration of the Stockton Gurdwara — which is […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: Bobby Jindal, California, Jerry McNerney, Nikki Haley, Republican Party, Ricky Gill, Stockton, Stockton Gurdwara Centennial Celebration, Stockton Gurdwara Sahib

Why Indian Americans flock to the Democratic Party

August 30, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A piece in First Post discusses why Indian Americans have been more supportive of President Obama and the Democratic Party rather than the Republican Party. Of particular note, the behavior of several prominent Republican Indian Americans within the Party itself is partly to blame: But Indian Americans take note of how Nikki Haley runs as far away as she can from her identity, brushing it aside with one obligatory “I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants” line at the […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: Bobby Jindal, Democratic Party, First Post, Indian American, Nikki Haley, Republican Party, Ricky Gill

Local Sikh to give Invocation during Republican National Convention on Wednesday

August 26, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

What if the Republicans or Democrats had a Sikh from WI offer their convention's invocation? What an amazing gesture to the world! #fantasy — American Turban (@americanturban) August 10, 2012 According to CNN, Ishwar Singh, President of the Sikh Society of Central Florida, is to offer the Invocation on Wednesday night during the Republican National Convention. Given the recent discussion about perceptions of Republican voters towards Sikhs, and my own sense (expressed on Twitter above) that having a Sikh provide the Invocation at […]

Categories: Events, News Bits, Politics • Tags: Ishwar Singh, Republican National Convention, Republican Party, Sikh Society of Central Florida

Could American Sikhs ever be as important as Canadian Sikhs?

May 13, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Our neighbors to the north, Canada, just went through a federal election in which a conservative government – one that had just lost a no-confidence motion that gave rise to this election – ended up strengthening their power for the next four years. It was an odd twist of events. A noteworthy character of this election was the wooing of the ethnic minority vote – and especially of the Canadian Sikh vote – by all parties across the political spectrum. The […]

Categories: News Bits, Politics • Tags: Canada, Conservative Party, Gurbax Singh Malhi, Herb Dhaliwal, Republican Party, Stephen Harper

A “nikki” footnote, cont’d

December 29, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A recently published letter to the editor of a Philadelphia-area newspaper laments the Republican Party’s growing focus to be more inclusive of non-white minorities (at the expense of the white majority), using South Carolina’s Governor-elect Nikki Haley as an example: But the GOP leadership is just as obsessed with diversity and skin color as white liberals are; in fact, they seem almost embarrassed to be the de facto party of whites, and they work hard to change this image. They have made inroads […]

Categories: News Bits, Politics • Tags: Nikki Haley, Republican Party, South Carolina

American Turban

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: Republican Party