Two veteran media gurus who are helping with the campaign, Geoff Garin and Isaac Baker, made presentations outlining how the Sikh image can be reshaped. Garin, who works with Hart Research, is a former political strategist to Hillary Clinton. Baker’s firm AKPD Message and Media worked for President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
“The consensus was that there is a critical need for this kind of media strategy for the Sikh community,” Dr. Rajwant Singh, president of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, who facilitated the discussion, said. “Secondly, all possible efforts need to be made to include as many Gurdwaras as possible in the network as partners. Thirdly, our goal is to keep the focus on introducing Sikhism and the Sikh identity while showing the positive contribution of the community in the media.”
Singh, who is also a senior advisor to NSC, added: “Almost every person said that this type of campaign should have been launched long time ago and would have prevented many hardships that many members of the community have had to face since 9/11.”
One of the Sikh leaders who participated in the meeting was Dr. Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, president of the Oak Creek Gurdwara in Wisconsin, where a white supremacist gunned down six devotees before taking his own life.
“[The] aim of the campaign is to counteract the negative image and perceptions Americans have about Sikhs and Sikhism and create a positive image of Sikhs and our faith,” he said. “This is about taking a proactive approach, or as in medicine we would say, a preventative approach— ‘Prevention is better than a cure’ approach. Hopefully that will prevent future tragedies for our people.”
Many Sikh leaders who attended the meeting said such a campaign is long overdue. “It’s long overdue that Sikh organizations and gurdwaras work together to take a proactive approach to the challenges Sikhs face in America, Jasvir Kaur Singh, who represented the Sikh Religious Society in Chicago, said. “This was the first time I’ve attended a Sikh event where we hoped to check our egos at the door and have a candid conversation about the lack of progress we’ve made despite our attempts and personal, professional successes.”
Explaining the fundraising raising strategy for the campaign, Jivan Singh Achreja, its national strategy director, said “a large section of the community will be tapped through gurdwaras and online sources in a creative fundraising strategy that will involve all levels of the community.”
