Kes is an important part of the Sikh identity but it also carries social, cultural, and political meaning for more than just Sikhs. Recently, a film student from NYU explored this less explored cross-cultural perspective by speaking with 3 individuals from various backgrounds in an interesting (and short-18 minute) documentary.
The film engages with a Sikh (Sonny Singh from the Sikh Coalition’s New York office), an African-American woman, and a woman with trichotillomania – a disorder that causes the sufferer to compulsively pull out hair. We often consider kes in the context of religion, beauty, and identity; but rarely do we do so in a cross-cultural perspective (unless you grew up in a culturally diverse community). The film is thoughtful and thought-provoking, so I’ll let it speak for itself. It includes footage from the recent Sikh Day parade in New York City, as well as a pagh tying competition in Richmond Hill.
[hat tip: sonny]
Hair… As one of the most important aspects of how others see us, how has our hair become interwoven with issues of race, religion, beauty, and identity?
Sikhism mandates that the hair is never cut. We explore the rationale behind this and the discrimination that Sikhs face today in a post 9-11 world.
Many women of African descent grow up to think negatively about their natural hair. So begins the burdensome, expensive, and often painful process of weaves and chemical straightening, as a however subconscious attempt to achieve a homogenized concept of beauty. We speak to a woman who takes pride in her natural hair and is committed to show others how truly beautiful “nappy” hair can be.
Sometimes what we do with our hair is not a choice. Trichotillomania is a disorder that causes the sufferer to compulsively pull out hair. We will meet a long-term lash/brow puller who describes how people have reacted to her disorder and how these experiences have shaped her. [link]
For those that follow The Langar Hall, Ruby Dhalla is no stranger to our coverage on Canadian politics. Whether it be on our list of Sikh MPs throughout the world, a Sikh Barack Obama, a horrible beating that is symptomatic of the nightmare that is the Punjab Police, or even attendance at NRI Punjabi conference, she has found mention.
In this post, she becomes the focus. Since last week after the Star published a story, Ruby Dhalla, the Liberal Member of Parliament, representing Brampton-Springdale, has been on the receiving end of a flood of media criticism for the following allegations
[Immigrant home care-givers] claimed that they earned $250 a week working 12- to 16-hour days at the Dhalla family home, that Dhalla herself had seized their passports and that other family members made them wash cars, shovel snow and clean chiropractic clinics owned by the family. [link]
The Canadian press has had a field day and has likened the case to the controversy that led to Eliot Spitzer’s resignation as the governor of New York due to his relationship with a prostitute after being seen as a ‘moralizer.’ Ruby Dhalla has been known to champion immigrant rights issues and women and thus it is for this reason that the allegations have been such damning.
Many students face physical and psychological bullying in schools- elementary, middle, and high. But Sikh students, male and female, often face especially severe bullying. Over the past couple years, some severe cases have come into
the public eye, including one teenager’s patka being set on fire, and others whose hair was forcibly cut. For statistics on the prevalence of harassment against Sikh students in New York schools, check out the Coalition’s report, “Hatred in the Hallways.”
One pro-active student at Baruch College (of the City University of New York) has come up with a simple and creative way to provide support to kids facing harassment. Through his school’s Sikh Student Association, he started a mentoring program called Sikh Scouts. The students, aged 5-12 are paired with older Sikhs of the same gender, and go on a day’s outing together.
Sikh Scouts is essentially a small-scale Sikh youth mentoring event that aims to forge and develop a long-lasting relationship with children in need of good Sikh role models to help them guide them on the path of Sikhi. [link]
One of the students from Baruch that participated in the program wrote about the experience.
After they warmed up to us and broke through their initial shyness, the kids couldn’t stop talking about their favorite movies, TV shows and music – the Jonas Brothers and what not. And in between all of that, we got down to the serious issues: a majority of the kids did not enjoy school and felt uncomfortable because of harassment or teasing by their peers. [link]
There might not be much that anyone, including the older Sikh Scouts, can do to make the bullying stop- after all, kids will be kids. But what we older Sikh students can do for our younger counterparts is to be a source of strength, share insights about why it’s important to be comfortable with who you are whether it fits someone else’s definition of cool or not, and be there to offer advice for specific situations. There are things we’ve learned in hindsight that can benefit those facing the same harassment today.
