During the first week of June, Sikhs around the world commemorate a recent historical event: Operation Bluestar of 1984, a government-sanctioned military operation that resulted in countless casualties and the destruction of one of the most historically significant gurduaras, the Darbar Sahib of Amritsar (i.e., The Golden Temple).

Sikhs...

I had never before seen anyone protest an interfaith gathering. But yesterday as we walked out of our hotel in Kiev, Ukraine, a small group of protestors stepped forward to verbally and physically harass our group consisting of religious leaders and foreign dignitaries. The protestors belonged to the Ukranian Orthodox...

After raising more than $7,000 for charity, a new Sikh running team -- The Surat Fauj Running Club -- participated in its first two events this past weekend. On Saturday members of the California team showed their commitment to defending human rights in Punjab, India by joining the "Appear for...

Two weeks ago, Florida resident and Sikh American Kanwaljit Singh was driving with his 13-year old son when someone pulled up next to him in a pickup truck and opened fire. Two of the bullets struck Singh in the thigh and torso, and after about a week in the Intensive...

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This afternoon, I was forced to let someone else touch my turban. It's one of the most humiliating moments of my life.

I attended a conference at Stanford University this weekend and was traveling back to...

A few weeks ago, the British Army and the Scots Guard broke centuries of tradition by allowing a Sikh soldier, Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar, to wear his turban rather than the traditional bearskin cap while guarding Buckingham Palace in London, England. Meanwhile, U.S. policies still bar turbaned Sikhs from serving in...

The mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut raises serious questions about the health of our society and collective humanity. People around the globe today wonder how anyone could possibly justify killing innocent school children and school employees.

More than any of the other mass shootings our...

Less than one month after of the massacre of Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Mayor Tonya Hoeffel of Garrett, Indiana has further offended the Sikh community. Mayor Hoeffel walked into a local convenience store, observed pamphlets about the Sikh religion on the store counter, and picked them up before throwing...

Another Sikh has been murdered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Fifty-six-year-old Dalbir Singh regularly attended the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, the same gurdwara where white supremacist Wade Michael Page opened fire and killed six members of the congregation.

According to a press release issued by the...

Why do we wear turbans?"

Nearly every Sikh American who grows up in the U.S. asks their families this question and as two Sikh Americans who maintain our faith, we were no different when we were little. This week, as Americans join in vigils for the six murdered Sikhs...

In the aftermath of the tragic shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Omid Safi, Professor of Religious Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and one of America's Muslim public intellectuals interviewed Simran Jeet Singh, a doctoral candiate in the Department of Religion at Columbia University whose...

As a Sikh-American, I am absolutely heart-broken.

As soon as news broke about the massacre in Wisconsin, my parents called me to make sure I was safe. Our conversation was eerily similar to the moments immediately after 9/11.

After making sure I was safe, they asked...

I can't stop thinking about hate.

I have written a couple of pieces recently about Islamophobia, Sikhophobia, media profiling and hate-crimes, and both of them focus on the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi, the first hate crime casualty of post-9/11 America. While these essays have considered how his murder...

Following my recent article on "Islamophobia, Sikhophobia, and Media Profiling," I received a number of questions from people about hate-speech and hate-crimes. Some people denied that they occur in modern America, while others asked how we could be so certain that acts of violence were motivated by hate....

On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks shook the American nation to its core. Nineteen individuals associated with al Qaeda coordinated to hijack four passenger jets and use them as weapons of mass destruction. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 claimed approximately 3,000 lives, including all 256 passengers on the four planes,...

It's not uncommon for kids to ask their parents about "that thing" on my head.

In most instances, the parents look at me uncomfortably, embarrassed that I might be offended in some way. I'll usually acknowledge their discomfort with an awkward smile before looking away and pretending not to...

This past Friday, the White House hosted the first-ever policy briefing on Sikh civil rights issues.

Amardeep Singh, Director of Programs for the Sikh Coalition and Commissioner for the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, opened the event with a jakara, a traditional way in which...

The central text of the Sikh religion -- the Guru Granth Sahib -- is a different kind of scripture. A number of features mark its distinctiveness among the scriptures of the world, including its style, content, history and authority.

One unique aspect of the Guru Granth Sahib relates to...

As far as I can remember, I've always looked different.

In elementary school, my classmates called me a girl, a genie and Aladdin.

In middle school, I was a raghead, a diaperhead and Sadam Hussein.

And in high school, some kids were convinced that I was Osama...

Did you hear about the Orthodox Jewish men who curse and spit on elementary school kids as they walk to school?

Waiting for the punchline?

Sorry, there isn't one.

Just a couple weeks ago, a story came to light after 8-year-old Naama Margolese complained to her mother that she...