September Advocate: What Sikh Looks Like

September Advocate: What Sikh Looks Like

  • SIKH AMERICAN SPOTLIGHT: SALDEF Will Honor Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany at National Gala in October 
  • Don’t Miss Red Baraat at SALDEF’s National Gala: Tickets Selling Fast
  • Washington Metropolitan Police Department Seeks Sikh American Recruits
  • SALDEF National Media Initiative Expands to SoCal
  • SALDEF’s Media Team Creates a Safe Space for Sikh Americans to Discuss their Identities Post 9-11
  • SALDEF Generates Media Opportunities for #LetSikhsPlay as FIBA Falls Short
  • SALDEF’s Media Initiative Fuels #WhatSikhLooksLike
  • #SacktheRWord: SALDEF Joins Coalition Against Racist Team Name On Behalf of Native Americans
  • Daily Illini Spotlights SikhLEADers: Campus Langar Event Inspires Similar “Langar on the Hill”
  • SALDEF Calls For Action Against Discriminatory Profiling of All Americans
  • SALDEF Trains Smithsonian Curators
  • SALDEF Conducts Awareness Trainings in Florida For TSA
  • World’s Largest Media Company Seeks Sikh American Youth for Leadership Program

AnchorSIKH AMERICAN SPOTLIGHT: SALDEF Will Honor Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany at National Gala in October The Internet as we know it would not exist without the contributions of the Father of Fiber Optics, Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany. A pioneer who challenged his professor’s theory that light never bends as a student in India, Dr. Kapany went on to explore light and optics founding Optics Technology, Inc. Through his research and inventions related to fiber optics he has over 100 patents.  A leading scholar and philanthropist, Kapany has taught at Stanford, UC Santa Barbara (where he has endowed a chair in Sikh Studies) and UC Santa Cruz (where he has endowed a chair in optical electronics) and financed a Sikh Art Collection at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Meet Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany!

 

AnchorWashington MPD Seeks Sikh American Recruits The first police department in the nation to explicitly allow Sikh Americans to serve with their articles of faith intact, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is now searching for Bilingual Police Officers.  The MPD requests Sikh Americans to encourage any potential candidates to apply.

The MPD changed its policies after a near decade relationship with SALDEF whereby the organization trained over 4,000 recruits through the cultural awareness training that is part of the Law Enforcement Partnership Program. The MPD is the largest police force that allows Sikh Americans to become active police officers with their turbans and articles of faith intact. If you are a Sikh American who wants to serve in the MPD, please contact SALDEF.

AnchorSALDEF National Media Initiative Expands to SoCal On August 23, SALDEF held a media training for Sikh Americans chosen from a roster of candidates based in Southern California. This inaugural SoCal Speaker’s Bureau class received hands on media instruction—including on-camera critiques, pitching guidelines, and tips on how to control an interview— from media professionals at Auburn Seminary—a media training program that has trained over 3,000 religious leaders across the United States—in NBC4’s recently renovated and state-of-the-art studios in Universal City, California.  SALDEF staffers also presented Turban Myths, a study done in conjunction with Stanford University, and SALDEF’s Rapid Response Media Guide, teaching Sikh Americans how to to combat anti-turban and anti-beard bias across the country through media relations.

VIEW: Pictures from the inaugural SoCal Media Training!

This group of SoCal Sikh Americans joins 15 previously trained Sikh Americans—like Gurpreet Singh Sarin, the first Sikh on American Idol—in supporting their community by serving as a voice to the media, both proactively and during times of rapid response.

If you are a Sikh American based in the Bay Area, we’re coming to you next! If you have an interest in media or want to improve your rapport on television, radio, digital or print media and want to serve your community, apply by October 1, 2014.

AnchorSALDEF’s Media Team Creates a Safe Space for Sikh Americans to Discuss their Identities Post 9-11 This year the nation marked the 13th Anniversary of September 11. While remembering and respecting those who lost their lives, many Sikh Americans reflected on the senseless tragedy and the post 9/11 backlash. “Tragedies and conflicts are the most potent opportunities for change,” Sikhtoons creator Vishavjit Singh wrote on September 11. Dressed as Captain America, Singh has challenged the notions of what it means to be a hero and an American. During one of his daily outings he met another interesting character and struck a unique friendship. Read about Singh’s “…Chance Encounter as Captain America with a 9/11 Responder”, which landed on the front page of Medium, fueled by SALDEF’s promotion of the piece. Another Sikh American, Lakhpreet Kaur, expressed her frustration at not being seen as American enough—despite her love for all things American—in an NBC News article, a media opportunity generated from SALDEF’s outreach. “As Sikh Americans, we carry the sad burden of having to prove our ‘Americanism.’ Despite families dating back multiple generations in America, being elected to public office, serving in the US Armed Forces, competing in NCAA sports, our loyalty, our identity, is questioned,” she wrote. “This is my country. America is my home. I believe and live by American values. I was raised to respect my neighbors. To honor diversity and tolerance. To not attack people who don’t look or sound or pray like me. I am American. Are you?”