The topic of 1984 is hardly new in The Langar Hall and despite protestations from some amnesia-desiring commenters, we will not forget the Shaheeds of Darbar Sahib, the pograms in Delhi, the Ghallughara against the Sikhs from 1978-1995, or even the continuing impunity that continues today.
We have highlighted many events in the past and we will contine to do so.
In that spirit, I strongly urge TLH readers to attend this year’s Jakara Movement conference in Fresno, CA from June 18-21st. A number of invited guests’ names will be announced in the upcoming week. The title of the conference is “Remember 1984: reflect. respond. react.”
2009 | 1984 | 25 years | No justice | No memory | No history | No people
Despite the fact that many wish to forget the events that befell and have shaped the Sikh Nation, it is vital for the ‘next generation of Sikhs’ to be aware of our past and understand how it shapes our present and our future. While twenty-five years have passed since the attack on our sacred home, much has changed and much has remained the same. For the Nishan Sahib of our Nation to remain tall, it is for us to study our history, remember the past, and continue the fight for justice.
This year at Jakara, we will Remember 1984 and celebrate those Kaurs and Singhs that made the ultimate sacrifice for our Qaum.
Join us in Fresno as we Remember 1984: Reflect. Respond. React.
Register here TODAY and avoid a late fee. Below the fold you’ll find the agenda. See you there!
There were two blurbs in the news this week regarding the ethnic cleansing of Sikhs from Pakistan’s tribal regions along the Afghani border [full disclaimer: both stories are from the Indian press, so there is certainly a different political interest/stake in representing Pakistan as a state with anti-minority insurgency]:
Terming the Taliban as “ruthless killers,” the US today said the action initiated by them against the minority Sikh community in Pakistan’s tribal region was not surprising provides all the more reason to rid the region of extremists.
“I’ve heard reports about that. It doesn’t surprise me. I mean, these are ruthless killers, the Taliban,” State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters at his daily press briefing when asked about Taliban’s demand for “Jizya” from Sikhs in Pakistan’s tribal regions forcing them to leave their homes. [link]
India has taken up with Pakistan the issue of treatment of minorities following reports of demolition of Sikhs’ homes in parts of the country. [link]
I fully appreciate the irony of India calling for Pakistan to pay attention to the violent removal of minorities from their homes, and the spillover effects of the Taliban’s activities on the Pakistani border have been well-covered in the media. But this raises a larger question about more bald-faced attempts to crowd Sikhs and other religious minorities fully out of Pakistan. Sikhs already constitute a super thin minority with very little political power. Some would argue this should come as no surprise if people chose to remain within an Islamic Republic. Nonetheless, this additional pressure places an additional strain on minority communities who have negotiated remaining within Pakistan. Does this indicate Pakistan’s overall weakness in enforcing its border, or does it illustrate a political decision not to get involved while the Taliban capitalizes on underlying beliefs around minority groups? As this culture of intolerance moves east, is it the harbinger for a larger cultural shift within Pakistan? It certainly calls for the homogenization of the State, including forms of practice within Islam, but was this an interim sacrifice in order to preserve primacy for the central government?
Cynthia Mahmood, author of the groundbreaking work, “Fighting for Faith and Nation,” just published an incredibly personal and powerful account of her rape and assault, possibly by Indian police, in an attempt to silence her 
anthropological work on Sikhs in Punjab in the early 1990s. Luckily for all of us, the rape did not accomplish its goal and instead seems to have fueled Ms. Mahmood’s fire. She courageously continued her work and has again shown courage in speaking publicly about such a deeply personal, and deeply difficult incident. Ms. Mahmood’s work has been incredibly important to revealing the human side of the violent Sikh movement for independence and the brutal suffering of Sikh civilians in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s. Without her contribution, the movement for justice for 1984 and the following decade would not be where it is today. Through her rigorous scholarship and powerful writing, she exposed a side of the story of Punjab that otherwise perhaps would have been left uncovered. In addition to “Fighting for Faith and Nation,” she co-authored the also ground-breaking work, “Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab.” I can’t emphasize enough how important her scholarship has been to the Sikh community. She’s a frequent speaker, commentator, and expert on Sikh separatism and human rights in Punjab.
