Sikhism

Prosecutors add hate crime charge for man accused of attacking Sikh store owner in Lakewood

July 22, 2020

Prosecutors have added a hate crime charge to 16 other counts a man faces after he allegedly ran over a Sikh store owner in Lakewood In late April.

Eric Breemen, 36, faces 17 counts, including a felony bias-motivated crime charge and attempted murder, in connection with the alleged attack on Lakhwant Singh on April 29.The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office said that its investigators, along with FBI...

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Fresno State Sikh Student Association lends hand in time of crisis

July 10, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered colleges in early March, student organizations like the Sikh Student Association (SSA) at Fresno State had to move their meetings to a virtual format. 

When the new board members were elected, they saw an opportunity to give back to their community in a time of need.

According to data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 17 million people were unemployed in June, and the unemployment rate fell from 13.3 percent in May to 11.1 percent. The economy hasn’t...

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A Sikh business owner was told to “go back your country” before being run over by a car. Now the community is demanding justice.

July 1, 2020

Sikh community members in Colorado and around the country are calling for hate crime charges in Jefferson County, two months after a Lakewood store owner was run over by a driver and told to “go back to your country” during a brutal assault that left the man hospitalized for months.

On Tuesday, 29 civil rights organizations and interfaith groups signed a letter, urging First Judicial District Attorney Pete Weir investigate the April 29 assault on Lakhwant Singh as a...

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How to Feed Crowds in a Protest or Pandemic? The Sikhs Know

June 9, 2020

 

Inside a low, brick-red building in Queens Village, a group of about 30 cooks has made and served more than 145,000 free meals in just 10 weeks. They arrive at 4 a.m. three days a week to methodically assemble vast quantities of basmati rice, dal, beans and vibrantly flavored sabzis for New York City hospital workers, people in poverty and anyone else in search of a hot meal.

This isn’t a soup kitchen or a food bank. It’s a gurdwara, the place of worship for Sikhs, members of the fifth-largest organized religion in the world, with about 25 million adherents....

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Facebook, Instagram unblock #Sikh hashtag amid 1984 massacre remembrance

June 5, 2020

 

After nearly three months, Facebook and Instagram have unblocked the #Sikh hashtag, saying the block occurred “mistakenly” after a user reported the hashtag in March.

“We became aware that these hashtags were blocked today following feedback we received from the community, and quickly moved to unblock them,” Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, said in a series of tweets. “Our processes fell down here, and we’re sorry.”

After the...

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Glen Rock Sikh temple handing out hundreds of meals during coronavirus pandemic

June 4, 2020

 

Volunteers at a Sikh temple in Glen Rock are following a tradition at the root of the religion, preparing meals in their community kitchen just as they did before the pandemic. Only now the meals are to go, given to senior citizens, families in need and anyone else who wants them.

Hundreds of free vegetarian meals are handed out each week to people who come to a drive-through pickup at the temple, known as a gurdwaran. The meals are available Fridays and Sundays, when services were held before the pandemic lock down.

Preparing meals and...

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San Antonio Food Bank benefits from Sikh philosophy of ‘selflessness’

April 27, 2020

 

As it became apparent six weeks ago that the coronavirus pandemic was going to test the San Antonio Food Bank like never before, the nonprofit’s leader welcomed calls from friends wanting to help.

Philanthropist G.P. Singh was one of the first to step forward.

“At the start of the crisis, he reached out to say, ‘How can I help? Where do you need me? How can I be useful?’” Food Bank CEO and president Eric Cooper said. “It wasn’t, I’m coming to you with the big idea. It was, ‘I’m not telling you how to...

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During The Pandemic, Colorado Sikhs Can’t Gather To Help People Who Need Food, So They’ve Changed Their Approach

April 13, 2020

 

KP Singh with Denver’s Sikh Gurudwara is spending much of his time at home with a headset on. He speaks on the phone with people who are searching for things like groceries and other goods.

“Some people (need) medical equipment,” he said. “Some lady actually called us that she had to go to a food bank so we had to arrange an Uber drive for her.”

Normally the Gurudwara, a Sikh house of worship, has a community kitchen. Once a...

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Easter, Passover, Vaisakhi, Ramadan: Milwaukee celebrates major religious holidays during a pandemic

April 13, 2020

 

Religious holidays this month are being celebrated using social distancing, but faith leaders say that doesn't mean people of faith have to be spiritually distant.

Many places of worship around the state are getting creative in how they celebrate. Many have moved their services online. Others are offering drive-up services.

At Faith Builders Church, they held a virtual service on Easter Sunday and invited congregation members to a drive-up blessing after the service was over. Senior Pastor Jeff Pruitt prayed over each family as they drove up...

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Sikh volunteers prepare 30,000 free meals for people in isolation

March 25, 2020

If you know anything about Sikhism, this news will not surprise you. If you don't, you're about to learn about a religion with a long history of humanitarianism. 

Sewa, or "selfless service" is a way of life for Sikhs. It means helping others with no expectation of anything in return or hope of gain in any way. Through sewa, Sikhs demonstrate the equality of all people, show love and respect towards others, and protect themselves from selfish vices.  ...

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San Joaquin’s Gurdwara Just Became Fresno County’s First Sikh Historical Landmark

March 11, 2020

 

A Sikh church in the small town of San Joaquin is now a historical landmark. The Fresno County Board of Supervisors made it official Tuesday. It’s the third Sikh historical landmark in California, but the first in Fresno County. 

The San Joaquin Gurdwara was created in the early 1980s. Members of the Sikh community put together their earnings in order to purchase the building that is now their place of worship. 

"Some of them, in terms of getting money from the bank, took out loans on their own houses to make sure that...

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2012 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting survivor dies of wounds

March 4, 2020

 

A man who survived being shot in the face during a white supremacist's deadly 2012 attack on a Sikh temple near Milwaukee has died of complications stemming from his injuries.
Baba Punjab Singh died Monday, bringing the victim death toll in the temple attack to seven and making it the worst mass shooting in Wisconsin since 2005.

White supremacist Wade Michael Page burst into the Sikh temple on Aug. 5, 2012, and shot 10 people, killing six and wounding four, including Singh. Page killed himself during a firefight with a police officer in the temple parking...

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Sikh American Ravi Singh’s ‘Share A Meal’ truck feeds LA’s homeless

February 7, 2020

 

Anyone familiar with the American street food culture, would know that food trucks across the US are a wonderful reflection of the culinary diversity and immigrant culture of the country.

But here is a food truck that seems to beautifully reflect the immigrant culture of sharing and loving through food. Los Angeles based Ravi Singh and his wife Jacquie Singh run a unique food service called Share A meal to feed the city’s homeless.

Their zany orange food trucks run across various locations around Los Angeles to serve 200 vegetarian burritos and...

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Sikhism in Boston

A monotheistic faith originating in the Punjab region of South Asia, Sikhism dates back to the late fifteenth century, when founder Guru Nanak—the first of the tradition’s ten gurus—preached about the importance of honest work, human equality, and the devotional love of God. Sikhism is currently the world’s fifth-largest religion, and while most Sikhs still reside in South Asia, the Sikh population in the United States has grown considerably since the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965. In Boston, Sikhs first met as a small study circle in the late 1960s, but the...

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