For Immediate Release

“Education is the vaccine for violence”. These words by Edward James Olmos that matter more than ever today as hate crimes are on rise especially against Asian Americans, including Sikhs. Sikh Youth Alliance, a NJ non-profit drafted a resolution, to incorporate Sikhism instruction into social studies curriculum in NJ Public schools. It was introduced in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly as Senate Resolution 108 and Assembly Resolution 172. A volunteer for SYA and a high school student in Burlington County, Bhavleen Kaur, says “during my experience with American education system, I have felt underrepresented”. While she and other individuals across the state have made efforts throughout the school years to include Sikh history and values in presentations, in only reaches those few in the classes. However, the resolution first if its kind, pushes to change that throughout the entire state of NJ. Bhupindar Singh, the lead author for this resolution puts it as, “the seeds for inclusivity in the world starts at classrooms. In preparing our future generations, the right information about culture, religion and history about any community’s faith is key to combat violence, bullying that arises from misinformation against underrepresented communities, such as Sikhs”, especially in classrooms.
Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation (S4021/A6100 and A3764/A3369) in January of 2022 that would pave the way for the inclusion of AAPI communities contributions, history and heritage as a requirement in the New Jersey curriculums from kindergarten to Grade 12. Followers of Sikh religion, originating from Punjab in the 15th century, have been relevant in the United States since the late 1800s. Jaspreet Singh, co-founder of SYA, elaborates the root of issue: “Unfortunately, the events of 2001 left out community as targets since the images of the terrorists resembled the identity of Sikhs, even though they weren’t. Ever since, we have faced violent attacks, attack on Sikh Places of worship and discrimination by those who were never taught the difference”. Sikh children have witnessed bullying in schools due to this confusion of identity, with estimates that over 50 percent of Sikh children and roughly 67 percent turbaned Sikhs endure physical, or verbal abuse at schools.
“In school, we are taught to respect everyone, no matter their identity, however, Sikh students are subject to discriminatory treatment by their classmates simply because they fail to recognize the difference between them.” Jaskiran Kaur, a NJ high school graduate, shares an incident that happened during her senior year: “In 2022, there was an incident in my school where a student targeted a Sikh student’s turban as a joke”. The turban being an important part of Sikh identity, this was an act of disrespect, and it needs to be acknowledged”, she adds.
The resolution aims to aide the struggle of the Sikh community for a better future in the State of New Jersey where Sikh kids can continue to grow up and attend schools without fear of discrimination, bullying, violence and overall unnecessary hate. This resolution urges the State Board of Education to require the inclusion of education on Sikhism history, religion and identity in social studies classrooms of all NJ school districts where kids of different communities can understand at younger ages about who Sikhs are, where they come from and how they look. As stated by Amritpal Singh, another co-founder of SYA, “we applaud the efforts of the NJ legislature in allowing the opportunity to bring Sikh awareness into our classrooms, thus enabling the community to feel closer, understood, and blossom in their diaspora for a better America”.