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  With Your Support, We Succeed!

  As we witness the continuing rise of hate speech and hate crimes across the country, we need your support more than ever to fight for a world where we can practice our faith freely and fearlessly. We must raise $528,036 over the next two weeks to secure our budget for next year. Please donate here so this work can continue.
  
  Thank you to everyone who invested in the Sikh Coalition on #GivingTuesday! We finished 1st on the Network for Good leaderboard, which clearly demonstrates the commitment of the sangat! While this was an excellent start, we have a long way to go to reach our fundraising goal, so please donate and encourage friends & family to support as well.
  

• Sikh Awareness Month Reaches Millions in CA

  Since 2012, the Sikh Coalition has led efforts in California to recognize and commemorate the month of November as Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month. In collaboration with community members, we reached over 4.5 million Californians through our Sikh awareness presentations, proclamations and media outreach.
  
  For the third year in a row, the Sikh Coalition also partnered with the Los Angeles Clippers to host a “Sikh Awareness and Appreciation” game  that reached 19,000 inside the stadium and thousands more who watched on television.
  
  Watch video of Raaginder “Violinder” Singh playing the national anthem.
  
  Click here for more on CA Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month.

• Know Your Rights & Exercise Caution

  In this climate of anxiety, the Sikh Coalition urges every Sikh to exercise extra vigilance and caution.
  
  If you are threatened with violence or experience violence, please notify law enforcement immediately and contact the Sikh Coalition at 212-655-3095 or legal@sikhcoalition.org. Click here for our legal assistance form. Similarly, if you are a victim of hate speech, please report it through our tracking website, Report Hate (www.ReportHate.org).
  
  As we move into the busiest travel time of the year, it’s also important that Sikh travelers understand their rights. We urge you to review our Sikh Air Traveler’s Guide and Bill of Rights, which contains detailed information on airport screening procedures and your rights as a traveler, and to download our phone app, Flyrights (www.fly-rights.org). We are here to protect your rights.

• Solidarity Delegation to Standing Rock Rescheduled Due to Severe Weather 

  The Sikh Coalition was scheduled to join the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) on December 9, 2016 to co-lead a delegation of racial justice leaders, Sikh youth and Native American youth to show solidarity with indigenous communities who are protecting water and sovereign rights in North Dakota. The trip was postponed due to severe weather and wind chill that threatened to put the already under-resourced campsite in further jeopardy.
   
  The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) threatens the main source of clean drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux Nation Tribe and 18 million others and stands in clear violation of sovereign rights and treaties, as the pipeline passes through sacred ancestral lands. On December 3rd, after months of peaceful protests and direct actions led by Native American communities and allies, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers decided to not allow the DAPL to cross under Lake Oahe. This is positive progress, but the struggle is far from over, and we look to promptly reschedule our trip so we listen, learn and return from the visit as greater allies in this struggle for justice.

• CA Hate Crime Case Update

  On October 26, 2016, one of the attackers of Amrik Singh Bal was found guilty of a hate crime in Fresno, California. On December 2, 2016, the assailant was sentenced to four years in prison.
  
  The Sikh Coalition provided support after two young men brutally assaulted Mr. Bal, calling out “ISIS. Terrorist. Let’s get him!” and running him over with a car in Fresno in December 2015. Click here to read more.

• Sikh Coalition Presentations Take On Profiling and Hate Violence

  Sikh Coalition Director of Law and Policy Arjun Singh addressed both profiling and hate violence in widely attended events in Washington, D.C. On December 7, 2016 Arjun addressed profiling of Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian Americans in post 9/11 America in a talk at Georgetown University. On December 8, 2016 he was a panelist in a Congressional briefing sponsored by the Arab American Institute on Capitol Hill. He discussed intensifying hate violence and called for federal legislation requiring mandatory reporting of hate crimes by local law enforcement.

• Sikh Coalition Addresses "Religious Garb and Backlash Discrimination"

  On November 30, 2016, Sikh Coalition Staff Attorney Pawanpreet Kaur spoke on a panel entitled "Religious Garb & Backlash Discrimination." She addressed federal government staff at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's San Francisco office. Pawanpreet provided a brief overview of Sikhism and discussed the civil rights challenges facing Sikhs with an emphasis on the recent rise in hate crimes before and after the election.

In this Issue

• Support Yields Success
  
• CA Sikh Awareness Month
• Know Your Rights
• Standing Rock Update
• CA Hate Crime Conviction and Sentencing
• Presentations on Profiling and Hate Violence
• Addressing Religious Garb & Backlash Discrimination