Sikhs resent hatred and engage with others ten years after the shooting at

.

Education, cross-cultural engagement, and refusing to hate are what the 500,000 Sikhs in the United States are doing as they face a grim anniversary — the spasm of violence that killed six worshipers and wounded four others at a gurdwara, or temple, in a Milwaukee suburb ten years ago, a community leader said.

Five Sikh men were killed that day: Satwant Singh Kaleka, Prakash Singh, Sita Singh, Ranjit Singh and Suveg Singh. Paramjit Kaur Sani was a female worshiper. Sikh priest Baba Punjab Singh survived the attack and was left with a severe wound. He died in March 2020..

The assailant was a white supremacist called Wade Michael Page. He turned his gun on himself after being shot in the hip by a police officer. Many view this attack as the first of a series of shootings at synagogues, churches, and houses of worship across the nation in the years to come.

While the motives behind the attack at Oak Creek in Wisconsin were not revealed, this incident brought attention to the Sikh religion. It is believed to have an estimated 25million to 30million followers around the globe.

Because male followers wear a turban and a beard as indicators of their faith, some have misidentified Sikhs, who have been subjected to bullying and worse in the aftermath of the Islamist-led 9/11 attacks on the United States. Four days after the 2001 attack, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 52-year-old gas station owner in Mesa, Arizona, died in what is believed to have been a “reprisal” shooting for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The FBI began to track anti-Sikh hate crime in 2015, and reported 67 incidents in 2020, in the most recent year that statistics were available. A study found that Sikhs were being targeted more frequently than the average national.

Sodhi’s death, the Oak Creek shootings, and persistent bullying and prejudice against Sikhs have only increased the community’s resolve to meet hate with love, said Harman Singh, senior education manager for The Sikh Coalition, a 20-year-old advocacy group.

” We look at our communities, to our religion, to our faith and that drives us to continue advocating for a world in which people of all races, all religions and all ethnicities feel welcome, respected and celebrated within their community.

He stated that Sikh students in public schools were bullied, at “more than twice the national rate .”

The coalition has been lobbying for education on Sikhism to be included in all schools across the country.

” When people aren’t educated, and when they don’t know about the diversity of other communities and individuals of diverse backgrounds, hate can fester and develop in youth,” said Mr. Singh.

He stated that education is the best way to overcome hatred, intolerance, and ignorance that are at the root cause of such attacks.

” The best thing people can do in order to create these bridges, is to have conversations with others, to have relationships with those who might not look the same as you or come from different places than you. But to have those conversations and to develop those relationships in an authentic way, Mr. Singh stated.

Sikhs approach problems with a positive attitude called “chardikala”, which Mr. Singh described as “eternal hope even in the face .”

He stated, “That’s what ultimately drives the Sikh community, to overcome the difficulties that we have faced and to continue facing .”

Sikhs also lobby the Biden administration for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act and federal resources to house of worship who seek to secure their security and prepare for emergency situations, according to a coalition statement.

” In the ten years since Oak Creek, there has not been enough change — it’s been so hard to watch other communities suffer what we did,” Harpreet Saini said, who was killed in Wisconsin’s shooting. “We cannot and should not accept that hate violence is a ‘normal’ part of life in our country, which is why we all must continue our work in advocacy, education and community-building.”