I’m astounded and inspired. You must read the entire account, though I’ve copied a few passages below. Ms. Mahmood reveals herself to be resilient, committed to truth, and irrepressible in spirit.
During 1984, Ms. Mahmood was in India studying ancient Buddhism for her dissertation, “Rebellion and Response in Ancient India: Political Dynamics of the Hindu-Buddhist Tradition” when the struggle between Sikhs and the central government was constantly in the news. She travelled to Bihar in 1992 to study a tribal group, and in a north central Indian state, was discouraged- severely- by (possible) Hindu nationalists from studying the Sikhs of Punjab. The discouragement came in the form of a severe assault and a brutal gang-rape.
Her account of the rape is visceral and will leave you haunted.
Slash, slash, blood. I see the blood dripping, even in the dark. I smell my own blood over the smell of the rotten tangerines.
I cannot fight back, not against this. I should survive, only survive.
Oh! I hadn’t noticed. Black-shoe man is raping me. [link]
More Sikh (or being promoted as Sikh) products are launching- I’m referring to the new tv channels: 1) The Sikh Channel– which is replacing Brit Hits TV and 2) Punjjabi TV…
Punjabi and Sikh people finally have the opportunity to watch programs in their mother tongue with the launch of a dedicated Sikh channel on Sky digital 840 and the perceived arrival of Punjjabi TV coming on air as early as Monday next week. [link]
Does this increase in Sikh products mean that Sikhs will have a platform and voice which we’ve been lacking before? Not necessarily. Zee Punjabi and many other channels have already been targeting Punjabi and Sikh audiences. So far it seems like these new channels will continue to provide the same coverage as earlier channels- sitcoms, kirtan, music, and some non-controversial news. There’s very little information available online about these channels thus far, and I’m interested to know whether they’re owned by Sikhs or just targeting a Sikh audience.
Regardless of the owners, the launch of these channels does signal that at least some parts of our community are gaining economic and social power, at least in the UK where these channels seem to be based. And perhaps (depending on who the owners are) these channels can serve as platforms for discussing ideas that other news forms avoid, out of a desire to remain non-controversial. Or perhaps it’ll be more of the same.
Next month marks the two year anniversary since the Shahadat of Bhai Kamaljit Singh. It has been quite some time since I last blogged about Dehra Sacha Sauda and unfortunately maybe I am also guilty of only following the story as the Indian media does or does not.
It was at the end of 2007, when this blog was first starting out, when I wrote about the ‘Sikh Successes of 2007’ with the incident of the confrontation of Dehra Sacha Sauda as #1 on my list. This week, I read an interesting synthesis by two French graduate students – Lionel Baixas et Charlène Simon. Lionel is completing his PhD in political science and is interested in democracy in South Asia, while Charlène is finishing her PhD in anthropology and has worked on issues related to the Ravidassia religious movement.
While I have commented on some of these issues, their recent article, titled “From Protesters to Martyrs: How to Become a ‘True’ Sikh” re-evaluates the Dehra Sacha Sauda issue through interviews and fieldwork conducted last April in Punjab and Haryana. Their abstract is as follows:
This article studies the protest which started in Punjab in May 2007 following a ceremony performed by Baba Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh (GRRS), head of Dera Sacha Sauda, which was considered as blasphemous by a section of the Sikh community. The aim of this article is to understand the motivation of the actors of the protest itself: How did the Sikh protesters legitimate their reaction one year later? What kinds of reasons have led hundreds of Sikhs from very different social background to take the streets? What kind of emotions played a role in the Sikhs’ mobilization?