SALDEF also promoted the Love911 project, a multilingual, multicultural and multidimensional social installation and art project propelled to create a more loving, connected New York City and world. Nina Chanpreet Kaur is one of its founders, and it features writings and art from Sikh American men and women, among other contributors.

AnchorSALDEF Generates Media Opportunities for #LetSikhsPlay as FIBA Falls Short This week, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has decided to relax its ban on religious headcoverings in limited circumstances as part of a “trial period.” SALDEF and the Sikh Coalition will follow-up with FIBA to understand exactly how the new rules will apply to Sikhs as this ruling does not create an equal playing field. Effective immediately, FIBA is allowing players to wear turbans while they play, but only after they petition prior to a game and only in certain games. 

“FIBA has taken a step towards change, but this policy alteration will continue to lead to an unequal playing field,” Jasjit Singh, SALDEF executive director told Hoopistaani. “We hope that FIBA will soon recognize Sikhs, Muslims and Orthodox Jews can freely play with their respective articles of faith, without process or paperwork, and beyond their home countries, and ask all to join us as we tell FIBA to let Sikhs play freely.” Jasjit Singh also spoke to NBC News about how FIBA’s decision will restrict future Sikh basketball players. SALDEF will continue to voice to FIBA why Sikhs must play freely.

SALDEF has also continued to secure media opportunities for Sikh Americans to voice why FIBA’s policies are contradictory to the spirit of sports. Darsh Preet Singh, the first turbaned Sikh American to play basketball in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and a member of SALDEF’s Sikh Speakers’ Bureau explored why FIBA’s decision was such a setback, and how it proliferates the hate game across the globe, in a Huffington Post article, “Why Benching Sikhs Feeds the Trolls.”

AnchorSALDEF’s Media Initiative Fuels #WhatSikhLooksLike In an effort to promote religious understanding and educate non-Sikhs—after a series of disturbing hate crimes in New York City— on the diversity and philosophy of Sikh adherents, the Huffington Post launched a digital platform for Sikh Americans to share their images of #WhatSikhLooksLike. “The response revealed a diverse and vibrant community that refuses to be pigeonholed,” wrote Huffington Post Writer Antonia Blumberg. Through its Media Initiative, SALDEF shared many of the over 400 images submitted for our Sikh American commercial—still on television due to a generous 2 million dollar donation from the world’s largest media company, Comcast—that has aired in 39 states and Washington, D.C. View the pics! Share your images with the tag #WhatSikhLooksLike and #HuffPoRelig or see @SALDEF’s news and pics on Twitter.

Anchor#SacktheRWord: SALDEF Joins Coalition Against Racist Team Name On Behalf of Native Americans In support of Native Americans, SALDEF joined the coalition denouncing the use of the derogatory term “Redskins” in the Washington NFL football team’s name, signing a letter of support urging broadcasters to stop using the logo and name.  Both The Washington Post and NY Daily News picked up the story and removed the name and logo from their papers. In July, SALDEF Board member Jasbir Kaur Bawa explained why the controversial term should be abolished and reasons why Daniel Snyder, the team’s owner, should change the NFL team’s name and logo in a Huffington Post op-ed, Whether It’s Against African Americans or Native American, Racism in Sports Must be Stopped.

AnchorDaily Illini Spotlights SikhLEADers: Campus Langar Event Inspires Similar Langar on the Hill Earlier this year, SikhLEADer and Sikh Student Association President at the University of Illinois—Urbana-Champagne, Amrita Bamrah, hosted the second annual Langar on Campus Langar on Campus to spread awareness and expose the campus community to Sikh Americans. The goal of the Langar was to break negative misconceptions about the Sikh American community, and to show students and faculty that Sikhs believe in equality, peace, and humanity. This summer Bamrah returned to SALDEF as a participant in the SikhLEAD Intern Program in D.C. and helped her peers set up a similar event on Capitol Hill. The 13 SikhLEADers, used their SALDEF training alongside their experiences from their government internships to create, host and fundraise for the event. When the University reconvened for classes, the local newspaper, The Daily Illini, learned about “Langar on the Hill” and spoke with SikhLEADers about their experiences.

