In November of last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) closed its investigation into the Oak Creek, Wisconsin mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in which six innocent worshipers were murdered by a white supremacist. The FBI issued a one-page press release stating that there was “no evidence to suggest the attack was part of any ongoing threat to the Sikh community.” At the time, the FBI declined to provide additional information, and the victims’ families expressed [...]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: FBI, FBI Hate Crime Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, hate crimes, Kamaljit Saini, Oak Creek, Paramjit Kaur, Sikh Coalition, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Wisconsin

Harleen Kaur, a university student and activist, describes the challenges and learnings about volunteering in the office of the nonprofit newspaper Groundcover News: I have realized what a great effort and passion it takes to maintain such dedication. Even when the work is this difficult, I have never seen a hint of despair or a sense of wanting to give up. According to their website, Groundcover News, located in Michigan, is one of many publications that “exist in cities all [...]

Categories: Civil Rights, Profiles, Reflections • Tags: Ann Arbor, Groundcover News, Harleen Kaur, Michigan, Street newspaper

Yesterday, in a speech delivered at a conference in Connecticut about gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden issued a challenge to Americans to take on the issue: “There’s a moral price to be paid for inaction,” he said. We have certainly seen significant debate around what action to take in addressing America’s gun violence epidemic. From universal background checks to regulation of video games, and from arming teachers to banning assault-style weapons, there are no shortage of proposals nor sides [...]

Categories: Civil Rights, Politics • Tags: Adam Lanza, Anders Breivik, Aurora, Balbir Kaur Singh, Chris Dodd, Colorado, Concetta Falcone-Codding, Connecticut, Daryl Johnson, gun violence, hate crimes, Joe Biden, mental health, Michael Denzyl Smith, Motion Picture Association of America, Newtown, Oak Creek, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Sikholars, Wade Michael Page, White supremacy, Wisconsin

67% of Sikh American children surveyed were bullied or harassed within the last school year and 31% have been threatened with physical violence or harm.  These numbers are staggering compared to national averages and an indication of the serious challenges that our children continue to endure on a regular basis. – Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), reports from a survey taken by SALDEF of Sikh American students in southern California. A [...]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: bullying, California, Jasjit Singh, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Southern California, The Boy With Long Hair

What does one do when an officer of a government agency does not follow their own policy and in the process violates your rights? If we are speaking about the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), we often don’t know. On the Huffington Post, Simran Jeet Singh shares a recent episode when a TSA officer forcefully patted down Singh’s turban – a religious article of faith for Sikhs: I’ve made this cross-country journey hundreds of times in my life and have [...]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: Racial profiling, Simran Jeet Singh, Transportation Security Administration, TSA

Mallika Kaur is a lawyer who focuses on gender and minority issues in the United States and South Asia. She has been to France as a young girl with Professor Karanbir Singh Sarkaria, her mathematician father, who went there—turbaned and bearded—almost every summer for over a decade, as a regular invitee to a famed research institute. He no longer travels to France. Neither does she. Mallika holds a Juris Doctorate (JD) from Berkeley Law and a Master in Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School [...]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: François Hollande, France, law 2004-228, Mallika Kaur, turban ban

Last night, it was likely for the first time in the history of State of the Union addresses that the word “Sikh” was uttered by the President of the United States when speaking to a joint session of Congress about his legislative agenda. In his State of the Union speech last night, President Obama paid tribute to Oak Creek, Wisconsin, hero Lieutenant Brian Murphy: We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened [...]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Politics • Tags: Barack Obama, Lt. Brian Murphy, Oak Creek, President of the United States, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, State of the Union, Wisconsin

A recent study by The Barna Group surveying the topic of religious freedom in the United States suggests that a large proportion of Evangelical Christians believe that their religious freedom is under threat because of a perception that “some groups have actively tried to move society away from traditional Christian values.” An article in Patheos (via @jbarooah) summarizes the study and addresses the perception, providing recommendations for Evangelicals around understanding the difference between dominance and freedom: First, we need to [...]

Categories: Civil Rights, Interfaith • Tags: Barna Group, Evangelicalism, Patheos, religious dominance, religious freedom

On Wednesday, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced plans to invest $30 million towards mental health in his state to address gun violence, particularly after the mass shooting of Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, last August: “Initially, the discussion centered on those tragedies,” he said. “But it’s really much bigger than that, it’s much broader than that, it’s not just in reaction to that. There is a tremendous need in terms of addressing mental health in our society.” The intention behind [...]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Connecticut, gun control, hate crimes,