Blogged: Amol Singh
On the night of April 24, 1915, over 200 of Constantinople’s Armenian intellectual and civic leaders were taken from their homes and boarded upon trains headed eastward toward the city of Ankara. What followed over the next few months would be a concerted, systematic Ottoman project meant to eradicate the Armenian identity. Millions of Armenians, depicted by the state as dangerous Russian conspirators and hazardous to the security of the Ottoman Empire, were uprooted from their homes and marched across the Turkish desert. What transpired over the course of that summer was the raping, pillaging, and butchering of over a million people. Though the Ottoman forces might have failed in the complete liquidation of a people, genocide served as a near consolation prize.
As April 24th approaches, Armenians around the world will gather as they have for the past 90+ years and demand that the Turkish state take responsibility for its actions. This summer, as Sikhs also embark on projects to mark the events of 1984, it seems hard to escape the fact that we too, are becoming part of a global collective searching for some sort of acceptance of the atrocities that have been done to us. This sharing of spaces by the world’s downtrodden is allowing for more nuanced perspectives of each atrocity. In this understanding, the 1915 Armenian genocide becomes not a yearlong campaign to annihilate Armenia, but rather a set of events concurrent with a larger Ottoman decades- long campaign meant to undermine Armenian existence. In this sphere, Operation Blue Star becomes not a plan to rid Harimander Sahib of radicals hijacking the Sikh identity, but rather another incident in a set of systematic attacks on Sikh sovereignty by the Indian Center.
In this mold, we are becoming participants in a unique Genocidees Anonymous of sorts, where the recognition of our tragedies becomes cast into a set of layered political demands.
According to the Sikh Times, Sikh police officers are coming together to help address discrimination within the workforce in addition to addressing community relations between Sikhs and the British police.
The Association, which is to launch next Wednesday, lists its goals as follows:
The aims and objectives of the BPSA are;
- To establish a national forum for Sikh members of the British police services
- To assist the British police services in developing strategies to recruit, retain, and progress Sikh members of the service hence increasing Sikh representation in the police service at all levels
- To provide a religious, cultural and social forum for members of the BSPA through celebration of dates and festivals on the Sikh calendar.
- To promote an understanding of the Sikh Faith and the Sikh values of democracy, equality and justice within the police services
- To provide support and advice to Sikh members of the police service.
- To promote social cohesion and integration.
It seems like Canada is showcasing one socially conscious Sikh rapper after another. TLH has covered “Humble The Poet” and now here is “Sikh Knowledge” from Montreal. Sikh Knowledge raps with Lotus on issues effecting the 2nd generation and marginalized peoples.
Kanwar Anit Singh Saini, a.k.a. Sikh Knowledge, is the son of Punjabi Sikh immigrants. He works in the field of speech pathology where he contributes his musical knowledge to the health sciences field.
Check out his songs below and let us know what you think!
Disclaimer: There are graphic descriptions and swear words in the videos below.
Today, I want to share with you, Nirpreet Kaur’s story. I highlight her story for 2 reasons. 
First, as we’ve discussed on this blog before, the majority of Sikh history as its been documented thus far really is his-tory. So this piece of her-story is a rare gem. And second, too often, we think of women in the Sikh community only in our roles as mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters. These are all important roles but our identity isn’t entirely defined relative to others’ or based on our relationships with others. Yet we recognize the additional roles we play outside of these expected roles too rarely. And so… Nirpreet Kaur.
Nirpreet was 16 years old on November 2, 1984 when the mob came for her father, Nirmal Singh…”[Khokhar- a Youth Congress leader] sweet-talked my father into coming with him for a compromise,” says Nirpreet. But Khokhar went straight to the mob and handed Nirmal Singh over. The oldest of three siblings, Nirpreet, ran to the mob but could only watch helplessly as her father was tied up and set ablaze. [link]
To avenge the killing of her father, Nirpreet joined the Khalistani movement.
As a functionary of the then dreaded All India Sikh Students Federation, Nirpreet came in contact with those involved with the Khalistan movement, an armed insurgency fighting for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab, and became part of the militancy that ravaged the state for over a decade in the 1980s.[link]
With Obama’s move for a new strategy, recently, we have seen an avalanche of different articles from Af-Pak, the newly vogue name for the region. I will begin with some more macro-debates, before turning to the Sikh-specific.
