Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund |

Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of SALDEF, addresses the audience during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. (Source: SALDEF)

Picture of the Day

August 28, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Saturday, during an interfaith ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Jasjit Singh of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) addressed the audience gathered at the Lincoln Memorial as a representative of the Sikh community: “From four girls in Birmingham to six worshippers in Oak Creek, from a bridge in Selma to a march on Washington: we stand with you, we march with you, we serve with you.” Read more from SALDEF.

Categories: Events, Interfaith, Picture of the Day • Tags: Jasjit Singh, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin Luther King, National Mall, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Vandal of Jurupa Valley, CA, Gurdwara, arrested

August 8, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A juvenile has been arrested in last week’s vandalism of a Gurdwara in Jurupa Valley, California, when the word “terrorist” was spray-painted on the walls of the Sikh house of worship: Investigators conducted a lengthy investigation into the vandalism that led to the arrest of a juvenile responsible for the temple vandalism. Subsequent investigation revealed that the same juvenile was also responsible for an ongoing vandalism spree that began in August of 2012, resulting in 33 separate vandalism crimes, totaling […]

Categories: Hate Crimes • Tags: California, Graffiti, hate crimes, Jurupa Valley, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, vandalism

"Terrorist" spray-painted on a wall at the Sikh Gurdwara of Riverside, in Jurupa Valley, California. (Source: PEBloggers)

Gurdwara near Riverside, CA, vandalized with graffiti

July 30, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Only days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting attack at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, the Sikh Gurdwara of Riverside, in Jurupa Valley, California, has been vandalized with the word “terrorist” spray-painted twice on its walls: “This is definitely a hate crime,” [Birpal Kaur, of SALDEF,] said. “It was very purposely targeted toward a minority community.” A police report was filed with the Riverside County Sheriff. Incidentally, Jurupa Valley, California, is also home to a school […]

Categories: Hate Crimes • Tags: California, Graffiti, hate crimes, Jurupa Valley, Riverside, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Gurdwara of Riverside, vandalism

SALDEF Leadership Development Program graduates. (Source: SALDEF)

Apply to the SALDEF Leadership Development Program

July 24, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

SALDEF (Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund) is inviting applications for the third iteration of its Leadership Development Program, a “two-part program designed to inspire, train, and support a diverse, motivated, and entrepreneurial group of young Sikh leaders as they prepare for a lifetime of community engagement and leadership.” Further: The purpose of this transformational program is to empower Sikh American youth in becoming effective leaders committed to exploring and realizing both their personal potential and that of the […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Resources • Tags: LDP, Leadership Development Program, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Tracking anti-Sikh hate crimes is a needed first step

June 12, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Last week, to much jubilation among civil rights groups, an advisory committee to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recommended that the FBI begin specifically recording hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus, and Arabs (starting in 2015, as I understand), as it does for other targeted groups. It was for good reason that this announcement would be so celebrated considering the significant and lengthy effort to bring this incremental change. However, it is important to place this addition to the FBI’s […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reports/Studies, Resources • Tags: Department of Justice, FBI, FBI Hate Crime Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Form 1-699, hate crime, National Victimation Survey, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition, United States Bureau of Justice Statistics

Still from "To This Day", a spoken word poem by Shane Koyczan.

Safe Schools Improvement Act reintroduced in US Congress

April 18, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A recent post on the Hyphen Magazine blog shares the parallel experience of two Sikh American men who were bullied in their school years: For both Gurwinder and I, physical confrontation became a matter of daily course at school. Gurwinder recalled, “A kid in class came up from behind and started hitting me. There were six other kids with him; they had me on the floor, stomping on my arms and back.” It is a story not uncommon for many […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: bullying, Safe Schools Improvement Act, SALDEF, Shane Koyczan, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, To This Day

Arsonist in Green Bay, WI, charged with hate crime against Sikh man

March 12, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On March 5, a man walked into a small retail store owned by a Sikh man in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then set fire to the cash register using gasoline. According to the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the county district attorney is now charging the perpetrator with a hate crime based on his comments that were recorded in the police report: [James] Parrish stated that he was going to “burn [the] place down.” He also stated […]

Categories: Hate Crimes • Tags: Green Bay, hate crimes, Oak Creek, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Wisconsin

Sikh man in Florida shot in drive-by attack

February 25, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and the Sikh Coalition sent out coordinated alerts today that a 46-year-old Sikh American man in Florida was shot while driving last Saturday night with his 13-year-old son over the Dunlawton Avenue Bridge in Port Orange, Florida: According to local news reports, as Mr. Kanwaljit Singh was traveling in his car with his 13-year-old son, a late 80s to early 90s Ford F-150 truck pulled up beside him, and several shots […]

Categories: Hate Crimes • Tags: Florida, hate crimes, Kanwaljit Singh, Port Orange, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition

The Boy With Long Hair, by Pushpinder Kaur, is a coloring book published by the Sikh Foundation. (source: The Sikh Foundation)

SALDEF reports high rate of bullying of Sikh children in southern CA

February 21, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

67% of Sikh American children surveyed were bullied or harassed within the last school year and 31% have been threatened with physical violence or harm. These numbers are staggering compared to national averages and an indication of the serious challenges that our children continue to endure on a regular basis. — Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), reports from a survey taken by SALDEF of Sikh American students in southern California. A […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: bullying, California, Jasjit Singh, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Southern California, The Boy With Long Hair

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund