A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend my Spring Break travelling across the Deep South with a group of peers from my university. From Little Rock, Arkansas to Selma, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi, we spent over 40 hours on a coach bus, hopping from hotel to hotel for nine days as we learned about the Civil Rights Movement in a very intimate and tangible way. As a student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, I am currently enrolled in a course titled The Politics and Legacies of the Civil Rights Movement. The class concentrates on the moral and historical elements of the movement which challenged racial segregation and Jim Crow laws during the 1960’s. By analyzing the sociopolitical race relations between blacks and whites during the time period, we aim to utilize this understanding to determine the influence of the movement on contemporary America. The spring break trip was an extension of this very class. Over the course of the week, we visited various historical civil rights venues and museums. Day after day, we met with civil rights activists who volunteered their time for the cause alongside leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reverend Ralph Abernathy. But perhaps the most significant consequence of the trip was the way in which the stories, struggles, images, and voices of activists left us motivated to make a difference in our own spheres of influence. I have had the privilege of involving myself in the Sikh American community for several years now. During my time in high school, I would teach weekly classes at my local gurdwara and serve as a youth representative for the community in interfaith endeavors. As I have transitioned from childhood to adulthood, this very passion for service to my community has remained integral to my identity. Specifically, over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to become deeply invested in the efforts of SALDEF. Two years ago, I was selected by SALDEF to participate in the organization’s inaugural Leadership Development Program—a dual-part conference over two weekends in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles to cultivate and equip the next generation of community leaders. This past year, I worked in the trenches with SALDEF on several youth initiatives across the country. My active participation in SALDEF has shown to me the gross discrimination that still exists in this country. Though this country’s days of quarreling over whether white children and black children should be allowed to learn together seem to be over, its days of realizing the need to protect a young Sikh’s turban from a school bully seem to have just begun. While this nation no longer is debating whether a black man should have an equal opportunity to be employed, it is determining whether a Sikh man should be allowed to keep his beard unshorn on the job. Although today’s fight has been altered from yesterday’s struggle, the principles of fairness and freedom in which both of these crusades are rooted remain the same at heart. Nonetheless, the Sikh-American community has much to learn from this country’s African-American community. While visiting Philadelphia, Mississippi—the same city in which the Ku Klux Klan murdered three civil rights workers almost 40 years previously—I had my first experience in a black church. While sitting in the pews of the church alongside people of all colors and backgrounds, I realized that there truly are moral principles which transcend the bounds of religion. As a Sikh, I participated in all of the activities of the service but never felt my personal faith was violated; actually, I emphatically echoed amen almost as frequently as anyone else in the congregation. Reverend Ray Jordan spent the entirety of his sermon elaborating on the social activism which the Christian faith demands from its adherents, and used an anecdote about an old woman crossing a street to do so. A good man, he explained, would escort the lady safely across the street; on the other hand, a God man would do the same but, more importantly, also work towards resolving the institutional injustices that left the old woman in that position. Reverend Jordan explained that, while good men do charity, God men seek justice. As I listened to his sermon, I came to a realization. In our Sikh gurdwaras, our “sermons” focus mostly on the moral, mental, and physical goodness that a Sikh must espouse in his or her life. Although community service—as the concept of seva in Sikhism—is considered to be a central tenant of the faith, I do not see it instilled through the weekly services our granthis give. When we do practice this seva, it far too often takes the form of charity to our gurdwaras, fellow Sikhs, or the underprivileged—all noble causes but ones which do not encourage or fund the bigger issue of needing community organizing to attack the systematic injustices that exist in various forms in this nation. While analyzing the Civil Rights Movement, it becomes clear that the weekly motivation provided to black congregations in their churches was instrumental to the success of the cause. While sitting in a black church, I felt that inspiration. As such, I urge the Sikh community to learn and adapt. No longer can we afford to encourage seva as an activity which is embodied just by charity. Seva should also be the time, commitment, and activist spirit, determined to change the way in which Sikhs are unjustly treated. As compared to blacks in the 1960s, the extent of the discrimination against us today is too little and our numbers too few to merit inefficiencies in our operations or underperformance of our potential. It is time for our gurdwaras to revitalize their focus from one that is intrinsic to one that is extrinsic. We must encourage and instill the true meaning of seva—the meaning intended by our founding gurus when they sacrificed their lives in the face of tyranny to protect those who could not defend themselves—among the masses in this nation. Only by preaching sewa as a call to external community activism can we one day eliminate inequalities and eventually prejudices in this nation we call home. –Jaywin Singh Malhi SikhLEAD Leadership Development Program Alumni 2012
