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| Manmohan Singh Bharara |
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| Swaranjit Singh Khalsa |
Too many people mistake Sikhs for Muslims or Arabs, and the same people who erroneously link those groups with terrorism do the same with Sikhs, Bahrara believes.
He points out that a Sikh American who owned a gas station in Mesa, Arizona, was killed on Sept. 15, 2001, and is believed to be the first death as a result of retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.
Bahrara, the owner of Allstar Insurance Agency on Dixwell Avenue in Hamden, is a founder of the Gurdwara Sachkhand Darbar, a Sikh temple on Welton Street in Hamden, one of four in the state. He’s pleased about the National Sikh Campaign’s efforts to educate and inform non-Sikhs about the world’s fifth-largest organized religion.
Because Sikhism is not well known in the United States, the National Sikh Campaign commissioned a survey and report to paint a fuller picture of the faith and its members.
For example, the wearing of a turban “is probably the most misunderstood piece of our religion,” said Shawn Singh Ghuman, spokesman for the National Sikh Campaign.
In fact, the turban represents “equality, our desire for people to have religious tolerance,” Ghuman said.
According to the report, “Throughout history, Sikhs have worn the turban to signal their readiness to protect all people against injustice, regardless of faith, gender, caste, or color.”
More broadly, the campaign’s purpose is “to eliminate all of the misconceptions people have about the identity” of Sikhs, Bahrara said.
According to the survey, 60 percent of Americans know nothing about Sikhs and less than a third have ever knowingly interacted with a member of the faith, though there are 500,000 Sikhs in the United States. This lack of knowledge was demonstrated by the majority surveyed who said they felt neutral about Sikhs, with 28 percent saying they have “warm feelings.”
According to the National Sikh Campaign report, “Since 9/11, there has been a dramatic increase in hate-based violence against Sikhs, including the biggest act of violence against a faith community in the United States since the 1963 church bombings in Birmingham, Alabama”: a shooting in Wisconsin in 2012 that left six people dead and four others wounded. “Moreover, many Sikhs experience daily encounters with discrimination and hate incidents that go unreported and therefore unrecognized,” the report states.
When shown photos of Sikhs, “most Americans assume the person is from India or the Middle East; only men with turbans are associated with Sikhism,” the report says.
Ghuman said there have been 300 hate crimes against Sikhs since 9/11. Bahrara insists, “It’s a problem of mistaken identity, that’s the thing. Ignorance is no excuse.”
According to the report, the campaign hopes that “In particular, messages and information that emphasize the commonalities Sikhs share with other Americans and Sikhism’s strong focus on equality are effective in communicating the Sikh American story to the broader American public.”
Bahrara said Sikhs believe that all religions have value. “In Sikhism there is no caste, no color, no creed,” he said. “They’ve very devotional, they’re hard-working, they’re honest.” Once someone gets to know a Sikh American, he said, “If they have a little bit of wrong perception, that goes away.”
Swaranjit Singh Khalsa of Norwich owns a property-maintenance business and the Norwichtown Shell Station and is “an approved presenter for the Department of Justice” in its community dialogue programs to first responders and other groups. The sessions include information about Arabs, Muslims and Sikhs, “so if there’s any confusion, that can be eliminated,” Khalsa said.
Sikhs, led by Khalsa, have conducted a campaign of awareness in Connecticut, including a billboard on Interstate 84 in Hartford, and a Sikh Awareness Day at his gas station.
“It was a kind of food for your mind and your stomach, both,” Khalsa said.
The city of Norwich proclaimed November Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. Khalsa even led a “Turban Day” presentation at Yale University for the Connecticut Mental Health Center.
But there isn’t a large community to finance efforts at spreading the Sikh message. “In Connecticut we have almost 400 families, that’s it, which is nothing,” he said.
Among the traditions Sikhs maintain are the five articles of faith known as the “five Ks” for their Punjabi names. Bahrara explained each one: a small dagger, which “symbolizes that we believe in justice, we believe that the weaker must be protected”; unshorn hair, which “signifies accepting the will of God”; a comb to represent cleanliness and order; an iron or steel bracelet to show “no beginning and no end” to faith and that “your mind should be strong, your will should be strong as steel”; and special undergarments to indicate modesty and moral strength.
There also are three pillars of the faith: meditation, honest living and sharing with the needy, Bahrara said.
The report concludes that positive images will tell the Sikhs’ story: their patriotism, their willingness to serve in the armed forces, their seeking of the American dream.
“We are here to make a better society and we do not point fingers at any faith, any religion,” Bahrara said.