Interfaith community event this weekend to raise awareness about Sikh faith.
In a unique show of resilience and strength, the Sikh community of Orangevale in California have decided to host an interfaith open house this weekend.
The open house will be held at Guru Maneyo Granth Gurdwara Sahib, the Sikh place of worship which witnessed a racist act of vandalism early last week.
Worshippers and temple organizers saw racist white supremacist graffiti written across the entrance to the gurdwara.
While the authorities are investigating the matter, the community decided to host an interfaith open house to give everyone a chance to come and understand the tenets of their faith.
The gesture has been extended to stress that hate finds no place in the community.
The Sikh community that has often been the victim of racist backlash also wants to show through the open house that it is important for Americans and other nationals to understand each other’s cultures and find similarities therein.
The racist graffiti with Nazi signs scribbled across the Sikh place of worship came as a rude shock to the entire community in California.
Many lawmakers including Indian American Senator Kamala Harris and House member Ami Bera unequivocally condemned the attack.
The gurdwara which came under racist attack late last Sunday night was inaugurated recently and Sikh worshippers in the area had gathered that evening to pay respects at their new place of worship.
Following the attack, Basim Elkarra, Executive Director of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), Sacramento Valley/Central California, also condemned the “hateful act” and vowed to stand with the Sikh community.
“We condemn this hateful act of vandalism and stand with our Sikh brothers and sisters. We must all stand up against hate in our communities,” he stated.
“We are here to support the Sikh community and encourage any witnesses to come forward with information about this hate attack on a house of worship.”
READ MORE:
Nebraska includes Sikhism in new state educational standards (November 12, 2019)
Indian envoy Harsh Vardhan Shringla addresses concerns of Sikh Americans at Gurpurab celebration on Capitol Hill (November 14, 2019)
Houston post office to be named after slain Sikh police officer Sandeep Dhaliwal (December 7, 2019)
1 Comment
Why are you quoting the controversial organization CAIR? Council on American-Islamic Relations has a pattern of discriminating against and mistreating their own employees, especially #women.
There are issues of religious #discrimination, sexual #harassment, #retaliation, #hostile work environment, #union busting, financial #mismanagement (including losing their 501c3 status and questions around international funding through their Washington Trust Foundation), lack of board oversight, board #incompetence, and other serious issues at CAIR. Donor funds are directly going to pay for attorneys to suppress, silence, and intimidate those who have been treated unjustly.
There are many people who have been directly harmed by #CAIR. The CAIR Sexism Documentation Project currently has 35 members, mostly women, who share their experiences of facing discrimination, and other abuses, by CAIR.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2228298364100050/
There were several lawsuits in 2019 by former employees/board members. Employment discrimination lawsuit filed against CAIR-CA. SEE:
https://www.docdroid.net/FjATdM9/onlinedocument.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1uMMCaznSystmODEn10py3_qHMJsye9r4fkLKCYyecJ4dYzKVIWbbrVGI
Some of the local funds that chapters raise goes directly to National as part of chapter affiliation fees. And when, for 25 years, you are the national founder, national board member with no term limits, and national executive director, you have immense power on how that money is spent- including buying a brand new SUV for the executive director, paying expensive DC lawyers to shut down staff efforts to unionize, hiring attorneys to harass and intimidate women who ask for equal pay and report abuse and sexual harassment, etc. Chapters are aware of the issues but look the other way and do nothing.
This review was posted by the former executive director of a chapter: “I do not recommend donating your money to CAIR-NJ. I believe there may be a warrant out for the arrest of a former CAIR-NJ board member, who served as this organization’s treasurer, for stealing CAIR-NJ money by writing himself checks. Donors should definitely question whether their charity is legitimately being used to do civil rights advocacy, how this was allowed to happen, and whether the organization is being fully transparent. Full disclosure: I am a former Executive Director of CAIR-NJ and found the board leadership to be quite inadequate and corrupt at the expense of the community and even moreso at the expense of its staff.”
CAIR creates more victims than it helps. It does more harm than good, whether it’s the continuous negative portrayal of Muslims as victims in the media, lack of strategy, making serious mistakes on people’s cases, providing inconsistent services, the all-male press conferences, failure to build a legitimate nationwide infrastructure, lack of community engagement on the national level, not having a seat at many tables despite being around for 25 years and having an office a few blocks from the US Capitol, and so much more.
Ultimately, nothing good can come out of corruption and injustice. The community deserves a legitimate civil rights and Muslim organization that treats all people with the respect and dignity they deserve.