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A Chardi Kala Walk With Oak Creek Two Years After Hate Shootings

Written by Molly Horan
August 8, 2014

Oak Creek, WI Chardi Kala 6K  on August 2, 2014 marks two years in tribute to the victims of the hate crime shooting of August 5, 2012 at the Sikh Gurdwara. From left, Steve Scaffidi, Mayor of Oak Creek, Parliament Staff Molly Horan, Groundswell Movement Founder Valarie Kaur, and Arno Michaelis, Author of My Life After Hate and Serve2Unite Co-Founder

By Molly Horan
Parliament of the World’s Religions Staff
The brutalizing violence of hate crimes against at least three Sikh-Americans since the events of August 5, 2012 breaks my heart. And yet, every time the Sikh community speaks out, it shares with us all an unrelenting reminder that we cannot lose hope in the work to stop hate.
The Sikh community calls it Chardi Kala.
Say it with me: Chardi Kala! We can end the violence.
Chardi Kala describes the state in which a person of the Sikh faith aspires to live, in an eternal optimism. Since August 5, 2012, it’s become a kind of rallying call to any and all who wish to practice relentless optimism in the work to stop violence.
I walked in Oak Creek, WI last weekend in solidarity with my Sikh neighbors at the second annual Chardi Kala 6k. The race is organized by Sikh young adults to build community and promote goodness out of something so deeply saddening: the death of six in the Oak Creek gurdwara two years ago in a shooting carried out by white supremacist Michael Wade Page.
To personally witness the spirit of humanity for which Oak Creek has become a model was important to me. It’s in this success – changing the headlines from hate to healing as we say, that I know this Chardi Kala works.
From my desk at the Parliament for nearly two years I’ve tracked how this Chardi Kala has impacted our country:
1) In 2012, the Sikh Coalition led by a letter written by Rajdeep Singh and endorsed by hundreds of justice oriented groups (finally) wins a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Domestic Extremism. As a result, the FBI began tracking hate crimes committed against South Asian, Arab-American, Hindu-American and Sikh-American. In other words, the U.S. government shuns the word “other” and acknowledges this pervasive problem.
2) Upworthy, the social sharing website responsible for millions of views of rich, humanity-saving content shares Valarie Kaur’s 9-minute film on the aftermath in Oak Creek on last year’s anniversary, and people remember. On Saturday, she told me being in Oak Creek was like being with family. As a visitor, I was treated the same from the moment I arrived; greeted with hugs, fed free curry (langar!), and departing one another again with hugs, until next time. That is hopeful, right?
3) Amar Kaleka, son of the slain President of the Gurdwara begins a candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives running on a platform exposing the broken system which created his father’s murderer showing everyone is human and everything can change.
4) Pardeep Kaleka, son of the slain President of the Gurdwara begins a campaign to empower youth against violence in partnership with Arno Michaelis, a former hate activist-turned-author-turned-peacemaker. Serve-2-Unite brings young Wisconsin teens to learn mindfulness in Chicago and bring it back to the community where they live. That is hopeful, yes?
5) Rahul Dubey, godson of the slain President of the Gurdwara, works tirelessly to advance interfaith community around the Milwaukee area and organizes a race, the Chardi Kala 6k, to ensure the community will always come together in a positive remembrance of that day.
6) Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi walks hand in hand with the Sikh community and supports Interfaith activities with all of his authority, demonstrating how all towns in America can operate.
Despite the disproportionate horrors inflicted upon their community, Oak Creek seeks to intentionally live in a way that shows it denounces hate every day. They understand there that denouncing hate is not an annual event or an occasion but a daily affirmation.
Whether we call it Faiths Against Hate here at the Parliament, or Chardi Kala in the Gurdwara, or practicing the Golden Rule in each of its beautiful articulations across faith communities: the spirit of justice is within us if we expel anger from our hearts and see the humanity in others, even if today they may hate us.
And we walk together.

Featured image courtesy of Wikipedia