Remembering the victims:
Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, the temple president, killed after physically confronting the gunman. Paramjit Kaur, 41. Prakash Singh, 39. Ranjit Singh, 49. Sita Singh, 41. Suveg Singh, 84.
If you would like to make a donation in honor of the victims:
Online: http://wearesikhs.com/
Postal address:
Victims Memorial Fund
Sikh Temple of Wisconsin
7512 South Howell Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53154
I'm sorry for the lack of recent updates. Hectic times. I haven't been ignoring the news articles, though. A long lineup today, touching many angles of the story. I'm also sorry if the order of the links seems a bit disjointed. A lot to post and not much time to assemble it.
First, a fundraiser I may have to take part in. It's not a terribly long trip and I'm sure my daughter who loves both Disney and trains would enjoy:
'Fantasy House' tours to benefit Sikh Temple
Miracle Homes said Tuesday its newly built "Wisconsin Fantasy House" - a house designed in the style of the iconic Victorian railroad depot at Disneyland - opens to the public for tours this weekend, with donations going to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.
Admission to the home on Milwaukee's northwest side is free, but $1 free-will donations can be made to the Sikh Temple at the door.
Visitors also can make another $1 donation if they ride what Miracle Homes describes as a "miniature 1950s-styled train engine" theme park ride inside the house.
If anyone else, especially with children, in the area is looking for something to do this weekend, this seems like a fun event for a good cause.
Ignorance, fear and hatred make a deadly cocktail
Earlier this month, a vicious attack on worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin was a horrific event — but sadly, not a particularly unusual one. A few days after 9/11, a Sikh man was shot dead in Phoenix and another was beaten unconscious in New York. Last year a Sikh man was gunned down in California. Sikhs are visible targets of hate and Sikhs regularly are victims of mistaken identity and hate crimes as Islamophobic bigotry sweeps through our nation.
Sikhs have been targeted by revenge-seekers who mistake them for Muslims, due to their traditional turbans and beards. "Every time there is a moment when anti-Muslim rhetoric fills the news cycle, we brace for violence to break out against Sikhs" says Valarie Kaur, a Sikh interfaith activist and filmmaker.
However, this time it was the media narrative after the temple tragedy which was deeply troubling to me. The media's emphasis that "Sikhs are not Muslims" seems to make a point that the massacre would be more understandable if it had happened in a mosque, with Muslims lying dead. Apparently some religious groups are more deserving of hate and violence than others.
Again, I will repeat: The message I take from the "mistaken identity" angle of this story isn't that it's somehow more understandable if Muslims are the victims. It's a display of the ignorance and lack of concern for the truth that people who would do things like this have. To me, it's an example of why more cultural education in our schools would be a good thing. Not just to teach people that Sikhs and Muslims are different people but also to teach people the truth about Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, etc. What are these belief systems? How do they shape the world views of their followers? I think such education could be very enlightening and might prevent some people from forming false impressions about people who are different from them.
Local [Chicago-area] Sikh leaders, Jackson call for ban on assault weapons
Local Sikh leaders horrified by the recent killings at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Saturday to call for a ban on assault weapons.
Wade Michael Page, an Army veteran described as a white supremacist, killed six and wounded four, including a police officer, on Aug. 5 at the temple in Oak Creek, Wis.
Page used a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and not an assault weapon. Still, Chicago-area Sikhs have agreed to Jackson’s request to march in support of a return to a ban on assault weapons.
Of course, that last part is the key counter-argument we will see. The gun he used wouldn't be part of a ban. I don't agree that should be a reason to not pass a ban but anyone should be able to see that argument coming from a mile away.
Religious speakers say fundamentalism poisons
“I believe there is a rise of fundamentalism in the world right now as almost an act of balancing the rise of discussions like this,” said the Rev. Stephanie Seigh, who represented One World. “I believe the openness, the oneness, the love and appreciation for one another’s paths, the similarities and the differences. I believe they offer less certainty in the world than a purely fundamental interpretation of these paths. I think right now people are yearning for certainty, and something simple and easy to believe in.”
Fresno Sikhs open doors to help shooting victims
A Sikh temple in central Fresno opened its doors wide Sunday to the public with a dual mission: to raise money for the victims of the recent shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and to create a better understanding of Sikhs.
About 30 non-Sikhs -- including Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer, who addressed the public's concerns about who Sikhs are -- attended a special service at Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Fresno.
After a gunman opened fire Aug. 5 at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., killing six worshippers and seriously wounding three others, officials at the Fresno temple called the special gathering to help the victims and to bring solidarity to the Fresno community.
There are similar stories coming in from around the country. It's nice to see people taking an interest in learning about Sikhism. It's sad that it took such a tragic event to do so.
Evangelical ministry reaches out to Sikhs
In the days after the deadly shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek on Aug. 5, Faith Builders' pastor, the Rev. Jeff Pruitt, grew angry.
Not just at the senseless loss of life, or the desecration of a house of worship. Pruitt grew angry at the silence on his Twitter feed.
It had been abuzz after the July massacre at a Colorado movie theater that left 12 dead - with pastors decrying the tragedy and offering their condolences.
But on the Monday after the Sikh temple shooting, Pruitt said, there was nothing.
Arjun Atwal gives to families of Sikh shooting victims
Arjun Atwal was so staggered by the news, he almost missed his connecting flight.
When the Windermere pro came through Atlanta on the way home from the Reno-Tahoe Open two weeks ago, he found himself sidetracked by news reports as details emerged from a gunman’s rampage at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
“It still wasn’t clear what happened,” recalled Atwal, born in India and the first from his homeland to reach the PGA Tour. “My wife and I sat there and didn’t know what to make of it – innocent people being killed for no reason. It’s a sad thing for us.”
What does Sikh massacre say about violence in America?
My 65-year-old father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was shot five times, knife in hand, as he wrestled with a domestic terrorist in the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. The coward fled, leaving my father to pass away in a murmur of meditation.
My father lived the American dream. Starting with only a couple bucks in his pocket, he worked hard and long to make a life for his family and his community, helping to build the Sikh temple where he was attacked.
Since that day, many discussions in our community have come and gone, with little attention from the majority of the national media or government. It seems many hard-earned lessons from this tragedy already have been forgotten. But they bear repeating and remembering.
Read this one. A great piece written by a family member of one of the victims.
Sikh temple gunman had 'kind and gentle and loving' childhood, stepmom says
The 40-year-old Army veteran who killed six people and wounded three others at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin reportedly grew up as a “precious child” in a typical American family, according to his stepmother.
Laura Page, who was married to Wade Michael Page’s father for roughly two decades, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that her stepson was “kind and gentle and loving” during his childhood.
“Where he changed and where this came from, we have no idea,” Page told the newspaper from her home in Denver.