The Charleston Victims of Church Shooting
June 25, 2015: Charleston and the nation were devastated when a hate-filled gunman entered a church and killed nine beautiful worshippers at a Bible study.
On Aug. 5, 2012, my beloved father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, and five others were murdered in their own church — the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin — during Sunday morning worship. Again, the gunman was a man filled with racial hatred.
In both cases, the gunmen had no trouble obtaining the gun that caused the damage to people of color — or my brothers and sisters of diversity, as I think of them.
The parallels between these two mass shootings, these two hate crimes are haunting. Both underscore the fact that we are long overdue for an honest conversation about the problems of racism, guns and violence in America.
These tragedies at homes of worship have brought us to our knees in prayer. But now it's time to rise. I believe that people of faith must lead the way — just as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and so many religious leaders have before us.
As a person of faith, a gun violence survivor and a volunteer with Everytown for Gun Safety, I am #RisingForCharleston — taking part in a national effort to pray, heal and take action to reduce gun violence in the United States.
This upcoming weekend, people of faith across the country will rise for Charleston — and for the 88 Americans who die and hundreds of others who are injured every day from gun violence.
We'll do it together, in honor of those killed and injured at the Emanuel AME Church, and all those hundreds of thousands of loved ones who have been killed or injured by guns in America. We'll do it to call on our elected officials to be the leaders we deserve and work for a future free from gun violence.
We'll pay tribute to the lives tragically cut short at Emanuel AME and to all those who have been killed or forever altered by shootings in America. And we'll call on our elected officials to stand up and lead — like Rev. Clementa Pinckney did in the South Carolina State Senate — and help build a future free from gun violence.
Personally, I also will rise in the name of my father. I cannot let his death be in vain. Death is a high price to pay, but I have come to believe that encouraging discourse and policy change is the best way to honor my father's memory.
I am reminded of a Vedic teaching from my Sikh faith: chardi kala. Translated it means "eternal optimism." The theory is that the universe cannot exist without bending toward the good. And even though there may be counterforces of evil, it is the optimism that propels us forward and sustains us.
It took me a long time to find forgiveness in my heart, but I know that is what my father would have wanted. I knew if I held on to the anger, the negative energy would consume me and keep me from moving forward.
I am optimistic that the power of faith and the forces of good — such as the outpouring of love and support from people across this nation — will help heal the devastated Charleston community.
This is my hope today: That we can come together out of this senseless act of hatred and violence and join in #RisingForCharleston.
Amardeep Kaleka is a filmmaker and a volunteer with Everytown for Gun Safety. His father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was murdered at the Sikh temple shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in 2012.
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Related Article:
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/oak-creek-sikhs-hold-prayer-charleston