White House Hosts Sikhism Founder’s Birthday Celebration

Washington, DC–White House staff, Sikh Americans, and other attendees commemorated the life of Sikhism Founder Guru Nanak Dev Ji on White House grounds today. The event celebrated both the birth anniversary of Sikhism’s founder and the many achievements of Sikh Americans. “Guru Nanak Sahib’s life exemplified his values of the innate equality of all human beings, to fight against injustice and oppression in all forms, to celebrate both the inner-connectedness and the diversity we have in society,” said SALDEF Board member Kavneet Singh. “These values seem particularly poignant today with the many struggles and challenges we see across the county, and across the world, related to religious and social intolerance, inequality, injustice.”

Speakers included: Vanita Gupta, who leads U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; Paul Monteiro, who leads U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service; and actor/designer Waris Ahluwalia, who was featured in SALDEF’s Sikh American Public Service Announcement. The commemoration also featured music from Raginder Singh Momi, a renowned violin player. It took place on White House grounds at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, South Court Auditorium.

“This was an important event because it allowed us to interact with policy-makers and non-Sikhs about issues of importance to the Sikh American community and celebrating the life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji,” said SALDEF Executive Director Deepinder Singh. “Our volunteers and staff–especially our new Policy Associate Amrita Kaur Bamrah–demonstrated strong collaboration with the White House and Department of Justice to organize an event befitting such a commemoration.”

SALDEF would like to thank the White House Office of Public Engagement and U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service. They again welcomed the Sikh American community to the White House continued to publicly celebrate the life and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

To read NBC News coverage of the event, please click here.