Valarie Kaur | American Turban

Six months since the Oak Creek, WI, Gurdwara shooting

February 5, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Today marks six months since the mass shooting of Sikhs in their place of worship by a white supremacist in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. In recognition of this span of time, filmmakers Valarie Kaur and Sharat Raju released a short film entitled Oak Creek: In Memoriam which recounts that fateful moment and the days since. On this day, the Sikh Coalition provided an update about their activities in the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, area in educating city officials, law enforcement and school […]

Categories: Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: Oak Creek, Oak Creek: In Memoriam, Sharat Raju, Sikh Coalition, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Steve Scaffidi, Valarie Kaur, White supremacy, Wisconsin

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Valarie Kaur’s “10 Sikh Women You Should Know and Why You Should Know Them”

March 22, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

We Sikhs talk a great talk about women’s equality, but we are steeped in patriarchal culture that makes us complicit in the erasure of women, past and present. Even the few famous women in history are defined in relation to their men. Their full contributions as thinkers, poets, warriors, advocates unto themselves are eclipsed by the men they supported. The real life consequence? Sikh girls today are told they’re fully equal, and yet expected to carry out traditional subservient gender […]

Categories: Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: Huffington Post, Sikholars, Valarie Kaur, Women in Sikhism

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Captured on film: Post-9/11 experiences of American Sikhs

May 19, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

It was a serendipitous post on The Sikh Coalition’s Facebook page that linked to the independent film A Dream in Doubt (2007), which follows Rana Singh Sodhi after his brother, Balbir, was killed in a post-9/11 hate crime in Arizona. The documentary aired on PBS’s Independent Lens : When his brother is murdered, Rana Singh Sodhi finds himself coping with national tragedy and murder, finding support in community and attempting to reclaim the American dream.

Categories: Hate Crimes, TV/Movies • Tags: 9/11, 9/11 Memorial, A Dream in Doubt, American Made, Balbir Singh Sodhi, Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath, hate crime, Independent Lens, Jan Brewer, Rana Singh Sodhi, Sharat Raju, Sikh Coalition, Valarie Kaur

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Other American Sikh perspectives on the killing of Osama bin Laden

May 5, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Subsequent to my post yesterday about my feelings after receiving the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, I was struck by the common chord sounded by Sikhs all over the United States who, too, expressed mixed emotions about the event: joy at justice finally being delivered, combined with an uneasiness that an increase in hate crimes targeting men in turbans in this country could be on the horizon. Sikhs, who are the predominant portion of the people wearing turbans in this country, have experienced a brunt […]

Categories: News Bits, Reflections • Tags: Balbir Singh Sodhi, Dr. I.J. Singh, Dr. Rajwant Singh, Navdeep Singh Dhillon, Osama bin Laden, Rajdeep Singh, Rana Singh Sodhi, Sukhsimranjit Singh, Valarie Kaur

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Two elderly Sikhs shot in suburban Sacramento

March 6, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Shocking news has come out of Elk Grove, California (a suburb of Sacramento), where two elderly Sikh men were shot on the street while out on an afternoon walk: Police said Saturday that they don’t know why someone gunned down two men – frail from heart attacks and advancing years – as they slowly ambled through a quiet Elk Grove neighborhood during their daily afternoon walk. Surinder Singh, 67, died Friday afternoon on the sidewalk along East Stockton Boulevard near […]

Categories: Hate Crimes, News Bits • Tags: California, Elk Grove, Gurmej Atwal, hate crime, Sacramento, Surinder Singh, Valarie Kaur

The relevance of Bandi Chhorh Divas today

November 5, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

For Sikhs, the celebration of Diwali has a different meaning than for Hindus. It is on this day that we celebrate the release of Guru Hargobind (Sikhism’s sixth Guru) and 52 Indian princes from prison in India in 1619. We refer to this day as Bandi Chhorh Divas, or Day of Release of Prisoners. Valarie Kaur, on her blog, relates its commemoration of liberation to the events to current times: But there is no Guru’s cloak big enough for the […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: Bandi Chhorh Divas, Diwali, Guru Hargobind, Valarie Kaur