Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Sardar Tarlochan Singh

Yogi Bhajan's mission is on the march.

May 26, 2016 -- It has been almost 12 years since Harbhajan Singh Yogiji left his physical body (see announcement). From 1969 when he came to the West until 2004 Yogiji served humanity and the Sikh community with every breath he had.

Harbhajan Singh Yogiji

I had the privilege to come close to Yogi Bhajan in 1952 when we both were in the All India Sikh Student Federation. I have observed his work in India as a government of India official and later on when he went to America and established the first yoga centre in L.A. in 1969. I have been attending many International Confrences he organised in the U.S., Africa and Europe where he preached the message of Guru Nanak. Large numbers of foreigners accepted Sikh Dharma through these camps and he has been organising Yatras to Amritsar for these Sikhs annually. ( Also see Super Health Project.)

Left to right are Dr. Jaspal Singh, Vice Chancellor of Patialla University, Rajbir Singh,
former Jathedar of Akal Takhat, Bhai Ranjit Singh, Tarlochan Singh,
Satpal Singh, and Siri Singh Sahib Ji, November, 1996, India.

Along with Mother Teresa, Reverand Martin Luther King and Pope John II, Yogi Bhajan is only the 4th person to be recognized in the U.S. Congress for his service to humanity. This is a great honour for an Indian-born person. Even a highway has been named after him in the State of New Mexico. (Note: This roadway is off U.S. Highway 84/285. It was N.M. 106, and was renamed the “Yogi Bhajan Memorial Highway”. (See Former NM Governor Gary Johnson.)

Yogi Bhajan Memorial Highway

Since his passing away, there has been a tremendous expansion of the teachings of Yogi Bhajan both in the realm of Sikh Dharma and Kundalini Yoga throughout the world. In most situations when a strong central figure is no longer there it becomes very natural for everything that person built to diminish over time. But In the case of Yogi Bhajan, and all that he created, it is just the opposite.

There are more than 8000 lectures on Sikh Dharma, Kundalini Yoga and Humanology by Yogi Bhajan. Many have been available free through Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings on the Internet. (See 3HO Foundation.)

Today, there are several hundred centers of Kundalini Yoga and the teachings of Shabad Guru. The outreach of these have gone far beyond North America, Southeast Asia and Europe – it has reached China, South America, Russia, Africa, and the Middle East.

For the past 9 years, China has created several hundred teachers of Kundalini Yoga where thousands now practice the ancient science of breath and meditation, including chanting Japji, and Sat Nam Wahe Guru.

Moreover, hundreds of these students come to Amritsar every year to visit Golden Temple and pay their respects to Guru Ram Das. Dozens completed the 84 steps of Gowindwal and have made yatras to Anandpur Sahib. Anandpur Sahib where Yogi ji built a large complex near the Takht. Currently there are 8 outstanding Chinese students who study at Miri Piri Academy, a boarding school founded by Yogi Bhajan 24 years ago at Amritsar.

Recently, in China thousands participated in BREATHE, 3rd Great Asian Tour on Kundalini Yoga for Health, Happiness, and Harmony. They are following the teachings of Yogi Bhajan.

Once Yogi Bhajan was asked about the prophecy of Guru Gobind Singh of having 960 million Khalsa. He said that will come from China. Europe and Russia. Russia has seen tremendous growth in the technology of Kundalini yoga and the expansion of Sikh Dharma over the past decade. Even though Russia began its journey with Yogi Bhajan in 1985, thousands now participate in their Kundalini Yoga Festivals, Yatras to India, hold Langars, and build Gurdwaras.

The Middle East and Africa is continuing to grow also at a very steady rate. Ghana, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, South Africa and many others have all expanded in the teaching offered by Yogi Bhajan.

Perhaps one of the larger areas of expansion in the Western hemisphere is Central and South America. Chile has now legalized Sikh Dharma as a recognized religion. Amrit Prachar, Gurbani Kirtan, KundaliniYoga Festivals, Gurdwaras, Langar programs and many other forms of seva is well placed in their society.

'Langar Chile' has just celebrated 10 years of National Service. Chile and 7 other South American countries have requested the Women of Light Foundation to become part of the governmental programs offered to their citizens. Founded by Nam Nidhan Kaur Khalsa, Women of Light is a program developed to serve all women with the technology of Sikh Dharma and Kundalini Yoga.

