A Critical Analysis of Post 9/11 Sikh American Activism: Addressing White and Christian Supremacy
Guest Blogged by Jaideep Singh
As the Sikh American community embarks yet another mobilization against hate attacks— since this latest episode of violence has really hit home with many Sikhs in a way rarely seen since Balbir Singh Sodhi— we would do well to first answer the difficult, necessarily critical questions posed by my sister Nina Chanpreet Kaur in her thoughtful, passionate piece from last year.[1]
Our efforts at “education and outreach†clearly have yielded perilously little success— as measured by the safety of our communities. So education obviously is NOT enough. Reality is far more complex and ugly. A person who would attack a gurdwara is not coming to an open house or community feeding (langar) to abate their hatred. The long list of those in our communities who have been injured and killed, and the homes and gurdwaras defaced, testifies to as much. We cannot advance by hiding in our gated communities, far from the raw racial realities daily faced by our less fortunate sisters and brothers.
Fighting centuries of entrenched, utterly irrational white [and Christian] supremacy is neither an easy task, nor a short term one. Many of us cannot even bring ourselves to admit these forces even exist, let alone how they permanently define Sikhs as racial and religious outsiders. That naïve approach must end, replaced by a sophistication borne of serious historical study of U.S. history.
8 Responses to “A Critical Analysis of Post 9/11 Sikh American Activism: Addressing White and Christian Supremacy”
So beautiful to see Jaideep Singh my brother and old time warrior touch base here.
He planted seeds that are full grown trees now (SALDEF etc) and continued to work tirelessly behind the scenes. The masses are a bit simple for the massive knowledge and processing that goes on in your mind bro, but bear with us and be here with us. We need you.
Sardars are not mistaken for Muslims they are identified for having brown skin, turbans and beards hollywoods and American governments fabricate image of a terrorist to get public support for military action in Mideast to expand the capitalist American empire. Our community is a victim of the propaganda used for this expansion. A strategy has to be developed by think thanks within the community by people who are professionals with in the field. The failure of the current awareness campaign, comes because it is mostly lead by skilled workers such as engineers, doctors, business owners etc. none whom have the scholarly credentials which are needed to take this tremendous challenge. There is nothing complicated if the communities "jameer" was alive, poor leadership and anti-Khalistani elements within the community who took on this awareness lahar killed it. Bring it back and bulling, hate crimes etc. will be things of the past.
[…] the patterns of violence against communities of color in the U.S., including Sikhs since the early 20th century, the Sikh community must see itself as part of a longer history of anti-racist struggle. If we rely […]
[…] The disappointment of yet another hate crime attack, particularly after last year’s mass murder of Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, has instigated more critical examination of current efforts and placing discrimination and hate crimes in a more broad context — along the trajectory of a greater resistance against white supremacy. In a piece on The Langar Hall, Jaideep Singh examines the efficacy of education and awareness: […]
[…] the patterns of violence against communities of color in the U.S., including Sikhs since the early 20th century, the Sikh community must see itself as part of a longer history of anti-racist struggle. If we rely […]
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Good point you got there. I agree that "our efforts at education and outreach clearly have yielded perilously little success" And you are right. Education is not enough. We must have the stronger ways to against the reality. Thank you for a thoughtful article. Very enjoy reading it.
Thank you for sharing! It's nice to find the news about the activism.
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