“It was great to see the finished product, as it was a huge feat to carry out on top of our busy internships. We were happy to take advantage of an opportunity that we felt fortunate to have and use it to spread the beliefs of our community and faith,” Michigan senior and SikhLEADer Harleen Kaur told The Daily Illini. “Hopefully it will increase positive energy towards Sikhs and minorities in general, which will lead toward better policies for minorities and more inclusion.”

AnchorSALDEF Calls For Action Against Discriminatory Profiling of All Americans After the tragedy and ensuing calamity in Ferguson, Missouri—where a young African American teen, Michael Brown, was profiled and shot to death by a police officer, followed by military style law enforcement patrolling the town, instituting curfews and rioting with protesters— 100 civil rights organizations, including SALDEF, called for updated federal policies that prevent discriminatory profiling based on race, religion, ethnicity or national origin. While the Department of Justice did open an inquiry into the Ferguson case to help justice prevail, it cannot prevent these kinds of tragedies in the future.  Profiling is still rampant across the nation. The organizations collectively asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to update current guidance for local and state law enforcement that would prevent profiling and the use of abusive tactics on potential suspects, and called on Congress to pass the End Racial Profiling Act to prevent profiling based on race, religion, ethnicity or national origin and offer training and monitoring to local law enforcement to preemptively prevent a potential tragedy.

AnchorSALDEF Trains Smithsonian Curators On August 13, SALDEF Executive Director Jasjit Singh trained over 50 members of the Smithsonian Institute’s staff and directors about Sikh Americans and the Sikh philosophy.

The training—which included a lively discussion—came after former SikhLEADer Rasna Kaur Neelam reported that curators of the “Beyond Bollywood” exhibit were offering incorrect information about Sikhs in their tours. The national museum also invited SALDEF to share additional educational materials with the Smithsonian staff.  The national museum also invited SALDEF to share additional educational materials with the Smithsonian staff. SALDEF applauds SikhLEADers like Rasna who identify opportunities to correct misrepresentations and raise awareness about Sikh Americans.

AnchorSALDEF Conducts Awareness Trainings in Florida For TSA

On Monday August 14, SALDEF Regional Director, Navtej Singh Khalsa, conducted a day-long training for over 60 participants—including agents from the Transportation Security Administration and members of the local Sikh community—in West Palm Beach, Florida which included a “best practices” presentation, an introduction to Sikh Americans and the Sikh articles of faith, and a screening of “On Common Ground.”

The training organized by the Department of Homeland Security—delivered targeted, and current information to how to treat Sikh, Muslim, disabled or transgender passengers, and a general overview of the constitutional guarantees applicable to the screening process.

Khalsa also educated agents about Sikhs Americans and the importance of the Sikh articles of faith. He explained the impact of bias in the wake of 9/11—specifically the treatment and extra scrutiny Sikh Americans experienced at the hands of law enforcement, the TSA and members of the general public. Members of the TSA were given an opportunity to have turbans tied to help demystify the dastaar and to understand its importance to Sikhs.

A similar training was held in Fort Lauderdale, followed by a roundtable discussion attended by members of the Sikh community.

AnchorWorld’s Largest Media Company Seeks Sikh American Youth for Leadership Program ComcastNBCUniversal, the world’s largest media company recently donated 2 million dollars towards SALDEF’s Sikh American commercial allowing it to run for an extra month across the nation. Now Comcast is looking for Sikh American youth to join it’s Leaders and Achievers® Scholarship Program.  This program is a nomination-based award (only one student per school may be nominated by their principal or guidance counselor). Funded through the Comcast Foundation, the program recognizes high school seniors for their commitment to community service, academics, and demonstrated leadership.  To acknowledge these accomplishments, recipients will receive $1,000.  Students must meet the following guidelines (nominations are currently being accepted):

  • Full-time high school senior currently enrolled at a high school within a Comcast Community (must enter Comcast School Code provided by counselor).
  • Student grade point average of 2.8 or higher.
  • Student demonstrates leadership abilities in school activities or through work experiences.
  • Student shows a strong commitment to and involvement in community service.
  • Student plans to attend an accredited, nonprofit college, university, or vocational/technical school in the United States.

All scholarship materials must be received from the nominated student by December 4, 2014 in order to be considered.  To determine program eligibility and to request nomination access, please contact International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc. at Comcast@applyists.com or at (855) 670-4787.