Moreover, Crecer Consciente Foundation, which is based on Yogi Bhajans teachings for children and developed by Prabhu Nam Kaur Khalsa, is widely accepted on a governmental level by many South American countries.

For the past two years, Gurubachan Singh Khalsa has been invited to teach in the National Congress of Chile. He has been the first person in Chile who has had this privilege that is otherwise reserved for the President of the country. In 2016 he was invited to the National Congress of Argentina. Gurubachan Singh received the Baston of Honor from the National Police of Bolivia, the highest honor given to a civilian.

In Paraguay, plans are now being developed to build the first Sikh Gurdwara not only in that country but also as major center of spiritualty for the continent .The 'Langar Paraguay' program, now in its 6th year, feeds more than 200 indiginous street children everyday. The teachings of Shabad Guru and Kundalini Yoga are an everyday reality for many of the countries 5 million Catholic population. (See Lord of Miracles Tour.)

In Argentina there is a growing population of Sikhs both Western and Indian. Now there is Guru Granth Sahib installed in a Gurdwara in Buenos Aires.

Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, El Salvador, Argentina and Colombia have accepted Kundalini Yoga and the teachings on stress reduction to thousands in their National Police force. Sometimes as many as 1200 policemen meditate while listenting to Gurbani Kirtan.

Througout of South America many banks, corporations, hospitals, universities and military forces are practicing the teachings of Yogi Bhajan. The relevancy in these times of stress, chaos, confusion and extreme social problems has brought thousands to the feet of Guru in one way or another.

Brazil, through the tremendous efforts of a Brazilian woman, Guru Sangat Kaur Khalsa, and the Sangat have created the Miri Piri School of Brazil. It is the first school in the Americas that is patterned after the Miri Piri Academy in Amritsar – all based on the teachings of Yogi Bhajan and Shabd Guru. Even the successful Catholic School systems in Brazil wants to emulate and incorporate into their educational systems many of the programs that Miri Piri School is offering.

If you review the hundreds of seva programs that are being offered world wide through the followers of Yogi Bhajan and his teachings your eyes cannot remain dry. The compassion and kindness in our seva to humanity emulates the great work Yogi Bhajan has inspired. One man as a humble Sikh leaving a government job in India in 1970 came to the U.S., and started the Sikh Dharma in Western hemisphere and thousands of Americans joined as Sikhs wearing turbans.

By grace of Guru Ram Das, Yogi Bhajan’s legacy is guiding the American Sikhs to spread the message of Sikhism all over the world and hundred and thousands are attending yoga classes chanting Sat Nam. Satpal Singh Kohli, his son-In-law, has been named as Ambassador of Sikhism in the U.S. by Jathedar Takht Patna Sahib, and he has been participating in many International Inter-Faith conclaves to speak on Sikhism.

Tarlochan Singh
Ex-M.P
Former Chairman National Commission For Minorities. -- See My Original Letter of March 15, 2011.

See Definitions.

See Glossary of Sikh Terms.

See Tribalism From The Top.

See A Comprehensive Sikh History Quiz.

See Sikhs Need To Remain Focussed On Mission.

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Hari Singh Bird

Monochromatic Optics

Sat Nam. What's wrong with these pictures? Think about the optics of these photos from the perspective of people of color. What message do they send? Read on.

Christian Americans

Indian-American Sikhs

3HO Summer Solstice Sadhana staff

Sikh Dharma International staff

Questions

Where is the diversity of color?
Do the optics match Nanak's message?
How do people of color relate to these optics?

Points To Ponder

"Looking at the one and only Black Family native to SDI/3HO/KRI
after 50 years from my perspective as a person of color I have to
ask, why are there so few Black Families? How many White Families
vs. Black Families are there after 50 years? Oh sure, there are a few
African-Americans, but they are disproportionately represented.
Think about the optics from the perspective of most people of color.
Do people of color see this disparity as a positive or as a negative?
And how many Black Kundalini Yoga teachers-trainers are there?
Isn't it time for there to be some serious mixed-race adult dialogue?

Detractors: Answer the questions before vilifying the messenger.

The key indicator that organizations have come of age is when steps
are taken to permit open dialogue on the issue with people of color.
BTW: When asked if one Black Family after 50 years is an issue
of concern, some Sikh Dharma ministers agreed. But when asked
why the issue is never discussed, they were unable to answer.
Discourse is not meant to stir up feelings of guilt. Discourse is
meant to drive people to action against injustice. Question is
are we mature enough to sit down and discuss issues of
diversity, including race, religion, and gender?"
Note: Nobody has yet responded to questions.

