As a Sikh American whose family settled in America 100 years ago, this election is different than any other my family has seen. This is the first election where I believe the future of my community and country rests on our support of a single presidential candidate: Barack Obama. Sikhs will have a choice on February 5th: we can stick to politics-as-usual, or we can join a movement in this country. A movement where people divided by race, religion, and politics are finding the courage to recognize themselves in one another and come together in a common cause. A movement that would end the old politics, in which Sikhs are forever minorities asking to be accommodated, and usher in a new politics of unity that ties Sikhs to all Americans in the same struggle for freedom. Obama alone represents this movement. Its momentum is real. We are already part of it. I have witnessed it.For more than a year, I have been living out of my suitcase, traveling the country with my film Divided We Fall that features stories of Sikh Americans after 9/11. From California to New York, Nebraska to South Carolina, our community's stories have reached tens of thousands of people – white, black, brown, liberal, conservative, non-believer, believer, young and old. After the film, people applaud with tears in their eyes and talk about how attacks on Sikhs threaten their freedom too. "My father was a guard at a Japanese-American internment camp," says a white woman in Montana. "I refuse to be gripped by the same fear and hatred.""Just as I stand up for the right for gay people to come out of the closet," says a gay man in New York, "I promise to stand up for the right for Sikhs to wear their turbans. It is the same freedom." "Your story is my story," an evangelical Christian in Nebraska tells me. "I too remember when I was seen as an outsider."And in rural Illinois, an African-American man points to his braids, and says: "My braids are my turban." People see themselves in our stories. It is time that we, as Sikhs, return the gesture. We must stop thinking only of our own struggle, our own pain, and begin to see that we are not alone in the fight. We have a stake in the freedom of every other community in this country – Black, Latino, Jewish, Muslim, Gay – all of them, because all of us ache for a country where we can be recognized for how we see ourselves.
This recognition means we must confront our own community's discrimination against African-Americans, Muslims, and homosexuals. It means opening our eyes to the hate violence other communities face as well as the issues at stake for our country -- the coffins coming home, the threat of global warming, the growing poor, the crumbling schools in the parts of town we never visit, and the sick who can't afford to see the doctors in our families.
And it means ending the old way of fighting. For too long, Sikhs have learned to depend on individual politicians in halls of power to champion our cause. We have given our money and votes to any politician who promised to pose with us for the cameras and defend our community when needed, regardless of whether they were Republican or Democrat, George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton. This is politics-as-usual, the only way we knew how to fight for our right to be seen as American. We can no longer afford to fight this way. We must end self-interested politics, for as long as we advocate only for our own equality, we will never fully own our place as Americans. And we will always be dependent on politicians who defend us when it benefits them. Hillary Clinton is one such politician. She stands up for the Sikh community when politically expedient. On the campaign trail, she made several cancellations to appear with Sikhs in public and refused to join Obama in supporting the Sikh Coalition's appeal to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to protect turbans from searches at airports. Trapped in the political and racial binaries of the 1960s, she represents a political left that aims to accommodate minorities only when convenient.In this great hour of need, it is time for Sikhs to support a leader whose vision integrates all of us into one nation, a leader who inspires us to take action together, a leader who not merely accommodates diversity but stands for it in his very being and breath -- a leader who truly represents us.
Like us, Obama inherits a mixed racial, religious, and national heritage. Like us, he belongs to multiple identities and moves between them. Like us, he has learned to claim that in-between space as his own and speak from it. If he can speak from it, we can speak from it. His voice is our voice. Last week, in honor of Dr. King, Obama voiced the need to "recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother's keeper; we are our sister's keeper." He beckoned us to "stand in somebody else's shoes" and change "the division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating" in our own hearts. Yes, it is time for Sikhs to join the movement. It is time for us to draw upon the courage we are famous for and fight with Obama in the name of unity.Our very future as Sikhs and as Americans depends on it. --Senator Barack Obama has dedicated his life to public service as a community organizer, civil rights attorney, a leader in the Illinois state Senate, and currently as a US Senator from Illinois. His historic campaign for the US Presidency is remarkable for bringing together a broad coalition comprised of progressives from across the racial, economic and religious spectrums from throughout the United States. His political vision has much resonance for South Asian Americans. On issues such as immigration, hate crimes, racial profiling, religious freedom, the War on Terror, small business promotion, and educational access, Obama has consistently emphasized his desire to work in the interest of the South Asian community. To learn more or to get involved, please visit www.safo2008.com
Join Sikhs for Obama on Facebook and on My.BarackObama.com
Valarie Kaur is a filmmaker, writer, and lecturer in religion presently on tour with her documentary film Divided We Fall. She is also founding director of Harvard's Discrimination and National Security Initiative. She can be reached at valarie@dwf-film.com
Comments are closed for this post.
