The nation’s oldest Sikh American civil rights organization
The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) is the nation’s oldest Sikh American civil rights organization. Our mission is to safeguard the civil rights of Sikh Americans and ensure equal access, protection, and opportunity in the United States for future generations.
Founded as the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART) in 1996, SALDEF began solely as an all-volunteer organization with a primary focus on media analysis and education. In 2004, based on the needs of the Sikh American community, the organization changed its name and began responding to civil rights, legislative, employment, and accommodation issues.
For the past 26 years, SALDEF has been committed to finding new ways to build the strength and voice of our community. Over the years, we continue to see the tremendous power and potential of our community actualized.
SALDEF is a nonprofit 501(c) 3, nonpartisan organization.
What We Do
SALDEF carries out its mission by focusing its efforts on legal defense and advocacy, educational outreach, and media relations. SALDEF empowers the Sikh American community by:
● Providing legal services in such matters as workplace and housing discrimination, protecting Sikh articles of faith, public accommodation, and other civil rights and civil liberties issues;
● Creating and distributing publications aimed at educating the media, schools, government and law enforcement agencies about Sikhs;
● Creating and distributing publications, conducting community outreach programs and facilitating educational sessions to empower the Sikh American community to help understand its constitutional rights;
● Conducting cultural and religious awareness training for government, law enforcement agencies and private businesses;
● Proactively engaging and monitoring the media and responding to inaccuracies and/or misrepresentations of Sikh Americans and Sikhism.
The majority of challenges Sikh Americans face today, including hate crimes, stem from assumptions about religious or ethnic affiliation. SALDEF has worked to counter these misconceptions and educate the public about Sikh beliefs, articles of faith, and practices. SALDEF monitors the media for misrepresentations of Sikh Americans and the Sikh faith. Over time, SALDEF has obtained retractions and apologies from numerous media outlets for their misrepresenting or conflating the Sikh faith.
