What have we received from God in Oak Creek? Certainly, death and pain and grief. The magnitude of this loss would cause most people to display anger or a desire for revenge. But when national leaders came to Oak Creek to mourn with the victims, they stood in awe of the Sikh community’s response. They witnessed acceptance rather than anger.
Even as the govt. express their commitment to protecting Sikh Americans in response to the massacre, there is one glaring problem with how govt. monitors hate crimes against Sikhs in America: It doesn’t.
Visuals matter. And in a racially charged political climate, a turbaned and bearded man will be presented to the country by Republicans as a fellow American. This is a remarkable step forward.
Most importantly, these films about the Sikh American experience catalyzed remarkable moments of solidarity.
I am a third-generation Sikh American, and as the ceremony drew to a close, I tweeted, “May this not be the last moment the nation watches and mourns with us. May this be the start of lasting solidarity.”
If we want a world where every person is treated with human dignity, the U.S. military, for one, must fully embrace what they profess to teach: respect for religious diversity.
But if you linger a minute longer, you will hear us beam about the equality of women in our faith. Unlike in most other religions, our scriptures are explicit about women as equal in the eyes of God.