By Simran Kaur Malik Age 9
Growing up as a Sikh in America has been a pleasant experience for me. My friends have been very open and supportive towards my culture and religion. I have long pretty hair and I get a lot of compliments from teachers, friends and other people I meet. The camps I attend during the summer really helps me understand Sikhism and all about it, but unfortunately this is not the case with the girls growing up in India. The girls I know in India claim to be Sikhs because they are born in Sikh families. According to me they do not live a Sikh life at all. Since 1984 riots and the attack on the Golden Temple, a lot of Sikhs don’t even like to identify themselves as Sikhs which is a shame. Tam proud to be a Sikh. We Sikh girls are lucky because we can speak our minds and have very little or no problems in this society.
I have an older brother but he does not have it as good as me. He wears a turban, and some people who are ignorant or not well informed make fun of him, stare at him, or laugh behind his back which is not a very good feeling. I would not like it either. But kids are very open, they are most of the time willing to hear and understand a different concept then theirs. What feel very, very bad is about people mistaking us Sikhs for Iranians, because they think only Iranians wear a turban. Politically things are not very good for us Sikhs, but I have hope. God Bless America.
Chardi Kala— Ad Guru Eh Narney — salute god who was true in the beginning Jugad Gur Eh Namey — salute god who was true in the past Satgur Eh Namey — I salute god who is true Siri Guru Dev Eh Namey — I salute god who is great.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 7, 1989