Organizations tend to be tribalistic,* even incestuous, i.e., when the 'gene pool'
of its members is of just one race. The organization is at risk of being perverted
in its policies and procedures. The obvious remedy is outreach to 'outsiders'.

Diversity is the quality or state of having people who are of different races or
who have different cultures within a group or organization. Question is are we
mature enough to sit down and discuss issues of diversity, including religion,
gender and race? Without dialogue only one side of any issue is resolved.

The human mind was created to make choices, e.g., to discriminate between
up and down, in and out, black and white, etc. We must remain aware of our
tendency to use our discretionary abilities in order to marginalize and repress
people with whom we differ. Sikhs need to constantly see to it that we advocate
for pluralism and against tribalism in the interest of truth, justice and fairness.

Question: How does one know when tribalism is a likely issue?
Answer: When dialogue between opposing parties is non-existent.

Issues to do with diversity are not going away just because we
deny their existence, or because they cause us discomfort.

*Tribalism is the social tendency to live in loyalty to a tribe, social group or gang (tribe within a tribe) especially when combined with a strong negative attitude toward marginalized people outside the group.

NOTES: There's an important distinction between a tribe, i.e., faimily, community, nation, which is the norm, and tribalism,* the perverse.

Guru Nanak, in his teachings, instructs humanity to avoid tribalism and embrace pluralism. Tribalism eventually produces a siege mentality whereby groups (especially religious organizations) believe themselves to be constantly attacked, oppressed, or isolated in the face of the negative intentions of the rest of the world. Although a group phenomenon, the term describes both the emotions and thoughts of the group as a whole, and as individuals.

The typical result is an isolated, even insolated existence, overly fearful of surrounding people whereby feedback from the outside is blocked or rejected, and an intractably defensive attitude rules. This state of mind is a dominant factor within tribalistic groups.

The remedy to this state of mind can be something akin to a sensitivity summit in which people of color, women, and other marginalized groups are sought out for their views, and open dialogue is maintained.

See related post.

Post your thoughts here.

Chardi kalaa! --

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Hari Jiwan Singh

How Yogi Bhajan related to Sikh Rogues and Banishment

Sat Nam! There is a division of Sikhism called Namdhari. All major religions have divisions, Sikhism is no different. The Namdharis practice Sikhism differently than convention would dictate. This is a great disadvantage in that almost all other divisions of Sikhism have shunned them, specifically, for having a living Guru. They consider themselves a sect of Sikhism but insist that the line of Sikh Gurus did not end with Guru Gobind Singh – it was continued through the Namdhari leaders.

If you’ve been shunned by conventional Sikhism, it takes great true security [sense] to not be in any way affected through this isolation. Enter the Siri Singh Sahib, aka Yogi Bhajan. Just because you’ve become a rogue Sikh division shouldn’t be grounds for banishment. Yes, he understood the sin (yes, Sikhs have created sin) of anyone claiming the crown of another living Sikh Guru. He knew of the conventional condemnation. He also knew the Guru’s truth of wishing well to all. And, in wishing well to someone worthy, he wouldn’t just wish well, he would interact. He didn't judge; he didn’t shun; he didn’t join in the condemnation. He didn’t compromise his virtues either in the process. He gave; he served; he loved. He was doing Guru’s work.

The Siri Singh Sahib had the courage to do his Guru’s job. He didn’t listen to conventionality. He suffered an unbelievable amount of discomfort for his actions. That comes with the turf of being real and a spiritual leader. He was attacked from all sides for many of his actions. The Namdhari experience was just one grand example. -- Source. (See Tribalism.)

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

SatHanuman Singh 

In support of the proposed Motion

Sat Nam! I strongly support passage of the Sensitivity Summit Motion at the Khalsa Council meetings and its implementation going forward.

I've lived this sacred path since 1972, and I have raised children and grandchildren with the sacred teachings of our beloved Spiritual Teacher, Siri Singh Sahib ji, and the Dharma of Guru Nanak Dev.

It's of utmost importance to reconcile our commitment to our Dharmic Path with our sensitivity to all Creation, all human beings, all faiths, all genders, all races and we need to remain inclusive and therefore in alignment with our Guru's Hukam - to see God in All!

