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, the Gap used Sikh actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia in their “Make Love†campaign. The Sikh community gave a lot of praise to Gap over social media posting and re-posting the advertisement as even encouraging Sikhs to purchase from and support the company. This support increased exponentially when Gap responded positively to racist vandalism on an ad in New York City.
While having a Sikh model on a mainstream advertisement might be a positive step especially a year after the Oak Creek tragedy, as Sikhs, how can we, as a community, support a company that has carried out horrific labor practices? Gap’s terrible labor practices in South Asian countries have been widely documented, putting employees in extremely dangerous working conditions with less than minimum compensation.
Gap, Inc. literally has blood on its hands, as 29 trapped garment workers died in a fire in a Bangladesh factory that produced clothing for the company in 2010. United Students Against Sweatshops states:
Human rights activists and labor groups have been calling on Gap to fix the factories in the rest of their Bangladesh supply chain since December 2010, but instead Gap is sticking with its own corporate-controlled voluntary initiative that lacks transparency, accountability, and worker voice. Gap initially promised to sign onto a meaningful fire and building safety agreement, but then backed out, announcing their own, go-it-alone initiative. Gap is using the same self-regulatory approach that they and other brands have used for two decades and that has failed to protect the safety of workers in Bangladesh: factory monitoring controlled entirely by Gap, with no transparency, no role for workers or their trade unions, no commitment to pay prices to suppliers that make it feasible for them operate responsibly, and no binding commitments of any kind.
61 Responses to “How much weight does the Sikh image carry?”
SALDEF's decision is correct. GAP should be honoured for having a Sikh in their billboard advertisements.
While the Sikh identity and image is something to be proud of, I think it's wrong to say it's "correct" to do this because it's putting image above actions. By saying it's correct, you're dismissing the valid request made in this blog post- which was to use this opportunity to ask GAP to reflect on it's human rights violations. SALDEF should posses the humility to consider the fact that their decision to honor GAP might not exactly be in line with the teachings of Sikhi.
I love the example of Guru Tegh Behadur. Sikhism is founded on standing up for the oppressed, and the life of the Guru is testament to this. Isn't one of the purposes of a Sikh's identity to be recognizable as an entrusting person that the oppressed can turn to for help? Yet SALDEF is honoring a notorious human rights violating giant for the use of our Sikh identity. We should be the face of social justice!
Thank you for this insightful blog post, and the informative details about GAP's past and current indiscretions.
SALDEF should use their common sense. Where on the image did it say "Sikh". It was a brown man with a turban and beard, image hijacked to represent terrorism to the American masses. All GAP did was use this image to help promote their own business and create a "buzz". It is wrong for SALDEF to go out and honor GAP especially when it comes to violations of human labor rights practices.
This exposure can serve as a platform to discuss, and hopefully find a solution, to the human rights/worker rights violations the GAP is clearly in violation of.
Should they be lauded for having a sikh as their model? To a certain degree, in terms of promoting the multicultural ideal that we liberals (the royal we:)) hold dear. However, this should be tempered with the GAPS failure to improve the lot of the workers in their swear shops (Bangledesh, etc..). Consumer should vote with their pocket books unitl this happens.
In short, thanks for the bill board, but get your house in order!
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These notions of "Sikh pride" and "proud to be Sikh" are ridiculous Western concepts that have infiltrated the SIkh mindset since the late 20th century. Someone show me where in SGGS it says pride is a good thing? Pride is the domain of the Bramhin who shaves his head and wears his thread to show his superiority by birth. Is this what Sikhs are become now – modern day Bramhins. Why SALDEF felt the need to honor a commercial entity for this is beyond me.
Human rights are basic rights of individual. They can choose their religion and we should respect them.
good for Gap
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I love the example of Guru Tegh Behadur. Sikhism is founded on standing up for the oppressed, and the life of the Guru is testament to this. Isn't one of the purposes of a Sikh's identity to be recognizable as an entrusting person that the oppressed can turn to for help? Yet SALDEF is honoring a notorious human rights violating giant for the use of our Sikh identity. We should be the face of social justice!
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