UNITED SIKHS Releases Comprehensive Know Your Rights Toolkit for Community Members
Highlights:
- Know Your Rights education materials available online for your local Gurdwaras, community centers, schools, and places of employment. These materials will soon be translated in Panjabi and similarly made available to the public.
- UNITED SIKHS Board members, staff and volunteers will be participating in several community and interfaith events surrounding the 10th anniversary of September 11th; we encourage community members to get involved.
- If you feel you have experienced discrimination and have questions about what to do about it, please contact law-usa@unitedsikhs.org.
- Please Be Involved, Click here to get started!; To donate go to www.unitedsikhs.org/donate.
New York, NY: Ten years after the tragic events of September 11th, many community and faith groups are coming together to commemorate this anniversary through recommitting themselves to the American ideals of mutual respect, partnership, and equality and to continue working to protect civil rights for all through co-signing a Statement of Principles drafted by members of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (to read the statement, click here). For the Sikh community, the 10th anniversary of September 11th acts as a poignant reminder of not only the tragedy of the lives lost on that day, but of the lives lost and forever changed in the days and years following.
After September 11th, the Sikh community experienced a sharp increase in discrimination in many forms, including increased reports of hate crimes, bullying, employment discrimination, racial and religious profiling. Since September 11th, UNITED SIKHS has formed the International Civil & Human Rights Advocacy (ICHRA) Directorate, whose primary focus is to protect the civil & human rights of Sikhs. Because of their distinct external religious identity, Sikhs are still being targeted for bias-based and discriminatory treatment, even after 10 years.
UNITED SIKHS is commemorating the 10th anniversary of September 11th, not only by endorsing the Statement of Principles but by participating in interfaith memorial events throughout USA. Moreover, UNITED SIKHS Legal Director, Jaspreet Singh, will be speaking at a Conference, 9-11 After Ten Years: Cultural, Personal, and Historical Perspectives, hosted by at John Jay College.
Additionally, we are commemorating the 10th anniversary with a call to the community to get more involved in education and awareness efforts. We encourage you to educate yourself about your rights and to educate others about Sikhism. Hate crimes and other forms of discriminatory behavior are rooted in fear and ignorance. We should do our part to educate ourselves and others and work towards a more peaceful world.
To encourage this process of education and outreach, UNITED SIKHS is releasing Know Your Rights Materials, Sikh Awareness Powerpoints, and an Interactive Blog. Senior Staff Attorney, Hansdeep Singh, commenting on the the anniversary of 9/11 stated that “Ten years after 9/11, the Sikh community must move beyond mere reflection, we must continue to educate, we must continue to empower.”
The first release is of the Know Your Rights materials, in the form of informational pamphlets and cards. We encourage you to read these materials and learn about your rights and what to do when they are violated. Distribute these pamphlets and cards at your local Gurdwara, community center, places of work, and schools. Use these materials to host discussion sessions about Sikhs and Sikhism. Keep a lookout in the coming weeks for the release of Sikh Awareness powerpoints that you can use to host Sikh Awareness training sessions.
In addition to the inter-faith events UNITED SIKHS is participating all over the U.S., we encourage you to take a look at the list of events below, happening across the country, and get involved.
How can you help? Raise your voice! Educate others about Sikhism !
Contact us for material on Sikh Awareness by clicking here! Donate to our ongoing advocacy work by clicking here!
Take a look at the calendar of events surrounding the 10th anniversary of 9/11 below. Please show your support by attending these events, also consider participating in these events to provide a Sikh perspective, to honor the victims of 9/11 and promote a peaceful tomorrow:
- UNITED SIKHS Legal Director, Jaspreet Singh, will be speaking at a Conference, 9-11 After Ten Years: Cultural, Personal, and Historical Perspectives, hosted by at John Jay Law College on Sept. 9, click here for more information.
- National Week of Action: Reflecting on Our Loss and Reclaiming Our Rights Hosted by Rights Working Group from September 11th -17th across the country, click here to view a map of events and find out more about how to get involved.
- An America for All of Us Campaign led by South Asian Americans Leading Together, click here to view events taking place across the country and find out more about how to get involved.
- Prepare New York is a coalition of interfaith organizations who are hosting a series of events surrounding the 10th anniversary of 9/11, click here to learn more and get involved in these events.
- New York Civil Liberties Union 9/11 Memorial on Thursday, Sept. 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the corner of Church Street and Park Place.
- Inter-Faith Conference at Georgetown University from Sept. 8 to Sept. 10th. RSVP Required.
Support advocacy work to put an end to discrimination against Sikhs. Volunteer with UNITED SIKHS, and Donate to our civil rights advocacy projects. Volunteer with UNITED SIKHS, and Donate to our civil rights advocacy projects.
Issued by:
Ilana Ofgang
Legal Fellow
law-usa@unitedsikhs.org
(888) 243-1690
