Berkeley: The Sikh identity Gurudwara in America gender issues and the struggle for a free Khalistan were among the many topics discussed and debated at the first annual United Sikh Association Thanksgiving Conference The conference was held at U.C. Berkeley on Nov.26-27 and was attended by over 200 people. Participants came from all over the U.S. including New York New Jersey North Carolina Texas North Dakota and Kansas.
The purpose of the conference was to bring Sikh parents and their children together to discuss issues Vital to the future of the Sikh community. On the first day participants broke up into small discussion groups and discussed factors shaping the Sikh identity in America. Later the topic of The relevance and significance of Gurdwara’s to youth and parents was discussed. In the evening a discussion titled The Diverse Sikh Experience in America was held. During this discussion Sarbjit Singh talked about discrimination against Sikh taxi cab drivers.
The second day started with a discussion of the generation gap between parents and their children. The talk focused on finding ways to increase communication between parents and their children Following lunch there was a discussion about Sikh religion in which Sunder S Saluja gave a talk tiled The Power of Gurbani Mandeep S.Dhillon also gave a dissenting viewpoint in a talk titled Is Hypocrisy the Sixth K? Professor Gobind S.Mansukhani also spoke about the importance for Sikh Studies at universities.
The next discussion was about gender issues and achieving gender equality in the Sikh community. The talk touched upon many sensitive issues such as spousal abuse and dating. The final discussion was titled Future Options for the Sikhs of Punjab. In this discussion Harminder S.Samana captivated the audience by retelling the police torture he endured while a political activist in Punjab. Most of the panelists felt Sikhs must work towards independence from India A dissenting viewpoint was provided by Samir Singh who insisted that Khalistan was not the issue at hand.
The conference ended with a cultural show and a Bhangra party. Most all participations enjoyed the conference and left Berkeley with a feeling of pride and empowerment as a Sikh in the United States. The conference was organized by Daljeet Singh Mandeep S.Dhillon Amikjit S/Reen Kimpreet K.Puar Maninderjeet S.Sidhu and Ravinder SBhalla. For more info about United Sikh Association call: (703) 553-5718 or (S10) 848-4915.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 18, 1992
