I don't write often as my art crusade, the Million Gun Victims March finally ratchets up in awareness. But the Massacre in the Pittsburgh Synagogue is just the latest in this decade's trend of shootings in houses of worship. The piece above features the men and woman who were killed in the mass shooting where I believe this pattern all began.
The gurdwara was located in Oak Creek, a few miles outside Madison Wisconsin. School for the children had started while other Sikh worshippers had begun their prayers. Among them were young mother Paramjit Kaur and elder Suveg Singh Khattra .
Satwant Singh Kaleka founded the temple just over 20 years ago. He was instrumental in providing other Sikh families with the resources to found a new community in the new country they immigrated to.
Ranjit Singh, his younger brother Sita Singh, and fellow friend Prakash Singh, supported the temple community every way they could. They were all hardworking and amiable. They wanted their adopted country to know their love and faith, and they would be a true ornament to the United States.
On August 4th, 2012, a racist American terrorist barged in and started blasting lives to pieces.
Satwant Singh Kaleka, true to his faith, didn't take a second to decide to confront the gunman. Prakash Singh immediately joined him. I believe the actions of the four men in the back of the portraits saved the children from the terrorist.
The loss to the world of such brave and stalwart individuals will linger for centuries.
I remember desperately chanting that this attack on a house of worship of a very small religious group wouldn't lead to an open season on all congregations. But no! We have Charleston, we have Texas, we have Quebec City, and now Pittsburgh. What can we do?
For Satwant's son Pardeep Singh Kaleka, who had to take over the leadership of the gurudwara, a man named Arno Michaelis wrote asking to meet him. Arno used to be a member of a white racist cult. Taking courage in hand, he asked if there was any way he could be part of the healing process.
Together they founded Serve2Unite, a non-profit dedicated to mentoring young people on what diversity means and why it is necessary.
They have written a book called "The Gift of our Wounds". Why do white kids turn to violent racism? Arno Michaelis will tell you, as one who has been there and escaped, how it happens. While Pardeep Singh Kaleka brings not just the horrors of the massacre to the reader, but you meet his father Satwant, experience his struggles and hopes, and brings the community and culture of their homeland to life.
That is what we must do, and are doing. Little by little people are groping towards each other, people outside our usual circles, to find out how their strengths can carve an opening for change. Question your ordinary life. Come out of your shells. Talk and more importantly listen. How can your insights help transform grief from bitter helplessness to determination?
Don't wait for political leaders to do it. We start and eventually they will follow.
Check out Serve2Unite at serve2unite.org and check out the book.
I myself am chock loaded determined that I will get this group portrait to them by August 2019.