The major Sikh communities outside India are in Canada, Britain, Australia, Pakistan, the Middle East, East Africa, and, of course, the United States. Sikh emigration to Western countries began in the 19th century, with up to 90 percent of early Indian emigrants to the U.S. adhering to Sikhism. The first Sikh settlement in the U.S. began in Yuba City, CA, which still has a sizable Sikh population.
Sikhs comprise only 1.9% of the Indian population, and less than .4 percent of the world's population, yet their cultural contributions have been vastly disproportionate to their numbers. They have always raised their voices against injustice and always been willing to be martyred for the sake of humanity. For instance, Sikhs laid down their lives for the sake of freedom from fascism during WWII. At the onset of the war, the Indian Army was only 205,000 strong, yet over the next few years over 300,000 Sikhs joined the ranks to battle both German and Japanese forces in Italy, North Africa, and Burma. Nearly half of the Indian troops who received the Victoria Cross (which is equivalent to our Medal of Honor) during WWII were Sikhs.
Sikh-Americans have continued the Sikh tradition of self-sacrifice for the greater good. They pursue many different careers throughout our states, always appearing as active members of their communities. Sikh-Americans are vocal proponents of humanitarian issues and can always be found acting on their beliefs.
For instance, there is the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), which was founded to provide cultural sensitivity training to private and public agencies. SALDEF has addressed the issues of misidentification of Sikhs as Muslim, hate crimes, racial profiling, and employment discrimination. There's also the Sikh Coalition, a community-based organization that defends civil liberties in the United States, educates the broader community about Sikhs, and promotes civic participation on the part of Sikh-Americans. Additionally, there's the World Sikh Council - America Region (WSC - AR) which coordinated the donation of over $125,000 by Sikh-Americans to provide Katrina Relief.
Sikhs are prominent in American agriculture, particularly in Northern California, where an estimated 250,000 Sikhs live. In 1920 Sikh immigrants in California owned almost 2100 acres of farmland and leased an additional 86,000 acres. They grew cotton and rice, peaches and grapes, beans and potatoes, and many other crops. To this day, Californian agriculture thrives in part due to the hard work of Sikh-Americans.
Education is another area in which Sikhs have been extremely generous. In 1912, one notable California potato farmer named Jwala Singh set the standard for Sikh-Americans when he founded the Guru Govind Singh Sahib Educational Scholarship. More recently, Kanwal Rekhi, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Sikh-American, donated $1 million to Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit organization founded to assist disadvantaged Indian students. Mr. Rekhi promised an additional $1 million each year for four years on the condition the money be earmarked specifically for the education of young Indian women. As a final example, businessman Gururaj Deshpande donated $20 million to MIT to use for grant money.
Sikhs, always ready to lay down their lives for others, first found representation in the U.S. armed forces in the person of Bhagat Singh Thind, an immigrant who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 and received an honorable discharge at the end of WWI. Another significant Sikh member of the U.S. armed forces is Ravi Singh, who previously served as a 2nd Lieutenant and successfully lobbied President Reagan's administration to allow him to wear his religiously mandated turban, or dastaar, while at a U.S. military academy. Incidentally, Mr. Singh is now CEO of ElectionMall, a successful Internet-based non-partisan election company. Currently, Sikh-Americans in the armed forces include Colonels Sekhon and G.B. Singh, who are presently serving in the United States Army. Other Sikhs in uniform include Ranbir Kaur of the CA National Guard and Navdeep Singh Virk, the first South Asian to serve as a U.S. Marine sniper. Specialist Uday Singh of the United States Army is unfortunately no longer in uniform as on Dec. 1st, 2003 he became the first Indian to give his life in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Even Sikhs not serving in the U.S. military can be found contributing to the needs of their country. Akal Security, which is the largest provider of security officers to federal courthouses, is a Sikh-owned company based in New Mexico. The company has 12,000 employees and over $1 billion in federal contracts. Contracted organizations include the U.S. Army, the DEA, and the U.S. Marshall's Service.
Although six members of the Canadian Parliament are Sikhs, Sikh-Americans are somewhat underrepresented in high-profile government offices. The late Dalip Singh Saund remains the first and only Sikh-American elected to the U.S. Congress. However, Sikh-Americans have made many contributions to local politics. Perhaps best known is Republican State Assemblywoman Nikki Randhawa Haley of South Carolina, who in her first election won even the support of the incumbent's precinct.
It is impossible to draw attention to every deserving Sikh-American, but it's important to at least realize that Sikhs are successful in nearly every area of American life. In the field of science there is Narinder Singh Kapany, the father of fiber optics, and Dr. Gurdev Singh Khush, who developed more than 200 varieties of rice which can now be found in more than 60% of the world's paddy fields. In the medical field there are people like Dr. Navinderdeep Singh Nijher, who helped set up the first triage center at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks. In business there was Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji (popularly known as Yogi Bhajan), who founded 17 businesses, including Golden Temple natural foods company, Soothing Touch health and beauty products, and several yoga centers.
In America there are liberal and conservative Sikhs and blue and white collar Sikhs. The major unifying factor among these Sikhs is that they are always willing to speak against injustice, to defend humanity, and to love their country.
