April 20, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – The Sikh Coalition is excited to share The Struggle To Serve – a short documentary encapsulating our ambitious six-year campaign to end discrimination by the U.S. Department of Defense, the largest employer in America.
Through the financial support of the Sikh Spirit Foundation and the Sikhlens Art and Film Festival, filmmakers from the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University produced the film, which premiered at Sikhlens in late 2014.
The 18-minute film highlights the perseverance of three Sikh American soldiers who are working to end discrimination in our nation’s Armed Services.
Click here to watch the film.
Matthew Rogers, who produced and co-directed the film, was immediately inspired to pursue this project when he first read about the issue in 2014: “I couldn’t believe that Sikh Americans have to choose between their faith and service to their country. That’s a false choice that nobody should have to make and one that inspired me to explore the issue further by producing this film,” he said.
We Need You To Take Action
- Watch the film!
- Raise awareness to this issue by sharing the film and starting a conversation about on Facebook and Twitter. Use #sikhsinthemilitary when posting!
- Share with your Member of Congress. We need every Member of Congress to watch this film, but we can’t do that without your 30-seconds of time and support.
The Sikh Coalition would like to thank McDermott Will & Emery, in particular Amandeep Singh Sidhu and H. Guy Collier, for their groundbreaking pro bono legal work on this campaign.
The Sikh Coalition would also like to thank Bicky Singh, G.P. Singh and the Sikh Spirit Foundation for making this film a reality. In addition, we are eternally grateful to the filmmakers, Ben Fischinger, Matthew Rogers and Ryan Westra, for documenting this campaign.
