Many Americans are struggling with questions that will perplex not just the Sikhs but anyone back home in India: Are Sikhs Muslims? Are Sikhs Arabs? Does Osama Bin Laden have anything to do with the Sikhs? A teenager accosting a Sikh and telling him to “take your turban back to the desert where you might actually need it” to hailing out to a Sikh driver by saying “Arab, get out of here” are incidents which happen many a time in the US. Sikhs understand what 4th of July would mean to an American. They themselves experienced this as a collective on the Vaisakhi of 1699, when the Guru founded the Khalsa. Complete freedom from fear, freedom from slavery, freedom from discrimination. Total independence. All Sikh men were lions, and all women were princesses! As religious minorities grow in numbers with immigration,  as generations settle in, and as new religious and cultural centers begin to develop critical mass, religious immigrant communities are gaining footholds in civic life in the United States.

These communities are being changed by what the American political process demands of them to have their voices heard. And they in turn are influencing how America sees its own ethics, politics, and religious commitments. The Fourth of July is an occasion best suited for us to ruminate on the issues involved.  Asian Indians were found in the United States as early as a hundred years ago. The first Sikhs who entered the United  States were labeled as Hindus while some of other South Asian Americans were part of the British Indian Army. Eightyfive percent of South Asian Americans coming to Canada and California between the period of 1900  and 1917 were Sikhs. Since the Sikhs made up a large percentage of South Asian Americans groups in the United States, they started to build gurdwaras. A gurdwara has been found as early as 1915 in Stockton, California. In 1913, the Ghadar Party was founded by Punjabis in San Francisco to fight against the British for liberating India. Soon after, in 1917, this Party ended, when America entered into the war working with the British.

The Immigration Act of 1917 closed the doors for all Asians from entering the United States. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 again opened the doors for Asians to enter the United States as professionals. Racial attacks on South Asian Americans can be traced back as early as 1907 in Bellingham, Washington, but these racial attacks did not discourage Sikhs from teaching others about their religion. Part of the reason was that on a macro level, America and aware Americans remained committed to the lofty ideals of Fourth of July. However, the first   priority of Sikhs at that time was not religion, but the American dream of economic advancement. One event that motivated Sikhs to become more religiously active was the Blue Star Operation of 1984, which was an attack on the Golden Temple by the Indian army and led to more immigration. These Sikhs’ influx contributed to growth in numbers and to the emergence of strong local communities centered around numerous gurdwaras. Sikhs who were already in the United States and Canada became more active about protecting their identity through the creation of more religious infrastructures. September 11, 2001 brought new problems for the Sikhs who were attacked due to a mistaken association between Sikhs and Arab Muslims.

These incidents led to proactivity by existing Sikh organizations such as the Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE), founded in 1998, and the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART), founded in 1996, which revamped their programs after 9/11. Then was solidified the tradition of individual gurdwaras starting their own parades in their home towns to educate their community about Sikh values. Earlier, there was just one parade in New York called Annual New York Sikh Day Parade. All the gurdwaras of the tri-state area would participate in this parade, which organizers said was much easier because it was a joint effort of many gurdwaras. It has been celebrated for a long time; as a result, many New York officials know Sikhs personally. Sikhs are learning to participate in politics. They are starting to participate in the politics of the United States and getting their voice heard. Sikhs are making contacts with the president of the United States by asking for help in their projects and issues. Asking for permission for l o c a l  parades allow  Sikhs to get to know local officials and to understand state and federal laws. Meanwhile, the Delhi Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee offered their support for Sikh Americans. US Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill was invited to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara to show how the Sikh system works and to show who Sikhs are. Simranjit Singh Mann, president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), is one Sikh leader who always keeps the interests of Sikhs outside of Punjab in mind when making decisions.

There are some 500,000 Sikhs in the United States, some 40,000 in the Bay Area alone. The Lodi Sikh gurdwara was spray painted with anti-Muslim epithets at one stage. San Jose’s gurdwara chose to indulge in regular community meetings by inviting neighbors to ice cream socials and to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July. Currently, Sikh farmers account for 95 percent of the peach farming, 60 percent of prune farming and 20 percent of almond and walnut production in that region. Didar Singh Bains came to the US in 1958 to join his father and grandfather who were working in orchards. He is now the biggest peach grower in the state, one of the richest people in California. Dalip Singh Saund was the first Asian American member of Congress and the only Indian American ever elected to federal office until Bobby Jindal. Identity is another important value among Sikhs. The difference between an American Sikh and Sikh American is which identity one considers a priority. Sikhs seem to have become more aware of their Sikh identity after they migrated to the United States.

But daily life never moved farther from the gurdwara which remained akin to a community center. Bay Area gurdwaras raised money for tsunami victims. San Jose’s  gurdwaras sent money for earthquake victims in northern Pakistan. Fremont gurdwara came forward to help during Hurricane Katrina. The political roles of Sikh Americans in the United States are growing day by day. Sikhs have started to participate in interfaith alliances, government programs and events, and in politics by becoming senators or representatives of the states. Sikhs have started to ask for help from federal and local governments. They are creating big events to further develop relations with government officials and to make political connections on national and local levels. Sikhs are creating more awareness about the religion and its values by doing parades and celebrating Sikh festivals and anniversaries in public. Sikhs are also keeping close ties with their religion, its values and its practices. There is need to further examine the assimilation of Sikh youth into American culture, how Sikh youth keep the balance between Sikh values based on families and the American culture, enculturation of Sikh adolescence, the role of Sikh youth in gurdwaras,  the role of Sikh youth in Sikh politics, etc. A study has shown that the vast  majority of Sikhs have kept tightties with their religion, its values, and its practices. According to graph one, 54% of Sikhs attend gurdwara once a week, 27% attend more than once a week, 11% attend once a month, and 8% attend daily,which is a big percentage relevant to the  number of gurdwaras and Sikhs in the United States. Clearly, Sikh communities in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York care  about their religiosity.