Today, Sikhs around the world are celebrating the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. He's the founder of Sikhi, the world's fifth largest religion, with nearly 30 million followers around the globe.

Here's a bit on his life and teachings, and why we continue to honor him today. Born in the humble village of Talwandi, Punjab, in 1469, young Nanak found himself dissatisfied with the inequities, hypocrisies and general unhappiness he observed all around him.

Happy Diwali and Bandi Chor Divas to all those celebrating around the world today!

Take a moment to learn why this day is significant to different communities, including Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs.
washingtonpost.com/religion/more-… With more than a billion people celebrating Diwali, the festival is one of the largest and most significant religious observances around the world. But it's more than just a pan-Indian festival — the occasion carries different meanings for different religious communities.

20 years ago, Balbir Singh Sodhi became the person killed in a hate crime in post-9/11 America.

Sodhi's killer saw his Sikh identity and presumed him an enemy.

Honor his life by learning about different cultures and becoming anti-racist. Here are three things you can do now. Take a moment to learn about who Sikhs are and what they believe. Here's an introduction that's brief and easy to follow.
sikhcoalition.org/about-sikhs/

37 years ago this week, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered a military assault on the historical epicenter of the Sikhi.

The Indian Government has yet to apologize — and it continues to brutalize minorities. This is why we must never never forget.
thediplomat.com/2014/06/lesson… The Indian Army planned its attack to coincide with a day on which the Sikh community traditionally gathers at Darbar Sahib, a decision that directly resulted in thousands of civilian casualties.

The Army also attacked about 40 other gurdwaras throughout Punjab on the same day.

Sources on the ground have confirmed that at least four of the eight people killed in the mass shooting last night identified as Sikh.

If you don't know what that means, you're not alone. But it's also not too late to learn. theconversation.com/who-are-the-si… Sikhs make up the world's fifth largest religion with nearly 30 million followers worldwide. Yet, few people seem to know about Sikhi.

So let me offer a few basic insights as a practitioner and scholar.

Indian farmers are leading the biggest protest in human history.

They are demanding dignity and justice in the face of increasingly harsh policies that favor corporations.

It's inspiring to see them protest with such vigor and resolve. #HistoricTractorMarch These protests are about farmers, the people who feed all of us. They labor everyday to serve their communities, and what do they get in return?

Instead of supporting them, their government pulls the rug out from underneath yet again? That's not right.

Indian farmers are leading the largest strike in human history.

They are fighting new laws that hurt the working class and decades of government abuse and neglect that has had disastrous results on their health, environment, and economy.
cnn.com/2020/12/11/opi… Tens of thousands of farmers have marched to the Indian capital of New Delhi from neighboring states to protest this new legislation that hurts small farmers and benefits large corporations.

They have endured police brutality in response to their non-violent protests.

Today, Sikhs around the world are celebrating the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhi.

Here's a bit of background on who he is and why we continue to honor him today. Born in the humble village of Talwandi, Punjab, in 1469, young Nanak found himself dissatisfied with the inequities, hypocrisies and general unhappiness he observed all around him.

Racists trashed a Sikh-owned Indian restaurant in Santa Fe, NM, scrawling hate speech like "F*CK ISIS" and "I HATE SAND N*****S"

It just breaks your heart. Immigrants come with dreams in their hearts. They work so hard. And this is how they're treated. It's just not right. Among the items stolen or damaged include supplies that they would use to create weekly care packages for downtown’s unhoused population, including food, hygiene products, and cash out of their own pockets.
sfreporter.com/news/2020/06/2…

Look at Berlin SHOWING UP for racial justice.

The movement is truly global. #BlackLivesMatter Sydney, Australia showing up for racial justice. #BlackLivesMatter

Officers in Buffalo, NY shove older man to ground.

His head hit the ground, he lays there bleeding.

Cops just stand around looking at one another.
Why do cops attack racial justice protestors?

religionnews.com/2020/06/04/we-…

11 Sikhs killed, 11 more injured in attack on gurdwara in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Harrowing images from the scene. Absolutely heart-breaking. Eyewitness estimates about 150 Sikhs trapped in gurdwara during attack.

"The gunmen started their attack at a time when the Dharamsala was full of worshippers." - Narindra Singh Khalsa
aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/g…

Sikh Community Cooks Free Meals For Over 30,000 In Isolation In New York ❤️✌️🏾
indiatimes.com/trending/human… Sikh group in Canada opens food bank to tackle coronavirus-triggered shortage
tribuneindia.com/news/sikh-grou…

As tensions between the US and Iran escalate, so do the vulnerabilities of many marginalized communities.

A short thread on how this hate will impact the estimated 1 million Sikhs who live in North America — and how their experiences represent a microcosm of our collective pain. Sikhism is the world's 5th largest religion, yet most Americans don't know about it.

While they are invisibilized, Sikhs carry a unique, visible identity including long uncut hair, turbans, and beards.

This combination of being unseen and hyper-visibility has proven lethal.

A brief reflection on one of the many complexities around India's discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act. It can be easy for us on the outside to stake a place on the moral high ground and condemn the bill unequivocally. I have done so because this bill explicitly discriminates against a Muslim community that is already marginalized in modern India.

A fantastic explanation of why so many Sikhs are protesting India’s Citizenship Amendment Act that unjustly targets Muslims.

Please watch and share. ✊🏾❤️✌🏾 #CAA_NRCProtests
A few points for those who don't understand Hindi.

- If Hindu nationalists are successful in removing Muslims today, it won't take any time before the same happens to others, including Sikhs.

A 16 yr-old runner finished a 5k race in Ohio with a new personal record — but was disqualified for wearing her hijab.

This is so wrong. Please ask the Ohio High School Athletic Association to update their discriminatory policy. Email webmaster@ohsaa.org
cnn.com/2019/10/24/us/… I feel this on so many levels. We dealt with headwear policies in sports all the time. These rules are so ridiculous. Let me say this as someone who has run the New York City Marathon five times while wearing my turban. Rules like these are unnecessary, exclusionary, and outdated

Most who are critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's racist costume have taken two one of two positions: either it is in poor taste and unintentional or it is harmful and dehumanizing.

I think it’s both.

A short thread on stereotypes, supremacy, and Orientalism. Edward Said's work, Orientalism, shows how European colonialism was founded on the principle that the Eastern peoples and cultures are inferior to and in need of saving by those of the west. The drive to colonize people around the world relied on this supremacist logic.

Ravi Bhalla is the first-ever turbaned Sikh elected as mayor in US history. He's endured immense racist abuse, from flyers calling him a terrorist to death threats against him and his family.

Now, someone is photoshopping Ravi to depict him as a despot. This is racist and wrong. Ravi is a good friend and a good man. Disagreeing with his politics is fair. But manipulating his image with racist tropes is absolutely unacceptable.

People of conscience and elected officials across the country -- especially in Hoboken -- should denounce this bigotry.

Four innocent Sikhs were kicked off a plane today because this woman was scared of how they looked.

Please watch and share this video to understand how hate hurts us all.

(see thread below for more info on the Sikh religion and identity)
Sikhs make up the world's fifth largest religion with nearly 30 million followers worldwide. Yet, few people seem to know about Sikhi.

So let me offer a few basic insights as a practitioner and scholar.

A short thread on the anti-Muslim hate that Sikhs endure -- and why we continue to stand as allies with our Muslim sisters and brothers. Sikhs aren’t Muslim, yet we remain frequent targets of anti-Muslim violence. This is, in large part, due to our visible identity, including our beards, turbans, and brown skin.