Award for Stupidest Headline Featuring a Sikh-Related Article

Today I announce the beginning of a new award. It is the ‘Stupidest Headline Featuring a Sikh-related Article.” My first nominee:

“A Temple That Aladdin Would Be Proud Of”

It seems that our friends down-under in Autralia, at the Shepparton News, were reporting the opening of a new Sikh Gurdwara. The article’s first paragraph continues with the obnoxiousness:

There will be no genie or magic lamp, but Harpal Singh described the finished product of Shepparton’s first Sikh temple as something similar to the palace of Agrabah in the Walt Disney animation Aladdin.

I doubt Harpal Singh said anything of the kind. [This assumption was faulty and the author of the article did clarify that Harpal Singh did in fact make the connection. Thank you Kayla!]

In 2008 can you really get away with being this dumb as a journalist?

Do you have any other nominations?

Towards a Sikh Civil Rights Agenda

Although my earlier discussion on multiculturalism put forth some of my thoughts, an interesting news item caught my interest yesterday. I guess this can be seen in a way as a part II of that original post.

While many of us spent our weekends remembering the spirit of the Khalsa, attending Nagar Kirtans, making rounds at the Vaisakhi Melas, or buying tickets for the upcoming Gurdas Mann tour, some New York Sikhs did something very different.

Sponsored by the Sikh Coalition, Sikhs in New York gathered at the steps of City Hall in protest. They released a report, “Making Our Voices Heard: A Civil Rights Agenda for New York City’s Sikhs.”

The report provides its own background:

In December 2006, the Sikh Coalition, with the help of several dedicated volunteers, began conducting the first ever civil rights survey of New York City’s Sikhs. The survey intended to gather information on Sikhs’ experiences with incidents of bias, employment discrimination, language access and other issues that hinder full integration into New York’s civic and political life.

This report represents the results obtained from the data we collected from 1,021 Sikhs who live in New York City’s five boroughs. The data presented in this report identifies significant gaps between the promise of the law and the Sikh community’s reality on the ground.

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Murder of Elderly Punjabi Sikh Man: Rethinking Elderly Care In The Diaspora

Recently there was a news report of an elderly 70-year old Punjabi Sikh man, Pargat Singh Kahlon, who was found decapitated in Alberta, Canada. His right hand was also damaged, according to Police, in an effort to prevent identification based on tattoos commonly seen on elderly Punjabi Sikh men and women.

Police say they believe Kahlon was slain because there was a “high level of physical violence” visible on his remains.

Kahlon had moved from Vancouver to Calgary and was currently living at a Sikh Society Center. Last time, anyone saw him was when [he] “… got a ride to the bank”.

Apparently, like many elderly parents in Canada/U.S. with children left behind in India, he was providing his sons with financial help.

“He had to send money to one of his sons in India. He went to the bank in the northeast and from there he withdrew $2,500,” Aujla told reporters.

He wasn’t seen again.

Police are still investigating the crime to discover a motive for the killing and possible suspects. Does anyone have recent updates on the case?

Khalon’s death also made me reflect on the need for us to rethink elderly care in the Diaspora based on the varied circumstances and needs of elderly Punjabi Sikhs. For example, different waves of South Asian immigration to North America has created an elderly Punjabi Sikh community that has raised 1.5, 2^nd and 3^rd generation children in the Diaspora; while many elderly men and women have recently immigrated to the United States/Canada with financial and moral responsibilities to support and resettle children still in Punjab. How do these issues influence elderly care in the form of day-centers, nursing homes, and in-home assistance for our community?

Towards an American Sikh collective

Bloggers have discussed past achievements in the Sikh community and ideas for future efforts in collective action. But we haven’t yet really talked about what this collectivism is, where the contrasting individualism stems from, and what both entail.

What’s the difference between an individualist and a collectivist psychology? Collectivists emphasize group harmony and duties to the group over their individual, personal goals. They emphasize cooperation, respectfulness, and loyalty. Collectivists tend to communicate in spirals, taking a scenic route to tell a story and generally avoid conflict because it disrupts group harmony. In contrast, individualists value personal freedom, self-reliance, competition, and personal achievement over anyone else’s. Individualists see conflict as a positive opportunity for change and prefer to address it directly. Strong individualists like many Americans are rigidly linear in their communication.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced spiral communication. Think of your dadaji telling a story in a way that incorporates the broad history of the era, and every group in the village, maybe even details like the type of birds that were flying through the air at that moment in time. He will get to the point of the story in a winding, colorful manner.

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Another Sikh Wedding Act?

Too often in the diaspora, Sikhs are discouraged from becoming involved with the politics of their homeland. While on certain occasions I have been critical of special ‘entitlements‘ and malicious effects the diaspora has had on the Punjabi homeland, sometimes our political workings can bring about great effects.

In an earlier post, I had mentioned what I believed to be the Top 5 Sikh Successes of 2007. At #2 I mentioned the Pakistani Sikh Anand Marriage Act. This certainly has been a long demand from the community. In fact it was due to the nullification of the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 and the lumping of Sikhs as “Hindus” in the Indian Constitution that Sikh representatives refused to ratify the constitution.

Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale often reminded Sikhs that if they believe they have an independent status within the Indian state, look no further than their marriage certificate that is signed under the ‘Hindu Marriage Act’ and compare that to the separate status of the Muslim and Christian communities. The efforts of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and the American Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee led to the announcement last year that Pakistan will recognize and enact legislation recognizing the Anand Marriage Act.

It seems that this political pressure may mark dividends for Sikhs in Punjab. This week, the Indian Law and Justice Minister HR Bhardwaj stated that the government of India is planning to bring in a special marriage act for the Sikhs.

He said the Government has taken note of demands in this regard from various Sikh organisations and “there should not be a problem” in introducing such an act.

“We will bring it soon,” he said replying to supplementaries.

Reality? An empty promise? We’ll find out soon….

So How are Sikhs Passing Gas?

So yesterday I had to fill my car with gas. I never really pay attention to the price of gas until I get to the pump. Yikes!! Is it really $3.75?? And that is just for the 87 octane. I feel bad for the ‘ballers’ in our community that choose to drive expensive redundant SUVs and other vehicles that might come in handy should the apocalypse strike.

All over the media, we are hearing about the scary $4/gallon that is coming up. Most of these articles read the same. However, a recent article on the same subject in the Fresno Bee reminded me of another factor…we own these businesses.

Harry Dhaliwal, owner of the Olive Avenue Chevron, said he sympathizes with his customers, who are increasingly making smaller purchases of gas.

“It used to be people would spend $20, or $30, and now it’s more like $10 and $20,” Dhaliwal said. “The only people who fill up anymore are the people with the credit cards. What does that tell you?”

So let’s here our take. Are you driving less? Are you considering to join the hybrid craze?  If you own a gas station, what has been the effect on your family? At least from the Fresno Bee poll, people are not putting the blame on gas stations. So, will there still be too many Hummers in the Gurdwara parking lot on Sunday?

Simmering Sikhs

The Economic Times of India in its ‘Special Pages’ section last week carried an extended article titled Simmering Discontent: Sikhs in Punjab are fighting many wars.

The article sought to understand the ‘current and cross-currents’ of Punjabi society.

At the forefront were:

1. The rise of the Dera-complex – the article cites that over 10 Deras in Punjab currently have over 100,000 followers, the largest being Dera Sacha Sauda, but the actual number of smaller Deras is almost infinite, only limited by the number of actual villages in Punjab

2. The burning issue of caste

3. Rising unemployment and the stagnation of the Green Revolution economy

4. Drug Addiction

While the journalist, Praveen Thampi is most interested in asserting his political point:

“Punjab has burning issues to address. But the only people interested in revival of the Khalistan movement are the journalists coming down from Delhi.”

Although quoting another journalist about this issue, Thampi falls into the same trap. Instead of finding solutions and proposals for these burning problems, Thampi wants to waive the ‘Khalistan’ boogeyman to sensationalize his news.

So using some of the information, Thampi uncovers I humbly submit some of my thoughts on these four problems and invite other readers to comment, disagree, and suggest their own.

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Where are Sikhs in the U.S. presidential campaigns?

Apparently everywhere! The Sikh News Network recently ran an analysis (imperfect stats, but interesting) on Sikh fundraising patterns in the current election. They claim that the “longtime affinity for Republicans” has been broken by Hillary Clinton [I’m not sure how prevalent that so-called “affinity” is for either party, but it is true that folks have funded Clinton heavily]:

According to data from the Federal Election Commission, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., led in Sikh contributions, receiving almost $248,000 through Jan. 31. That’s more than half of the total $412,000 from 241 donors. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was next with about $64,000. And among Republicans, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson led with $24,400… While Sikhs gave slightly more to President Bush than Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in the last election, the contributions to Democratic candidates have surged this time.

The article goes on to highlight the leadership roles that Rajwant Singh (Chair of SCORE and Clinton-supporter) and Ravinder Singh (attorney and policy advisor for Obama) have in the Democratic campaigns. I’ve already disclosed my bias, but I’ve found this election season to be really inspiring. I may be plagiarizing Michelle Obama, but for the first time in my adult (voting) life I’ve felt compelled to really engage in the political process. I’ve been excited by the number of Sikhs and young people in general taking ownership in the elections. This engagement also helps build a small but growing voice for long-term political advocacy.

We know that Sikh engagement in politics is not entirely new, and there are certainly a number of Sikhs in elected office across local governments in the U.S. However, it seems like the nature, dynamic, and depth of Sikh involvement is growing by leaps and bounds.

• What does this engagement mean for us as a community,
• and how does it guide our work inside and outside of formal political bureaucracies?

Who Speaks for Sikh Americans? (Part 1 of 2)

While Sikhs have lived in the U.S. for over 100 years, our numbers have grown tremendously after 1960s immigration reform. With this increase in numbers, we’re beginning to see the first long-term interactions between waves of immigrants and within generations of immigrants. These shifts in demographics, in concert with growth in the population of U.S.-born Sikhs, have created a space in which we are re-visioning and exploring advocacy and expression on behalf of the Sikh community.

Among many U.S.-born and 1.5-generation Sikhs, this advocacy and participation has happened through the creation of new institutions. Sidestepping the process of sangat-based decision-making, a slew of new “community-focused” advocacy organizations have popped up. Many of the organizations we now think of as household names (SALDEF – formerly SMART, Sikh Coalition, United Sikhs, Ensaaf) were founded in the last 15 years. While these same organizations provide important legal advocacy tools, a lack of coordination between organizations, paired with a hesitancy to engage Sikh spiritual organizations, at best leads to confusion around a cohesive, unified Sikh voice/message. At its worst, this failure to work together leads to the creation of campaigns that often either duplicate efforts or undermine each others’ work.

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Update: Hook a Sikh Punjabi Brother Up

Update:

Who knows if the “Langar-ite Leap” helped Rohanpreet gain the maximum number of votes last weekend, but it surely did help. If you voted last week, make sure you vote again. If you didn’t vote last week, make sure this week you do.

It is down to the final 3. After an acrimonious elimination last week, Rohanpreet has advanced out of the Final 4. The quest to number 1 continues. His talent brought him this far, it’s our job to bring it home. If you forgot how to vote, scroll down and remember. VOTE OR DIE! (Thanks, Puffy)

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Rohanpreet needs your help. We have featured Rohanpreet, the Prince of Patiala on this blog before and now he desperately needs your help. He needs your vote. Atleast for this weekend, forget Hillary, Obama, and even McCain, think Rohanpreet. (Yes, we are usually against group identity blocks, but sometimes we make exceptions)What you need to do – VOTE FOR ROHANPREET.

1. Go to this website
2. Click on the ‘Sign Up’ blue tab under the password entry area
3. Fill out the registration. (Yes, it’s lame, but this one is easy, JUST DO IT!)
4. Vote as many times as possible (There is no limit! Stop being lazy, you have nothing better to do, c’mon just a few more times)
5. If you do it, leave a comment here. Let’s see how many we can get to vote Rohanpreet!

Voting ends Monday morning 10:30am IST, thats Sunday night 9:00pm PST.

Do it for love. Do it for music. Do it for Punjab. Do it for Rohanpreet. Just DO IT. Ok enough of this bakwas, back to your regularly scheduled broadcasting….

The Longest Walk to the Lodi Sikh Gurdwara

While perusing the internet news, I found something interesting. It seems that Native Americans, in order to bring awareness to issues concerning both Native Americans and the global community, have started an initiative, called the Longest Walk 2008, commencing from San Francisco this past Tuesday with volunteers walking to Washington DC on foot and reaching there by July 11, 2008.

From their press release, their mission and the occasion is stated:

On Tuesday, February 12th, representatives from hundreds of Native American nations participated in a ceremonial and cultural commencement for the Longest Walk 2, the 30-year anniversary of the historic 1978 Longest Walk. More than two hundred participants of the Longest Walk 2 have embarked on a five-month long trans-continental journey on foot from San Francisco. The walk will arrive in Washington, D.C. on July 11, 2008, bringing attention to issues of environmental injustice, protection of sacred sites, cultural survival, youth empowerment, and eroding Native American rights.

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Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosures, and Punjabi Sikhs

Co-Blogged By Camille and Phulkari

The National Context: Subprime Markets & Immigrant Communities
It’s hard to read the economic news these days without coverage of two big issues — the subprime mortgage crisis and a looming recession. In many of these stories, the narrative of the subprime mortgage crisis focuses on two issues — how banks extended credit to low-income and traditionally unbanked communities, and how these communities lacked the funds to keep up with large interest rate step ups.

Underneath the surface of this narrative, a salient aspect of this conversation is rooted in the unique ways that predatory lenders sought borrowers with very little financial training. I live in Connecticut, where nearly 2/3 of the properties facing foreclosure were refinances of pre-existing mortgages. Even more jarring is how the lack of understanding around lending terminology impacts the upward mobility of both working poor and immigrant communities. For folks who had made enough money to buy into a higher tax bracket or economic class, subprime mortgages seemed to deliver on that promise of a nice house in a nice neighborhood.

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Will the Revolution be Televised? Sikhs and the Media

So, I’m a fan of Waris Singh Ahluwalia. It should be no surprise – he’s an actor who makes incredible jewelry and I’m all about diverse talents. Last year, with the release of The Darjeeling Limited, he did an interview and responded to being honored for his positive portrayal of Sikhs in the media. I thought it was significant,

I don’t want to be honored that much. I really don’t. I’m humbled and utterly confused to be put in this position. All these galas and fundraisers, they’re really important–especially after 9/11, when we’re seen as one of the major religions, and nobody knows who we are. In terms of the Sikh community, we’ll raise our families, go to work, pay our taxes, be American citizens, and that [should be] enough. Guess what? That’s not enough.

Why is it not enough? Regardless of how “citizen-like” we act, will we continue to fight the typecasts and stereotypes the media has imposed on an “unfamiliar” community?

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Follow up: A “Sensible” Religious Response to LGBT Sikhs

Earlier this week I blogged about how Queer/LGBT Sikhs have been (shamefully) excluded from the Sikh community by religious leaders. Today, I was sent the following blog post and BBC article about “marriages of convenience” for queer desis who feel they cannot come out, by virtue of their religious or ethnic identities (thanks, Jodha!). Balbir Singh, a leader in the Southall community comments:

“The whole family suffers. We are living in 2008 and it’s time they should come out to the parents… I’ve even heard that parents have died because of the shock of finding out about these pretend marriages. But for Asian gays and lesbians, the situation is very difficult.”

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On Common Ground – Sikhs and the DOJ

This tip just came in (thanks DJ Drrrty Poonjabi).

It seems that the US Department of Justice has released a training video, developed with SALDEF, for public view. Although the video has just been placed on their site, the US DOJ seems to have been using it for internal purposes since the Thanksgiving last year (2007).http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6224218468847681650

An article reported:

Meanwhile, all 43,000 TSA screeners will undergo Sikh cultural awareness training before the Thanksgiving holiday travel season. The trainings will include two tools developed by SALDEF in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice: A training video entitled “On Common Ground: Sikh American Cultural Awareness Training for Law Enforcement,” and a poster titled “Common Sikh American Head Coverings” that TSA is distributing to all 450 airports across the country.