An interesting analysis was recently featured in the London Review of Books, in an article titled ‘Taliban versus Taliban.’ In the article, the Economist correspondent, Graham Usher, notes that Americans have a problem in understanding the complexities of the “Taliban” phenomenon because it means different things to different people at different times.
All politics is local and that is how the Taliban should be treated as well. Made up of diverse factions and groups with widely separate ideologies, we “lump” them under a specific tag – “Taliban.” While for the US, anyone that attacks them in Afghanistan is Taliban, for the Pakistani Army, their perspective is a bit different. The only issue that really matters is if the group works in India’s strategic interest. Thus there are ‘good’ elements and ‘bad’ elements:
The short answer is pro-India, in practice if not intent. Insurgents in the tribal areas are deemed anti-Pakistani if their actions advance the perceived goals of India in Afghanistan. They are pro-Pakistani as long as they don’t attack the Pakistani state or army, even if they launch attacks against Nato forces in Afghanistan, Islamabad’s supposed allies in the ‘war on terror’. Indeed, the Afghan Taliban is considered an ‘asset’, a hedge against the day when the US and Nato leave, but also a counter to India’s expanding influence in Afghanistan.
Its been a good year so far for Sikhs and Canadian sports. First, we’ve had NHL regular season and playoff games broadcast in Punjabi. We’ve also the first NBA game broadcast in Punjabi. And this year, at the annual Vaisakhi game for the Toronto Raptors, four good looking Sardars sang the Canadian and American national anthems. Performing on drums is Jiwanjot Singh Gill, on dilruba Harman Singh, on dhol is “Tabla Guy“, Gurpreet Singh Chana, and on vocals and harmonium, Dr. Onkar Singh.
Updated: Friday, at 11:30PM
Last year we covered the story of a Sikh youth accused of brandishing his kirpan on the schoolyard. Accounts of the incident were hugely divergent; it was unclear whether an assault had ever actually occurred, or whether the report was a feature of animosity toward religious minorities in Quebec.
Yesterday that youth was fully acquitted of the kirpan-based charge, and his other possible charges were dispensed. The outcome of this case is a success for the youth involved, but also in that its outcome has no bearing on the interpretation or application of its effect to the kirpan in general. The judge in this case intimated that the case had gone too far and would never have been brought, were it not for the youth’s nationality and religious identity:
I remember that night…election night, watching on TV students rejoicing in the streets outside of Howard University (a local Historically Black University). I’m not sure how much of it was about Obama’s policy, or just the “historic” nature of the event, but it was all summed up to me as an African-American student holding back his tears said to a reporter, “I’m just so happy to have one of our guys in power.” It was a common sentiment, but this statement stuck in my head for several days. What did he mean by this? What was his expectation of President Obama over the next 4 years? Did he think just because a black man is in office, all of a sudden the American experience will now change for black people? That the wrongs of their history will now become right? That discriminatory laws and policies toward black people will all of a sudden be overturned? If that is what he meant, then I understand the celebration…but I would celebrate with caution.
Five years ago, many Sikhs were celebrating in the streets as well. Finally, one of “our guys” had become Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh was elected selected as the 17th Prime Minister of India, by Sonia Gandhi herself. Sikhs all over the world rejoiced. Even many of the Sikh political prisoners in jail were celebrating with this victory, believing their release was now imminent.
Even some of my more progressive and panthic-minded friends got caught up in “Manmohan Singh Fever” and encouraged me to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, how could we judge him? Who knows what he may do for us?
I, however, remained skeptical.
UPDATE: The 13-year old youth who was arrested that night has been charged with assault and is scheduled to appear in court on May 19. [source] Thanks to everyone who’s given more information in the comments!
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Some tragic news is coming out of Toronto tonight from the Dixie gurdwara’s Vaisakhi celebrations. 
A Mississauga teen was stabbed in the stomach and seriously injured Tuesday night during a [Vaisakhi] celebration at the Ontario Khalsa Darbar temple in Mississauga.
