Will Obama give into bigotry?
By now, most of you have likely heard about the controversy surrounding Obama’s potential visit to Darbar Sahib (aka the Golden Temple) in Amritsar. The Sikh Coalition reported this week that the President’s travel plans in India are still not finalized and is encouraging community members to write to the White House to urge President Obama to include Darbar Sahib in his schedule. You can send a message by clicking here.
SALDEF and United Sikhs representatives were quoted in yesterday’s New York Times article about Sikhs’ frustration with Obama for canceling the visit out of fear of being perceived as Muslim (which according to the Times, one in five Americans perceive him as such).
“There’s a xenophobic trend in this country, where some people are calling him Muslim,” said Jasjit Singh, associate director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a Washington-based civil rights group. “If he gives in to this trend then effectively he’s emboldening them.”
Apparently, the White House fears the right wing’s ever-increasing Islamophobic backlash. Indeed, pundits on Fox News would likely have a field day with photographs of President Barack Hussein Obama with his head covered surrounded by brown, bearded men in turbans. While this concern is understandable, Jasjit from SALDEF’s point gets to the heart of the matter: canceling the trip to Darbar Sahib only emboldens the Anti-Muslim bigots and in fact perpetuates anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh bigotry.
Let’s hope that Sikh and Muslim Americans alike can work together, along with our supporters, to convince the President to not back down to bigotry. Tell the White House what you think.
6 Responses to “Will Obama give into bigotry?”
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Todays Sikh are not of the same stuff there ancestor were made of.
The British Empires Queen use to always visit Golden temple on her trip to India during their time.
I guess the SIKHS of today need to work harder than their fore fathers to be acknowledged by world powers.
It has to be work beyond the convetional soldiering all sikhsa are born with.
Some suggestions that could awake people of world interest in SIKHS as per me would include
a) Finding paralell universes
2) FInding Worm Holes
3) Finding anti gravity machines
3) Inventing time machines
4) Few Nobel prizes up ones KItty
etc etc
Knowledge is the way forward.
etc ets
I dont understand why we have to team up with Muslims to get Obama to visit Golden temple.
Why do we lack self confidence to stand out on our own.
Let them work hard to get the president to visit Mecca.
If they need our help then we should consider it.
it's not a lack of self-confidence, it's a call for unity and solidarity. there is power in numbers, and when a political leader avoids being associated with sikhs because of islamophobia, then it is an issue that concerns sikhs and muslims alike.
as many have probably already heard, darbar sahib will not be one of the president's stops on his india trip unfortunately. you can read the sikh coalition's update here and continue to take action on the issue.
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
Pyare saadh sangat ji, what are we getting ourselves into? At first I was also getting a little too over the top with this whole, Obama and Harmandir Sahib natter; however, I then asked myself, what is this going to change?
Is it going to bring an abrupt change in Punjab’s economy? Will his visit terminate the use of drugs in Punjab? Will the water shortage come to a sudden end, due to his visit? Will racial discrimination across the world conclude? Above all, will Harmandir Sahibs purity and holiness enhance due to a visit from a person like you and I, whom we, as the public body gave the title of “President?”
The answers that I slowly moved towards for all these questions were, no, no, no, hmmmm, NO! We are so caught up with “Sikhs” and Harmandir Sahib receiving publicity and media hypes; we often forget the authenticity of the matter.
In other words, I am just trying to say that Obama visiting our Supreme Court is no honour for us. We don’t need to plead him to receive blessings and a sense of tranquility. How is this of any help to us? If he doesn’t want to visit, let it be and if, in any case, he wishes to make an “appearance,” then he must come with the same devotion, love and pure mind that an everyday person shows up with.
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
~ Simran Kaur
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
Pyare saadh sangat ji, what are we getting ourselves into? At first I was also getting a little too over the top with this whole, Obama and Harmandir Sahib natter; however, I then asked myself, what is this going to change?
Is it going to bring an abrupt change in Punjab’s economy? Will his visit terminate the use of drugs in Punjab? Will the water shortage come to a sudden end, due to his visit? Will racial discrimination across the world conclude? Above all, will Harmandir Sahibs purity and holiness enhance due to a visit from a person like you and I, whom we, as the public body gave the title of “President?”
The answers that I slowly moved towards for all these questions were, no, no, no, hmmmm, NO! We are so caught up with “Sikhs” and Harmandir Sahib receiving publicity and media hypes; we often forget the authenticity of the matter.
In other words, I am just trying to say that Obama visiting our Supreme Court is no honour for us. We don’t need to plead him to receive blessings and a sense of tranquility. How is this of any help to us? If he doesn’t want to visit, let it be and if, in any case, he wishes to make an “appearance,” then he must come with the same devotion, love and pure mind that an everyday person shows up with.
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
~ Simran Kaur
Here's a great article about the issue by Rajdeep Singh in the Washington Post: http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvo…