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Frequently
the Victims of Mistaken Identity, California Sikhs Work
to Build Greater Public Awareness of Their Love for
America
 Story and Photos by Rand Green,
Associate Publisher of
ExperienceClovis.com
Slide shows by JoAnne Green
November 22, 2010. All Rights Reserved.
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A sheepman who had lost several of his sheep to a wolf
offered to pay a handsome bounty to anyone who would
bring him the wolf's hide. Hoping to earn the bounty, a
young man from the city who, although he was a crack
shot, had never actually seen a wolf except in story
book illustrations, took his rifle and ventured out to
the sheep ranch. There, at dusk he hid himself in a
wooded area bordering the sheep enclosure to wait for
his quarry, and by and by he saw an animal resembling a
wolf move from the shadows on the far side of the
clearing out into the moonlight. The young man took aim
and fired, only to discover that he had killed not a
wolf but the sheepman's dog whose job it was to help
protect the sheep.
Story continued
below.
In
theatrical productions, mistaken identity is a device
often used to create comedy. But in real life, mistaken
identity can lead to unfortunate and sometimes tragic
consequences. That has often been the case with members
of the Sikh religion in the United States. Because many
of them wear turbans, they have often been mistaken --
by uninformed individuals -- for Islamist terrorists or
terrorist sympathizers. Yet in reality, they are as
different from the terrorists as a loyal sheepdog is
from a predatory wolf.
As part of
an effort to build greater public understanding of who
they are and what they believe, and to make their fellow
Americans aware that their beliefs are in full harmony
with the core principles on which the United States was
founded, Sikhs in Central California held a function on
Sunday, November 14, 2010, at the Selma Sikh Temple in
conjunction with California Sikh Awareness and
Appreciation Month. California Assembly Member Dan
Logue, a Republican from Yuba County who authored
Assembly Concurrent Resolution 181 designating November
as Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month in California,
was honored at the event. Numerous other dignitaries,
among them U.S. Representative Jim Costa, a Democrat
representing California's 20th Congressional District,
were also present.
"I have
many Sikh members in my district" and many Sikh friends,
and "have always greatly respected the Sikh religion,"
Mr. Logue told the gathering. "You are the best of what
America has to offer. You are a great religion and a
great people."
Mr.
Logue's district includes Yuba and Sutter counties
which have a significant Sikh population. "Being
able to live
among the Sikh community," he said,
"I have always been greatly impressed with your
values and the message that you have for our
country." The Sikh community is "the perfect example
of a wonderful place in America where freedom
thrives," and "you represent the [embodiment of] the
American dream, to me."
Continuing, Mr. Logue said, "What you have brought
to this nation has been something that is good for
our country. So it is my greatest honor to be able
to bring to you a resolution today" acknowledging
that contribution. He then read a portion of the
resolution, after which he presented a framed copy
of the document to the leaders of the Sikh Council
of Central California which hosted the event.
The
resolution states, in part, that "the Legislature
recognizes and acknowledges the significant
contributions made by Californians of Sikh heritage
to our state, and by adoption of this resolution,
seeks to afford all Californians the opportunity to
better understand, recognize and appreciate the rich
history and shared principles of Sikh Americans,
their monotheistic religion and the tenets of their
faith, and the important role that Sikh Americans
play in furthering mutual understanding and respect
among all peoples."
Story continued
below.
Founded
in Punjab, India, around 500 years ago, largely to
counter the caste system and gender inequality that
pervaded much of traditional Indian culture, Sikhism
is based on "the tenet that all human beings are
created with equal measures of dignity and divinity
regardless of race, religion, caste or gender," said
the introductory speaker on behalf of the Sikh
Council. "The Sikh believes in universal equality,"
and the Sikh faith, now the world's fifth largest
religion, "established civil rights and women's
rights centuries ago."
For
Sikhs, "the turban distinguishes its wearer as an
ambassador of our faith, and it reminds us to abide
by the core values of the Sikh religion including
the importance of standing up for anyone who is
oppressed," he said. "These same principles are what
the United States of America was founded on."
Not all
Sikh men choose to wear a turban, and those who do
not are still fully accepted as a member of the Sikh
community. But for those who do make the choice, it
is symbolic of a deep commitment to the faith. Uncut
hair, beards, and the wearing of a characteristic
slender steel bracelet called a Kara are among other
symbols of that commitment.
Sikh
men generally have the middle name (or sometimes the
surname) of Singh, which means "tiger."
Upon
entering the Sikh temple, which in the Punjabi
language is called the Gurdwara, everyone is
requested to remove shoes and wear head coverings to
show respect for the Sikh book of scripture, the
Guru Garth Sahib, which occupies an honored place on
a palanquin under a canopy at one end of the hall.
Women wear scarves, and men who are not wearing
turbans -- including non-Sikhs -- tie a
triangle-shaped kerchief-type scarf over their
heads.
The
women's scarves are often exquisitely beautiful. The
women do not try to hide their hair under the
scarves, and they do not cover their faces. The
men's turbans are distinctively different from any
of the turbans worn by various Muslim groups.
Inside
the Gurdwara, there is no special seating behind the
podium for the speakers or dignitaries. Everyone,
regardless of status, sits together on the floor, as
a symbol of universal equality. (A bench on the back
wall is provided for those who have difficulty
sitting on the floor.)
During
the November 14 event, a series of speakers, both
Sikh and non-Sikh, talked about the history of
Sikhism, its principles, its commitment to freedom
and equality, and efforts of various groups and
organizations to educate the general public about
who they are and what they believe, so that they
will not be inaccurately stereotyped because of
their attire.
"You
can't blame average Americans for misunderstanding
us," said Dr. Jasbir Singh Kang, M.D., who lives in
Yuba City, CA. "Some of it is our responsibility,
too. If we don't educate them [about] who we are,
people are going to judge you from your outside
appearance. People need to judge you from your
values
and our values are American values," so "we
need to share that" with other Americans.
Story continued
below.
Dr. Kang
recounted some of the challenges that Sikhs have had
living in the United States and some of the injustices
to which they have been subjected over the years. Early
in the last century, Sikhs were not allowed to become
U.S. citizens, were not allowed to marry whites, and
were not allowed to buy property. But rather than
criticize America for those injustices, he said,
instead: "The beauty of this country is despite all of
these challenges, there is a way to get justice. So our
people didn't give up. They kept trying." Eventually, in
1946, a bill was signed into law which allowed the Sikhs
who were already in America to become U.S. citizens.
Over time, some of the other racial and cultural
barriers they had encountered were also overcome.
Most of the Sikh who have migrated from
Punjab to the United States came seeking freedom from
oppression, particularly religious freedom, as well as
economic opportunities, and many of them have become
highly successful in many fields such as farming,
engineering, business and medicine, said Dr.
Kang. Some in the
second generation "became even more successful than
their parents." Things were good for the Sikh community,
he said, until after 9/11.
Subsequent
to the events of that date, many Sikhs, including
children in school, have been subjected to everything
from bullying to violence at the hands of some people
who mistakenly took them for terrorists, or thought them
to share the same hateful anti-American ideology as the
9/11 terrorists.
Dr. Kang
mentioned the case of a Sikh man who had two brothers
that were murdered by "some American [who] thought that
he was doing a great service to America by killing a
terrorist." Such tragedies, he said, have happened
"again and again because of lack of education, lack of
awareness." But "we can't blame all Americans for some
bad things that happened," he said, and "this country is
so accepting" that the President of the United States
invited the man to the White House "just to tell him,
'We are sorry what happened to your brother.'"
The Sikhs
do have many friends in the United States, he said.
"This is our home. This is our country. but we need to
keep educating our fellow American brothers and
sisters." America is "the best country in the world to
live," he added, "and we can make it even better by
educating other people" and making them aware that "Sikh
values and American values have no contradictions. They
are one and the same."
Story continued
below.
There is
great irony in that misidentification, not only because
American Sikhs love this country and its freedoms but
also because the Sikh people themselves have been the
targets of Islamist terrorism in India from dating back
to long before there was a United States of America for
the terrorists to hate. In 1675, more than 100 years
before the American Declaration of Independence, Guru
Teg Bahadur, the ninth guru of the Sikh religion, was
arrested at the order of the Mughal emperor Badshah
Aurangzeb Alamgir I, taken to Delhi, placed in chains in
an iron cage, and tortured in an effort to force him to
convert to Islam. When he refused to abandon his Sikh
faith, Guru Teg Bahadur was beheaded in public.
Recounting
that history, Dr. Ranjit Singh Rajpal, general secretary
of the Sikh Council of Central California, observed that
Guru Teg Bahadur "gave his life for the protection of
freedom of religion." In fact, all of the Sikh Gurus
have "stood for freedom of religion, social justice, and
justice for all."
The first
guru of Sikhism and the religion's founder, Guru Nanak
Dev, in the year 1499, began traveling throughout India
and China "to spread the message of equality of mankind
and one God and one humanity," said Dr. Rajpal.
Pashaura
Singh Dhillon, poet and singer and education coordinator
for the Sikh Council of Central California, added that
at a time when throughout much of the world "people were
burned alive who believed differently than someone in
authority," Guru Nanak Dev, born in 1469, was "the first
human
rights
activist fighting to rid the world of
inequality and
other forms of injustices, tyrannies and intolerance."
From that time to the present, Sikhs are enjoined to
"enthusiastically join the fight for justice for
everyone
principles also embodied" in America's
founding documents "calling for life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness."
Sikhs have
been living in the United States, "and especially in
California, for more than a century now," Mr. Dhillon
said. About 200,000 Sikhs currently live in California,
"and they have made significant contributions to the
economy and culture of this state
. Together with fellow
Americans, we have helped make this Golden State shine
even better."
Story continued
below.
Dr. Onkar
Singh Bindra, PhD, a retired professor who has been a
leader in the movement to get inclusion of Sikh history
and culture in school textbooks and curricula, and who
helped produce a PBS video called "Meet the Sikhs," said
that 85 percent of the 37 million people in California
still "do not know who the Sikhs are
so we have a big
job to do." He encouraged those in the audience to more
actively discharge their "responsibility as good
citizens" and participate in community activities and
community service.
Representatives of several organizations that have been
formed in recent years to increase Sikh awareness among
non-Sikhs spoke at the November 14 event, presenting
overviews of their outreach activities. Among them were
students representing JAKARA, a national student
organization that was started in Fresno in 2000.
"As it has
been said by previous speakers, unfortunately there is
much misunderstanding around the world as it relates to
Sikhism," said Rep. Jim Costa. He thanked his colleagues
in the California Assembly "for recognizing the
importance of the Sikh religion, one of the major
religions of the world" through the passage of ACR 181,
and added that it is "important that we dedicate
ourselves this month to Sikh awareness and to educating
all Americans
of the importance of the Sikh religion,
the traditions, the customs, and the important
contributions" that Sikhs make to California and the
United States. "I am proud as your representative to
join you in commemorating
the vibrant diversity that
Sikh Americans bring to our community."
The
"traditions of basic freedoms" that are "part of our
Constitution of the United States," he said, "have
always been a part of the Sikh religion." Such cherished
American principles as "the pursuit of liberty and
freedom and happiness, freedom of religion, freedom of
speech, and equality of all" that are enshrined in the
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights are also "enshrined in the Sikh
religion," predating the American Constitution by
centuries.
Over the
past 100 years, the Central Valley of California has
been home to "a concentration of Sikh Americans" who
have enriched the state and the nation with "their rich
history, mutual understanding and shared principles of
the freedoms that we hold most dear," Rep. Costa
concluded. "I trust that this valuable partnership will
only continue to grow."
Source:
www.ExperienceClovis.com
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© 2010 Rand Green. All Rights Reserved.
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Do
not extract quotes without proper credit.
Plagiarism is a crime.
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