The 15-year-old male was taken to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto after the stabbing at around 10 p.m. in a kitchen in the temple’s basement. The victim was conscious and breathing, a Peel police officer said at the scene, and was believed to be in serious but not life-threatening condition.
Peel police arrested a teenager at the scene who is about the same age as the victim.
The stabbing happened during Vaisaki, an annual religious festival marking the start of the new solar years that, throughout the day, draws about 30,000 people to the temple, also known as Dixie Gurdwara. [link]
An equally young suspect is in custody, though no information about motive has been released yet. If any readers in Toronto can update us, your southern neighbors would really appreciate it.
A suspect, about the same age as the victim, is in police custody. Police say the knife used in the stabbing may have been set out with some food. [link]
I’ll refrain from speculating about possible motives since there is so little information to go on right now. What I can say at this point, regardless of the back story, is that there is no acceptable justification for this senseless act of violence.
I’ll update this entry as more information is released though. Our thoughts are with the young victim, his family, and Toronto’s sangat.
Last week, we saw the birth of a new Sikh folk hero. I am sure the dhadhi jathas (just as Chuck D called rap music the CNN of black people, dhadhi jatha is the CNN of the Sikhs) are already warming up their sarangi and dhad.
While other commenters have suggested material reasons for the turnabout in the Congress Party’s decision, I still contend that we must celebrate the Sikh masses for galvanizing the issue. The show of force came through Sikhs and their ‘rail roko’ with the shutting down of the railroad system throughout Punjab.
Although I am well aware of the political advantages that the Akali Dal and BJP sought to gain from the issue of the Delhi Pogroms of 1984, I hope for naysayers, worst of all those within our community, that like to state “the past is the past” and “let bygones be bygones” they realize the past does affect the present and life still does reside within the Sikh masses and polity.
Our so-called “leaders” rarely lead. Throughout Sikh history, it has been the masses that have had to goad these so-called leaders. Whether it was the movement to free the Gurdwaras from British-Mahant control during the early part of the 20th century or even the Sarbat Khalsa and subsequent declarations at the Akal Takht in 1986, the Sikh masses have always been the main impetus of the Qaum. The Guru Granth Sahib is our guide and the Guru Khalsa Panth (and not individual leaders, be they SAD Presidents or Jathedars) is our temporal collective body.
I know many will object to this post and ask how does a shoe bring justice to the thousands that lost their lives in 1984? My reply – it doesn’t.
But what it does do is highlight the farce that calls itself Indian justice.
Earlier this week, I wrote about Sikh outrage against the Congress Party’s continuance of giving electoral posts to genocidal murders. While I still hold my claim of an independent position against Parkash Badal, the Akali Dal, and the BJP’s opportunism and the Congress Party’s celebration of impunity, the action of journalist Jarnail Singh warrants commentary and analysis.
An airline with potentially the best airplane food (for those with Punjabi palates) has just launched. Akal Air has just started bi-weekly flights (Wednesdays and Saturdays) from Birmingham, UK to Amritsar, a gateway for Sikhs to 
Punjab.
Daljit Singh Birring, managing director of Akal Air, suggested that Birmingham International Airport is the “perfect base” for the airline. He said: “Access to Amritsar is of huge importance to the large Punjabi and Sikh population of the Midlands taking the pilgrimage to the Golden Temple and visiting family and friends.” [cheapflights uk]
The new flights are good news for the large Asian community in the Midlands. “Birmingham is the perfect base for Akal Air. Access to Amritsar is of huge importance to the large Punjabi and Sikh population of the Midlands taking the pilgrimage to the Golden Temple and visiting family and friends, as well as for business people trading with India’s emerging and developing economy,” says Akal Air managing director, Daljit Singh Birring. [link]
It seems that hospitality will be a major feature of the airline.
Akal Air customers will always be treated with respect, due care and consideration and be offered a pleasant flight experience by all Akal Air staff from Check-in, boarding, in-flight through to baggage claim. [Akal Air]
Happy travels to all in Birmingham! I hope to see Akal Air expand in the near future.
