Quick reflections on the article which I think is especially pertinent to the diaspora communities.
Generally, the ‘External’ problems will need to be tackled at the political level. To counter any discrimination or abuse on account of one’s race or religion will require the full force of the State, and will therefore depend upon the type of Government in the host country. Often one hears of such discrimination in the West, though it probably exists in other, non-Western countries also. It is to the credit of the Western governments that such discrimination has no legal footing in those countries, it is actively discouraged, and those guilty of discrimination are punished.
This in itself is no guarantee of anything. Despite legislation racism is still prevalent. Yes it goes to the societies credit that they have anti discriminatory legislation but often much of the host culture detest this and view it as "politically correct madness"
So although the laws may be in place they still do not actually change the racist attitudes of many. What often happens is that subtler forms of racism replace the open sort. Also institutes may develop a culture of "institutionalised racism", this is common in large organisations such as the police or other elite groups.
Post-September 11, 2001, Sikhs have been subjected to hate crimes, again on account of their appearance, causing them to be mistaken for Muslim fundamentalists, for looking like the “Taliban”. Though the problem is akin to the issue of skin colour it is not quite the same. It is not racial discrimination. In such cases, and there may well be more in the future, the only real approach is to educate the societies concerned about how different it is to be a Sikh as opposed to being a Muslim, that Sikhs and Sikhism do not condone such terrorist acts and that there are no Sikh organisations inimical to Western interests.
It would be a sad and purely reactionary measure to promote ourselves mainly on the plank that we are not Muslims. The article is absolutely right however to highlight the impact of 9/11 on Sikhs. Also this kowtowing approach to appease the white world very easily leads to tokenism and sycophancy. The best approach in my opinion is to ensure Sikh youth (especially the males) are raised up strong and confident. This should put off many neo-nazis who simply look for weak people to pick as scapegoats and targets. Let me give you an example. In the 70s and 80s in England race attacks against "asians" (this means brown folks in the UK not orientals as in the US), were commonplace. The usual ignorant "taking all our jobs", "they are dirty", "they refuse to learn our language and culture" arguments were bandied about. This commonly happens with most immigration waves from what I understand. fast forward to today and we have a massive influx of Europeans into the UK (due to the formation of the EU), who have taken large chunks of work away by doing them for cheap i.e. Polish people and plumbing. They too congregate together and often mix little with the indigenous Brits. However they rarely face the type of racism asians did. This is despite of the resentment from many Brits. The main reason for this I believe is that they are generally much larger and stronger and would probably decimate most British nazis in any confrontation. Sikhs should learn from this. Targets are often chosen because they are vulnerable: personally I believe Dasmesh pita did all he could to infuse a confident, warrior spirit in his Sikhs. When this is lost all these problems appear.
Finally I just want to say that Sikhs themselves need to continually reflect and adapt for the better. This can be done without losing ones heritage. If you want to see this in practice just look at our own Guru's history and see how they themselves adapted and developed the panth to meet challenges.
Conclusion:
We have to bear in mind that, with a liberal education, an environment where reason and free inquiry are cherished, where access to information and a diversity of views is available with the click of a ‘mouse’, Sikh children of the future are not going to accept everything on faith alone. Being continuously influenced and educated by other ethnic groups and cultures they will demand rational explanations for everything, including a belief in God and religion. We can be brave, and choose to meet the demand head-on with reason and logic, or continue to avoid controversy and skirt the issues. The ball is in our court now.
This is pretty much the situation. What we really need to get away from is the blind faith and unquestioning approach favoured by many. Back in Panjab and the diaspora we need to develop and implement a modern holistic Sikh education. But instead we are simply reactionary to our adversities and sweep issues under the rug. Having semi literate leaders doesn't help either. Our own education System doesn't need to hide away from the modern world but embrace it. The Singh Sabha movement laid the foundations for such an approach in my eyes. By this I mean the original movement and not the caste sectarian version that is prevalent in the diaspora. Saying that, I'm not ignoring criticisms of the movement, especially those that say some of the key people involved were excessively concerned with appeasing their British "masters " at the time. We just need to be truthful and honest amongst ourselves as well as dynamic. There is so much that Sikh philosophy can offer to the world today - but firstly we Sikhs (especially from Panjabi backgrounds) need to live up to it ourselves. The point about modern education is so very important in an increasingly global world. I see much difference between so called "enlightened" thinking and Sikhism but I also see LOTS of common ground. If any religion should flourish today it should be Sikhism - if it is not doing this we need to ask ourselves why?