Hukamai andar sabhu ko baahar hukam na koi.
Nanak hukamai je bujhai ta houmai kehai na koi.

Everybody is subject to Hukam; nobody is beyond Hukam.
O Nanak, those who understand Hukam, do not speak in their ego.

As we, the first generation of adopted Sikhs, not born in Punjab or Indian sub-continent, we need to realize there is much Seva we can do to reach those who are marginalized and less fortunate.

I have used the technology of Kundalini Yoga in the mid-70s to teach in County and Federal prisons. I saw first hand how it supported positive growth for incarcerated populations, most of whom are people of color. I became one of the fist to teach in the prison system as a volunteer, years before M.S.S. Krishna Kaur pursued her outreach in the LA prison system.

We need to come together as proposed in the Motion to listen to those among our siblings who have a need to be heard and understood, so it's my hope more people will keep support this Motion or something akin to it on the Khalsa Council agenda.

Wahe Guru Ji Ka KhalsaWahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh! --

Pages And Points To Ponder

Why Don't Sikh Women Tie Turban? Desmond Tutu's Plea To Israel.
See The Homeless Banned And Jailed In 'Christian' America.
See Let's Have 'The Race Conversation' For Real, This Time.
See Required Reading. See Recommended Reading.
See Why Are White Tantra Yoga Classes So 'White'?
See Islamic Extremism vs Christian Extremism.
See A Native American's Thanksgiving Rebuke.
See What White People Need To Know.
See For The People Of Color.
See What Is White Privilege?
See The Butterfly Effect.
See Ubuntu Philosophy.
See ACT For Diversity.
See Obama 43 To 1.
See My Main Point.
See Turbanators.
See Sikhs Shine.
See Sikh Tribes.
See Definitions.
See Questions.

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Ghazala Khan and Khizr Khan

Khizr Khan trumps Trump at Democratic National Convention

Sat Nam. Mr. Khizr Khan, with wife Ghazala Khan at his side, gave a stirring and memorable speech, Thursday, July 28, 2016, at the Democratic National Convention in honor of their son, Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq when a suicide bomber attacked his unit. See Humayun Khan Video.

Khan said that under a Trump government, Humayun would not have even been allowed in the country. ‘Have you even read the United States Constitution?’ he asked Trump, before offering up his own copy. See Complete Speech.

Enough said. Please watch this video.

NOTE: The elder Khan is a Harvard-educated lawyer who now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and works as a legal consultant. Also see Satyendra Huja of Charlottesville, Virginia. --

Trump's Response
By Jose A. DelReal and Anne Gearan

July 30, 2016 -- Republican Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at two Muslim American parents who lost their son while he served in the U.S. military in Iraq and who appeared at the Democratic National Convention last week, stirring outrage among critics who said the episode proves that Trump lacks the compassion and temperament to be president. See Above.

Asked to comment on the convention speech of Khizr Khan, a Pakistani immigrant whose son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, died in Iraq in 2004, Trump described Khan as “very emotional” and said he “probably looked like a nice guy to me” -- then accused him of being controlled by the Clinton campaign.

“Who wrote that? Did Hillary’s scriptwriters write it?” he asked in an interview with ABC.

Trump also questioned why Khan’s wife, Ghazala, did not speak on stage, despite the fact that she sat for an interview with MSNBC the following day.

“His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say,” he said. “You tell me, but plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet and it looked like she had nothing to say.” --

Ghazala Khan responds to Trump's criticism

Gold Star mother Ghazala Khan and husband Khizr

July 31, 2016 -- Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention. He said he would like to hear from me. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart.

Donald Trump said I had nothing to say. I do. My son Humayun Khan, an Army captain, died 12 years ago in Iraq. He loved America, where we moved when he was 2 years old. He had volunteered to help his country, signing up for the ROTC at the University of Virginia. This was before the attack of Sept. 11, 2001. He didn’t have to do this, but he wanted to.

When Humayun was sent to Iraq, my husband and I worried about his safety. I had already been through one war, in Pakistan in 1965, when I was just a high school student. So I was very scared. You can sacrifice yourself, but you cannot take it that your kids will do this.

We asked if there was some way he could not go, because he had already done his service. He said it was his duty. I cannot forget when he was going to the plane, and he looked back at me. He was happy, and giving me strength: “Don’t worry, Mom. Everything will be all right.”