Take a look at the video either through the harder to see Google Video posted or check out the clearer version on the DOJ website. Your thoughts?

Sikh Medicine and How Babay Bhangra Paunday Nay

As you read this, you may want to press play to hear the accompanying music.

During my elementary years, my dhadhi would always give me a spoonful of a foul-substance that was called ‘sayth’ (health). For years, everyday, I would take a spoonful from the hands of my dhadhi without crying a word. I have no idea what I was taking or if it had any lasting effect, but as a kid I didn’t get sick that often and today I must admit I think I am healthy.

Many of us may have such memories, but no longer know the contents and usages of such desi remedies. Despite most of us being ‘mind-colonized’ by allopathic medicine, homeopathic medicine for preventative and minor ailment medication is being rediscovered by allopathic medical centers.

In 2005, researchers Davinder S. Sandhu and Michael Heinrich from the University of London’s School of Pharmacy published “The Use of Health Foods, Spices and other Botanicals in the Sikh Community in London” in Phytotherapy Research.

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The Search for Thematically Sikh Art

I always keep my eye out online for Sikh art (visual art that is) because, to be quite honest, there is very little accessible Sikh art on the market – aside from the legendary Sobha Singh prints (available almost everywhere) and the works of lesser known artists displayed on Sikh calendars (the hallmarks of almost every Sikh-owned business) of course. Until recently, Sikh-themed art seemed to be limited to the afore mentioned. No longer! A number of artists have come out with Sikh-themed art and there are two that I would like to highlight in particular.

First is Kanwar Singh Dhillon, a Punjab-born Canadian whose works are themed around Sikh history. I was attracted by the detail in his art and was surprised to learn that he uses a rather unique medium – although his works look as if they are done in oil on canvas – his paintings are computer created and printed onto the canvas. Needless to say the product is still wonderful.

The other artist is Bhupinder Singh. I came across his art long before I knew who he was. I actually had the painting titled “Gurdwara Entrance” (pictured) as my desktop background for the longest time, and admired it every time I sat at my computer. It was only after I came across a second painting by him on flicker.com (which reminded me of the first) that I started poking about the net. His medium of choice is watercolor –making his work both unique and striking.

Please feel free to post your thoughts and about any cool works of art or artist that you know of. Note – I know there are other artists out there, but I chose to post about these two because they are new to me.

Sikhi, Light, and Social Activism

Recently, when I was watching Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra’s speech that he gave at a Gurdwara in Toronto in 1995, I found his metaphor of Light and Darkness particularly inspirational for social activist. He said (English translation of Panjabi),

“There is a fable that when the Sun was setting for the first time, as it was completing its journey, light was decreasing and the signs of Darkness were appearing. It is said, lamentation was rife amongst the people that the Sun will set, Darkness will spread, no one will be able to see anything, and what will happen to us? Everybody was worried, but the Sun set. In order to show its strength, Darkness set its foot on the earth, but it is said – far away, in some hut, one little Lamp lifted his head. It proclaimed, “I challenge the Darkness. If nothing else, then at least around myself, I will not let it settle. Around myself I will establish Light.” And it is said, watching that one Lamp, in other huts other Lamps arose. And the world was amazed that these Lamps stopped Darkness from expanding, so that people could see. I believe, today when Darkness is trying to overwhelm Truth with full strength, then if nothing else, self-respecting Panjab, like a Lamp, is challenging this Darkness. And I pray to the Guru, who identifies with Truth to keep this light lit.”

Even though Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra was talking about all those individuals who make-up Panjab and were fighting against the Darkness of the lies prepuatated by the Indian State and were trying to spread the Light of Truth about the murders during the 1980s and 1990s, I would like to extend this metaphor to talk about local and global social activism. As Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra said about the Lamp, “I challenge the Darkness. If nothing else, then at least around myself, I will not let it settle. Around myself I will establish Light.” I believe our activism needs to start locally … we need to start with spreading Light around our local communities and preventing Darkness from engulfing them. Too often I have seen activism begin globally, but have little effect locally because we fail to understand how global issues take a unique form in the local context. Therefore, with little knowledge of the local context we try to implement global solutions that mean very little and let Darkness spread. Don’t get me wrong, I think the global and local should constantly be in dialogue and inform each other, but solutions are based on local implementation. As we become more strategic and effective at local implementation, I think we can inspire more Lamps to spread the light around themselves and begin to build local activism into a larger global social movement with practical solutions.

