Remembering the victims:
Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, the temple president, killed after physically confronting the gunman. Paramjit Kaur, 41. Prakash Singh, 39. Ranjit Singh, 49. Sita Singh, 41. Suveg Singh, 84.
If you would like to make a donation in honor of the victims:
Online: http://wearesikhs.com/
Postal address:
Victims Memorial Fund
Sikh Temple of Wisconsin
7512 South Howell Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53154
Through the pain of the Wisconsin shootings, Muskegon Sikh members reach out to community
MUSKEGON, MI – The raw emotions provoked by a gunman’s killing of six people in an Oak Creek, Wis., Sikh temple are still fresh in the hearts of those in the Muskegon Sikh community nearly two months later.
Local members hope that the tragedy in suburban Milwaukee will give them a chance to educate their neighbors about the Sikh faith while paying honor to those that were lost.
The Sikh community, consisting of about 25 families in the Muskegon area, is a close-knit group that has not only strong relationships with the Sikh Society of West Michigan and its temple in Ada but also associations with those of the Sikh community in southeast Wisconsin.
The pride and price of wearing a turban
People of the Sikh faith were tragically in the news this summer. On Aug. 5, a gunman shot and killed six worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
But the Sikh community has continued to find itself under attack, evident from post-9/11 hate crimes, the shooting in Milwaukee, and, most recently, political opportunism in making ethnicity an election issue in the province of Quebec.
The same turban that has given Sikhs identity and pride all through their history is now exacting a high price. The turban pits Sikhs on the wrong side of the cultural police. No people, least of all Sikhs, deserve this bigoted treatment. A Sikh’s turban is a symbol of someone whose job is to protect.
Senate hearing holds key to understanding homegrown hate
In the chaos of bullets, riots, and the murder of an ambassador and three other U.S. citizens, a congressional hearing held in a quiet corner of the U.S. Senate holds the key to understanding the many costs of homegrown hate.
On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the threat of hate groups and domestic extremism in America. The hearing is historic. While Congress has held dozens of hearings on the threat of al-Qaeda and its affiliates, this will be the first hearing in recent history on homegrown hate. However, the media has barely taken note.
While the hearing was called in response to the massacre of six worshippers in Oak Creek, Wis., in August , it is necessary to understand the global riots in the news today. The hearing can confront the consequences of allowing homegrown hate to go unchecked – but only if we connect the dots.
Sikh Temple Member Tells His Story to U.S. Senate
At the start of last month, Harpreet Singh Saini couldn't have imagined he would be sitting where he was on Wednesday afternoon.
But there he was, speaking in front of a U.S. Senate hearing on violent extremism, 45 days after a gunman with white supremacist ties took the life of his mother, Paramjit Kaur, and five others inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin.
Saini told the committee he was there on behalf of all the children of the Sikh temple who lost parents and grandparents on Aug. 5.
FBI may add Sikhs to hate crime target list after Wisconsin attack
In the wake of the domestic terror attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the FBI is considering whether to expand its hate crime reporting procedures to include that religious group.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole told attendees at the Community Relations Service Sikh Cultural Competency Training Preview in Washington, DC, on Sept. 19 that the bureau “must also seek as much information as possible about the nature and cause of religious hate crimes, including those directed at Sikh Americans -- so that we can end them.”
Sikhs Host Sunnyvale Run After Temple Shooting
As a way to remember the Sikh temple shooting victims in Wisconsin - and hopefully prevent a massacre like that from happening elsewhere - a group of Bay Area Sikhs is hosting a run/walk Saturday in Sunnyvale to raise money for education.
Simran Kaur, the advocacy manager for The Sikh Coalition in Fremont, said her group hopes to raise $75,000. That money, she said, will go toward further educating the public about Sikhs and who they are.
As a runner, I couldn't pass up posting this one. What a great way to celebrate the community. I'd love if a run in Oak Creek similar to this was held. I don't normally go to events in the south metro but I would definitely consider making an exception.
Full House Learns About Sikh, Other Faiths
Nobody could learn everything they need to know about a religion in eight minutes or less.
But an event Monday night at the Oak Creek Community United Methodist Church gave those who attended a better understanding of their neighbors and the wide range of beliefs in the Milwaukee area.
"Know Your Neighbors: Exploring Our Diverse Faiths" was held seven weeks after white supremacist Wade Michael Page killed six members of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. The event was put on by the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, which later presented the Sikh temple with a donation of $5,558.
These are the types of things that should be happening before tragedies like this strike. Thank goodness they are happening now. Better late than never but far better early. I hope other communities are doing the same.
WHY IT MATTERS: Gun control
Frightening episodes of gun violence have been splayed across front pages with alarming frequency this campaign season: the movie theater killings in Colorado, the Sikh temple shootings in Wisconsin, the gun battle outside the Empire State Building, and more. Guns are used in two-thirds of homicides, according to the FBI. But the murder rate is less than half what it was two decades ago.