The last time I spoke to my son was on Mother’s Day 2004. We had asked him to call us collect whenever he could. I begged him to be safe. I asked him to stay back, and not to go running around trying to become a hero, because I knew he would do something like that.

He said, “Mom, these are my soldiers, these are my people. I have to take care of them.” He was killed by a car bomber outside the gates of his base. He died trying to save his soldiers and innocent civilians.

That is my son. Humayun was always dependable. If I was vacuuming the house and he was home, he would take the vacuum from my hand and clean the house. He volunteered to teach disabled children in the hospital how to swim. He said, “I love when they have a little bit of progress and their faces, they light up. At least they are that much happy.” He wanted to be a lawyer, like his father, to help people.

Humayun is my middle son, and the others are doing so well, but every day I feel the pain of his loss. It has been 12 years, but you know hearts of pain can never heal as long as we live. Just talking about it is hard for me all the time. Every day, whenever I pray, I have to pray for him, and I cry. The place that emptied will always be empty.

I cannot walk into a room with pictures of Humayun. For all these years, I haven’t been able to clean the closet where his things are — I had to ask my daughter-in-law to do it. Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?

Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn’t allowed to say anything. That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not. My religion teaches me that all human beings are equal in God’s eyes. Husband and wife are part of each other; you should love and respect each other so you can take care of the family.

When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant. If he studied the real Islam and Koran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion.

Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means. --

Pages And Points To Ponder

Why Don't Sikh Women Tie Turban? Desmond Tutu's Plea To Israel.
See The Homeless Banned And Jailed In 'Christian' America.
See Let's Have 'The Race Conversation' For Real, This Time.
See Required Reading. See Recommended Reading.
See Why Are White Tantra Yoga Classes So 'White'?
See Islamic Extremism vs Christian Extremism.
See A Native American's Thanksgiving Rebuke.
See What White People Need To Know.
See For The People Of Color.
See What Is White Privilege?
See The Butterfly Effect.
See Ubuntu Philosophy.
See ACT For Diversity.
See Obama 43 To 1.
See My Main Point.
See Turbanators.
See Sikhs Shine.
See Sikh Tribes.
See Definitions.
See Questions.

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Henry and Jeanette Ebers

White Twilight
Circa 1950

For thousands of years, the White man has dominated the world. He has been living under the illusion that God created the world for him.

He seems to think that he should have all the “cake and goodies” and any crumbs that are left over are good enough for all the other races.

Now, his conscience is beginning to bother him and he is afraid. He can see that the world has “shrunk” and he can no longer hide his treatment of people whose skin is not white.

He has counted the people in the world and can easily figure that the White race is greatly outnumbered.

He is worrying about what is going to happen to him, when he can no longer tell the other races where they can live and what jobs they can have. Here in the U.S. he doesn’t want to get rid of the Negro because he needs him.

There are a lot of menial jobs he doesn’t want to do. Also there might be another war, and he would need the Negro to help fight for him.

If we review our history, we find the Negro didn’t just come to the U.S. and take over. In the beginning, he was brought here in chains and sold into slavery.

It was quite a long time before the Negro was given his “freedom”.

We also find that the Pilgrim Fathers came here without being asked by the “Indians”.

The White man kept taking over land from the Red man and finally after killing most of them, put the remainder on reservations.

Most native people have led a miserable existence ever since.

We can see how the White man has lost some of his dominance by the decline of the British Empire. It hasn’t been too long ago that the British Empire could make the proud boast that, "the sun never sets on the British Empire."

The sun has set and is not likely to arise in the foreseeable future.

In 1931, when the Japanese overran Manchuria, we continued to sell the Japanese scrap iron. This was very profitable and besides, the ones who were being killed did not have white skin.

So what if a few hundred thousand were killed -- who would miss them out of some 400-500 million Chinese and Japanese?

Now, we move up to 1941, when the Japanese threw some of that scrap iron back in our faces at Pearl Harbor. Now, boys with white skin were bring killed and maimed.

The anguish and shouting was something to hear. But is the anguish of a father and mother whose son is killed in war any less because their skin is yellow or black or red? No matter how many of them there are, each is still an individual to his parents.

It was less than 10 years later when the White man was fighting for his life in Korea and the Chinese were coming across from Manchuria, where it began.

