This short documentary film by Raina Ambika is entitled Harleen. In her own voice, 22-year-old Harleen Kaur exposes her personal experiences of growing up in Wisconson and her relationship with her religion, nationality, and identity.
August 5th, 2015 marks the three-year anniversary of the shooting inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek. On that tragic day, six people lost their lives, and four others were injured when Wade Page opened fire on a sunny Sunday morning. This weekend, memorial events are planned to honor the victims who lost their lives in this shooting.
Perhaps I may not get my wish for Baba Punjab Singh to recover, however he has taught me so much about walking the talk of the Guru's teachings. Gently, quietly with every last breath, he continues to impact the lives of others. Silently, I speak to him with gratitude for being purely chardi kala, ever rising spirit.
But as we reflect on the meaning of this tragedy one year later, we can choose to focus on what we do know for certain: the beauty of the six victims’ final act on Earth.
Two days after the event, I noted that the major news networks (not including CNN) had dedicated scant coverage to the shooting compared to Aurora, leaving it "destined to disappear into the realm of the nothing-to-be-done, nothing-to-be-discussed."
“All things being relative, I’m in a good spot,” Murphy explained. “Obviously, I realize how fortunate I am to even be alive. I don’t know why, and I don’t think I’ll ever know why....
To honor them is to tell our children powerful, interconnected and hopeful narratives about their precious skin colors, faiths and cultures. To remember them is to envision and bring about a different racial landscape in our country.
After consideration and contemplation, temple members kept the policy, deciding it was important to show the world the best way to stand against violence was to respond with love, peace and compassion.
FOX 6 reported this month that the final FBI report hasn't been released, and families are looking for more about what happened inside the temple when a gunman opened fire the morning of Aug. 5.
“The final report on the Sikh Temple shooting that occurred in August of 2012 hasn’t yet been released, and now, eyes are turned to the FBI for more extensive information on that other horrible Sunday”
On December 16, 2012, in response to the tragic events and suffering at Newtown, CT, WSC-AR coordinated with Sikh Americans from ten Sikh Gurdwaras (of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey), to attend the candlelight vigil and interfaith prayer service held at Newtown High School.
First Lady Mitchelle Obama offered consoling words and gave hugs to all the family members of the Sikh victims of the Oak Creek Gurdwara shooting in Wisconsin in August.
"There was sadness. There was grief. There was peace. People came and went, prayed, chatted, hugged and cried. I prayed, observed and participated as best as I could, ever mindful of an undeniable feeling of graciousness and love that permeated every inch of the Sikh Temple," says Weiss.
When bullets, blood and terror came to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on that Sunday morning, Aug. 5, Oak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy would not give in. In the middle of a gun battle that raged for about two minutes, he found himself wedged beneath a car as the gunman reloaded. And he thought to himself: "I'm not going out like this. I'm not going out in a parking lot."
American society tends to delude itself into believing that ignorance is the exclusive source of hate-violence. Part of the reason for this is that this idea is more comforting than the reality. It’s comforting for us to think that people would be compassionate towards one another if they were more educated.
“Well, I think our orientation as a community has been to stress that we are opposed to religious hostility and hate crime-type violence directed against any community, whether it be the Muslim community or the Jewish community or any other religious community in America,” Singh said.
Local members hope that the tragedy in suburban Milwaukee will give them a chance to educate their neighbors about the Sikh faith while paying honor to those that were lost.
She especially seemed to know the story of Satwant Singh Kaleka, the temple president who tried to stab the gunman with a butter knife in an effort to stall him so women and children in the temple would have time to hide. "The thing she kept repeating was, 'Your father was a true hero,'" said Amardeep Kaleka.
Bill Baxley’s pursuit of justice, the attack on the Oak Creek Gurdwara will embolden Sikh Americans to preserve their traditions and to continue to promote freedom and justice for all Americans.
