SALDEF in the News
City Council to decide on naming new park after Sikh civil rights leader after committee vote
The Bakersfield City Council will decide if a new park in Bakersfield, California will be named after Sikh civil rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra on Tuesday. “Proponents of the name say it would signal to Bakersfield’s Sikh residents that the city welcomes the group with open arms, and would provide a place for those residents to gather.”
Recent News
Elderly man beaten and robbed inside Rockville home, police say
79-year-old Sikh-American, Satpal Singh was found badly injured Monday afternoon in his home along Arctic Avenue in Rockville. Mandeep Narula, Singh’s son added that “The door was unlocked…I see him lying in a pool of blood.” He says Singh’s wallet was stolen potentially along with other items. Montgomery County Police are currently investigating the attack.
British Sikh Girl Called a ‘Terrorist’ By Bullies, ‘Dangerous’ By Parents Because of Her Turban
Munsimar Kaur recalls how other kids at Plumstead Adventure Play Centre had rejected her when she asked to play with them last week in London. At the age of ten-years-old Kaur spoke out in a video posted on Twitter and added “they said, loud and clear, ‘No, you can’t play because you are a terrorist…This obviously broke my heart, but I kept my head up and I went away.”
Sikh community celebrates law banning religious garb discrimination
Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Religious Garb Bill, which prohibits discrimination based on religious attire after years of advocacy by religious organizations, including members of the Sikh community. Assemblymember David Weprin and Senator John Liu sponsored the bill and joined local lawmakers and advocates of various races and religions at the Sikh Cultural Society in Richmond Hill on Tuesday to celebrate the new law.
UC Berkeley Sikh Student Association releases statement showing support for people of Kashmir
The UC Berkeley Sikh Student Association released a statement to show its support for the people of Kashmir as well as to urge UC Berkeley to “re-examine” current partnerships the campus has with the government of India. In the email, students from the SSA added: “For our organization, it is deeply unsettling that despite the genocidal tendencies and oppressive regime of the Indian State.”
The Gathering Threat Of Domestic Terrorism
The article is calling the President to reach out to the leaders of the House and Senate and ask them to join him in a nationally televised address to the nation, calling on all Americans to denounce racism, division, and hate and the Department of Justice, including the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security to establish a joint task force to track domestic terrorism. As well as the United States Congress to enact appropriate legislation to counter potential domestic terrorist groups and individuals.
How South Asian Americans are reckoning with Partition’s legacy 72 years later
The article examines how the Partition of Punjab has long-lasting effects even today as it devastated South Asia’s Sikhs, whose pilgrimage routes were now interrupted by a militarized border. “Meanwhile, Mishra explains, Sikh Americans were careful not simply to parrot the ‘We are not Muslims’ refrain — a response that would nonetheless scapegoat millions of innocent American Muslims who had no connection to terrorist activities.”