August 27
NBC
aired the longest story ever concerning Sikhs on prime-time TV called
"Forbidden Love" on the program Dateline NBC. Unfortunately
for us it was a very sad and disturbing story.
...Mix love with murder and what you get is a breeding ground for the news media. This story was no exception. It was portrayed with all the sensationalism expected of such a story. And it was especially damaging for the Sikh community because, although the producers of Dateline NBC tried to give "painstaking sensitivity" to the Sikh religion and community, it would be difficult for any non-Sikh watching the show to differentiate between the Sikh religion and Indian traditions. Scenes of Gurdwaras and the Sikh sangat are shown several times during the program. The reporter compares the conflict between the girl and her family as old versus new, ancient customs versus modern values, and East versus West...
Upcoming 9/11 Events
Dr. Navinderdeep Singh (Nijher) Remembers 9/11
Dr. Nijher will talk about his experiences
at ground zero on Sept. 10 in the Washington D.C. area. His visit will
focus on reaching out to Sikh and non-Sikh audiences. For more information,
email info@sikhsentinel.com.
Smithsonian to open September 11 Exhibition
Artifacts, Photographs and Personal Stories
From Three Sites and the Nation's Response
On the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Smithsonian's
National Museum of American History, Behring Center will open a commemorative
exhibition, "September 11: Bearing Witness to History." The
5,000-square-foot exhibition opens on Sept. 11 and closes Jan. 11, 2003.
The museum is located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W., and
is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit
www.americanhistory.si.edu or call (202) 357-2700.
Community Remembrance
Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan is organizing a gathering on Sept. 11 from 12:30 to 1:30 in front of the Rockville Courthouse on the Maryland Ave. side. The events will start with the National Anthem, a welcome from Doug Duncan, names of the 11 victims will be read, then the families of 2 of the victims will speak. A concert will follow. For more information, call 240.777.2500 or log on to www.co.mo.md.us.
August 7, BBC News
Mota Singh QC, made headlines with his
appointment in 1982. His decision to wear a white turban in court, instead
of a wig, came to be seen as a sign of a multi cultural Britain.
He told BBC HARDtalk's Allan Little: "Never in all the 35 years that I have been here, can I recall any single occasion when I was treated differently because of my racial or ethnic origins or colour." But this belief has led to criticism from Asian colleagues...
August 6, San Francisco Chronicle
Sukhpal Singh Sodhi came to S.F. to help his village in India. Now, a year after his brother's death, his family mourns again.
Last year, one of the six sons of family
patriarch Jaswant Singh Sodhi living in the United States was shot to
death in Mesa, Ariz., four days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Balbir Singh Sodhi's alleged killer reportedly told police, "I
stand for America."...
Dr Navinderdeep Singh (Nijher)
September 25, 2001, CBSNEWS
When the first of the twin towers fell on September 11, Navinderdeep Singh Nijher was at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn. A surgical resident there, Singh and several other Maimonides doctors rushed to the scene of the disaster. Once there, he and four other doctors scavenged supplies from an abandoned ambulance, and by early afternoon they had set up the first triage center at ground zero, just in front of one of the collapsed towers...
August 29, Connecticut
The Department of Motor Vehicle workers will no longer ask for written documentation when motorists want to keep their turbans and other religious headgear on while their driver's license photos are taken...
August 9, England
Deaths from alcohol abuse have tripled in the West Midlands, a major study published today has discovered. The "astonishing" increase in alcoholic liver disease makes it the fastest growing killer, the author of the research has warned. Dr Neil Fisher, a consultant physician and gastroenterologist at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, decided to carry out the study after seeing so many young men with families dying from the disease.
The research also dispels the myth that excessive drinking is largely a problem among the white population. Deaths rates among Asian men were four times higher than average, the study found, with 80 per cent of this group being of Sikh origin...
Censorship of Sikh Sentinel Continues
While the other Gurdwaras in the Washington, DC Metro area continue to allow distribution of the Sikh Sentinel, both Guru Nanak Foundation of America and the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation have chosen to ban its distribution.
"So why not shmooze those wealthy Sikhs of Silicon Valley and bring in high tech industry to Punjab," I asked. Companies mean jobs, which is the number one incentive to get an education. The Sikh youth would be motivated to get a college degree, get that high tech job and get the economic cycle rolling which in turn could help the Sikh farmers...