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| Kevin R. Wexler/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Raghuvinder Singh at the Glen Rock Gurudwara. He sees parallels in the forgiveness shown by worshipers in both the Wisconsin massacre and the church killings in South Carolina. |
July 4, 2015: GLEN ROCK — The shock and sadness of the day his father was shot at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin flooded back for Raghuvinder Singh when he heard of the recent mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, S.C., that left nine dead.
Nearly three years ago, a white supremacist armed with a semiautomatic pistol entered a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., where Singh’s father, Punjab, a priest, was getting ready for that day’s services. The elder Singh, his son said, was tying his turban when he was shot in the face and neck by Wade Michael Page. Before it was over, Page had killed six and wounded four before turning the gun on himself.
"This shooting impacted my life because the same story happened a few years ago in my life," Singh said in response to the South Carolina shooting as he sat one recent day in front of the Glen Rock Gurudwara, the Sikh place of worship where he serves as an assistant priest. "I remembered everything that happened. … It was the same emotions."
Singh’s father, now 68, was left paralyzed and unable to speak. And doctors have told the family that there is little hope for improvement. But despite the bleak prognosis, Raghuvinder Singh continues to hope for his father’s recovery and to rely on his faith. He preaches forgiveness and as an example points to the family of the victims of the Charleston shooting who forgave Dylann Roof, the man charged in those killings, at his first court appearance.
"We need to let society know what we can learn from standing together," he said "We need empathy rather than hatred."
Singh said that when his father regained consciousness around four months after the shooting, he asked him if he had forgiven the shooter. And his father answered the only way he could.
"He blinked his eyes twice," his son recalled. "And that means yes."
Singh said the first Sunday after the shooting, the Sikh community had a prayer service in Oak Creek that included prayers for Page.
"Our religion teaches us about forgiveness, so we have to forgive," he said.
The elder Singh lived in India, but traveled the world for years as a guest priest at various Sikh temples, his son said. He had preached in Britain, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore and for about five years visited temples in the United States.
On Aug. 5, 2012, Raghuvinder Singh was in India, while his father had started a rotation at the Wisconsin temple, a place he had visited in the past. That Sunday, would have been the first day Punjab Singh participated in a service since his arrival in the state four days earlier, his son said. He planned to stay about two months.
At the time of the shooting, Punjab Singh was not in the worship hall, but in another room getting ready for services his son said.
"He was in his room and was tying his turban," Singh said. "The shooter went into the room, he was there alone."
A bullet hit Punjab Singh in the face and then went through his spinal chord, his son said, while another struck his neck.
Raghuvinder Singh and his brother, Jespreet Singh, arrived six days later from India to find their father, the day of his birthday, in a hospital bed, breathing with the help of machines. Raghuvinder Singh said it was hard to see his father in a coma.
As long as Singh could remember, his father was a strong imposing presence, a veteran of the Indian Army who fought in two wars and was a track-and-field athlete. Even as he got older, his father took care of his health by eating right and exercising.
"He used to walk every day around 10 miles, even if it snowed, rained, he would not stop," his son recalled. "He was very health conscious, cooked his vegetables and his lentils."
A week after he returned to the United States from India, Singh’s mother, Kulwant Kaur, followed, and relocated to Wisconsin where she lives today with Jespreet Singh.
Raghuvinder Singh, the father of two, said he travels to Oak Creek once a month. Members of the temple have also visited the elder Singh, to show support for him and the family.
Gurinder Singh of Paramus, a member of the temple who’s not related to the priests, said that Punjab Singh is highly respected and loved.
"This has become pretty much part of their life and a little bit of our life as well. And when we see him, we think of the father because he was a preacher," Gurinder Singh said. "He was the one who was telling us how to love humanity, don’t hit nobody, that is what we all have been taught, love for the humanity, this is what religion teaches you, and he has become a victim of this thing, unfortunately."
Jasjit Singh Hundal, president of the Glen Rock temple, has been among the members who have visited Punjab Singh in the hospital. He said that the family is never far from their thoughts.
"He preached here, he preached throughout the world," he said, "and he is a preacher who is loved."