How much weight does the Sikh image carry?
Guest blogged by Manpreet Kaur Recently the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) announced that they will be honoring Gap, Inc. for taking “pride in featuring the Sikh American identity” at their annual gala on October 11th in Washington, DC. As you may remember, last year,...
As a community we mourn, but together we will lead
During this past week following the tragic events in Wisconsin, our community has changed substantially. We have grown as a people and identified even more with Sikhi, standing up in a time of crisis, and responding in a positive and effective way, battling apathy with activism and suffering with solidarity. SALDEF’s SikhLEAD Leadership...
Sikhs challenging racial profiling
Photo courtesy of the Sikh Coalition My Facebook news feed and email inbox have been buzzing with discussion and calls to action to challenge racial profiling and, in particular, the NYPD’s infamous “stop and frisk” policy.  I was happy to receive multiple emails today on the issue...
Why September 11 Didn’t Matter – part 1
I waited a few days.  The title may be sacrilegious, but bear with me and let me explain. Undoubtedly, for the lives lost in the World Trade Center, for victims such as Balbir Singh Sodhi, for the innocents and “collateral damage” dehumanized and murdered in the hundreds of thousands (and rising)...
SikhLEAD: An Initiative to Increase Community Engagement and Leadership
The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) has announced the Congressional Internship Program (CIP) as part oftheir new initiative called SikhLEAD. The objective of SikhLEAD is to inspire, train, and support motivated and enterprising young Sikh American leaders as they prepare for a...
Community Advisory: Turbans to Always be Searched at US Airports
This morning the Sikh Coalition, SALDEF and United Sikhs issued Alerts advising the community that Sikhs should now expect turbans to be searched 100% of the time at American airports.  The alert has been copied below so that community members are aware of this prior to arriving at airports around...
When Common Sense Isn’t So Common
Earlier this month a congressional hearing reviewing the Transportation Security Administration’s 2011 Fiscal budget occurred in committee.  Representative, John Culberson (Republican from Texas) demanded to know why the US government refuses to engage in racial and religious profiling, when screening...
Civic Engagement And Sikh Community Leadership
We are seeing how political power is harnessed and used by the Sikh community as we engage in more civic engagement projects initiated by our own Sikh institutions. Civic engagement is not new to our community per se. The first Asian congressman was a Sikh-Dalip Singh Saund. As a child I remember local...