Also, as Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra spoke about how one Lamp arose and inspired other Lamps to also arise, I began to think how social activism is a form of seva which makes it a crucial component of our spiritual journey as Sikhs. To some degree, I kept equating the Lamp and it’s Light to the Divine Light that resides in all of us. As Sikhs, our spiritual journey is based on seeing the Divine Light (jyot) of Truth in others and ourselves. It is this recognition that makes us act. We act to fight the Darkness (i.e. injustice) that engulfs and dims the Divine Light in people and ourselves. As we allow this process to take place, our individual and communal Divine Light becomes more visible, larger, and stronger in fighting Darkness (i.e. injustice).

What does everyone else think?

A Sikh’s Rights

Lately there has been numerous stories affecting Sikhs around the globe, and an interesting number of them concern our innate rights as Sikhs. Sarika Singh, a 14 year-old Sikh girl living in Wales, was excluded from her school for wearing a Kara. Last November a legal fight began for Sarika to be allowed back into her school, whom say she was “legally” dismissed due to violating their policy of “No Jewelry” to ensure equality for students. The school’s governing committee have yet to research the importance of the Kara  and appreciate the significance it holds for Sikhs. Sarika has now filed her case in a High Court. 

Another ongoing issue concerns the French law passed which bans students from wearing “religious headgear” in schools.  A great number of students have been expelled from class for not abiding with this ban, which in fact means Sikhs cannot wear turbans and Muslims cannot wear headscarves.(The Sikh schoolboys lost their appeal in a French court). I felt great disappointment and anger when this was passed in France, and I thought where are the rights of these individuals as Citizens of this country? Then I remind myself how Sikhs in the U.S. must have felt when the TSA was allowing the searches of their Turbans in public. Thankfully with the perseverance of the Sikh community, and organizations like Sikh Coalition, SALDEF, and United Sikhs, we were able to “educate” people and facilitate an addendum to their policy.  In 1969 Sohan Singh Jolly, a 66 year-old Sikh man living in the U.K., won a fight to wear his Turban on duty as a busman. I am amazed that we are still fighting for our rights as Sikhs, and yet we feel we have come such a long way.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been urged to bring up the issue of this ban with French President Sarkozy, when he visits India later this month. Sikhs held a peace march to protest against the French turban ban earlier this week in New Delhi. (Now with India being tagged as one of the emerging economic powers of the world, maybe Sarkozy will feel the need to make relations better with the Indian community, like Gordon Brown did earlier this week).

Tejinder Singh Sidhu was denied entry into a Calgary court earlier this week due to wearing a Kirpan. He had been summoned by the court to testify as a witness, and was not allowed to fufill his civic duty and testify.  Our rights as Sikhs to freely practice our faith are continuously being violated. I am thankful that we have a great number of Sikh organizations that work incredibly hard to maintain and fight for our rights every day. But something is wrong in the world today where we are allowing such laws to be passed that discriminate, and are unjustified.

Maybe we fight more passionately for our rights because Sikhi instills values in us like equality amongst all people, respect and live by positive ideals, and fight for justice and fairness for all? 

Prisoners Rebel in Jalandhar in Defense of Sikhi

This morning 1500 prisoners in a Jalandhar jail rebelled due to the attack by prison guards on the Sikh religious icons. Initial reports seem to indicate that the guards forcibly cut the hair of the Sikh inmate and others had prisoners had been pressured to cut their hair as well. The acting superintendent alleges that the cutting of the hair was a ‘concocted’ story, but widespread abuse by the Punjab Police seems to give little credence to his comments. Such rebellions were common during the British Raj and it seems the zulm (injustice) continues.

The rebellion became violent as maltreatment, lack of justice, and deteriorating medical and food provisions had been grievances. BBC News has reported on the story and more reports seem to filtering in. More updates soon.