The White man used to be able to go to any port of the world he wished and “bask in the sun”. He can no longer do this as he is not welcome, and he is afraid.

I believe that by the time the sun sets on the 20th century, the gathering shadows of “White twilight“ will have lengthened into darkness. The domination of the world by the White race will have come to an end. --

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Hari Kaur Ebers Bird

My father, Henry Joseph Ebers was born June 4, 1905, just 40 years earlier on the same day I was born. He was a kind, gentle man, and much admired by his associates and neighbors. He had a giving heart and would help anyone in need. His mother and father were farmers in Virden, Illinois. Both died at an early age, probably from hard work.

He used to say the farmyard cats would line up at milking time, with their mouths wide open, hoping to get some of that fresh milk. He would brag that when he milked the cows, he could “hit them at 50 paces!” I can well imagine those cats licking their faces and enjoying every single minute of fresh milk!

My father went to a one-room schoolhouse because the town was so small. He said he skipped a grade because he could listen to all of the other classes and learn their lessons along with his own. He said they had “colored folks” helping with the farm chores (and living with them), and that “Mammy” was a cook. She was like a second mother to him, and helped raise him. He contracted TB in 1950 and was in a local hospital until 1952, which is where he wrote the above missive. He was a quite a man. My one regret is that I did not ask him more about his ancestry and his family. --

Post your thoughts or questions here.

"As humanity enters the Age of Space, how will Whites, who can't relate to
Blacks and Browns, relate to Grays and Greens." ACTForDiversity.com

White America                   Colored America
  Exclusive                              Inclusive    

Pages And Points To Ponder

Why Don't Sikh Women Tie Turban? Desmond Tutu's Plea To Israel.
See The Homeless Banned And Jailed In 'Christian' America.
See Let's Have 'The Race Conversation' For Real, This Time.
See Required Reading. See Recommended Reading.
See Why Are White Tantra Yoga Classes So 'White'?
See Islamic Extremism vs Christian Extremism.
See A Native American's Thanksgiving Rebuke.
See What White People Need To Know.
See For The People Of Color.
See What Is White Privilege?
See The Butterfly Effect.
See Ubuntu Philosophy.
See ACT For Diversity.
See Obama 43 To 1.
See My Main Point.
See Turbanators.
See Sikhs Shine.
See Sikh Tribes.
See Definitions.
See Questions.

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Brittney Cooper

Why was Mo’ne Davis called a 'slut'?

SALON, MARCH 25, 2015 -- Mo’ne Davis is a Black girl wunderkind. At age 13, she has pitched a shutout at the Little League World Series, becoming the first girl ever to do so, and she has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Disney is now planning to do a movie about her called, “Throw Like Mo.”

Mo’ne Davis

I’m not ashamed to admit that I still watch the Disney Channel, and I will certainly be tuning in.

But everyone isn’t as excited as I am to see a Black girl on the come up. Last week, Joey Casselberry, a sophomore baseball player from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, called Mo’ne a “slut” in response to the news about the movie. He was subsequently expelled from the team.

In response, Davis has forgiven him and she and her coach have asked that he be reinstated. About Casselberry, Davis released a statement, which said:

"Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance. I know he didn’t mean it in that type of way, and I know a lot of people get tired of like seeing me on TV but just think about what you’re doing before you actually do it. I know right now he’s really hurt and I know how hard he worked just to get where he is right now."

Her level of empathy is remarkable but not particularly surprising. Black girls learn almost from the womb to empathize with others, even when those others have committed deep injustices toward us.

Perhaps it is the unparalleled level of our suffering that makes us always look with empathy upon others.

But I am troubled. It is absolutely wonderful that Davis has this kind of care and concern and a heart so huge that she can forgive a nearly adult person for insulting her. It goes without saying that she’s a better person than Casselberry.

But she should not have to be. For starters, he meant what he said. One doesn’t slip up and mistakenly call a young teen girl a slut. Second, it bothers me that she sounds almost apologetic about how much others have to see her on television. Girls in our culture are taught that they should never take up too much space, that they should be seen (and look real pretty), but not heard. And Black girls in our culture are damn near invisible, whether in regards to their triumphs or their struggles.

Lest we think this inappropriate sexual shaming of Black girls is an isolated incident, let us not forget that in 2013, The Onion “jokingly” referred to then 9-year old actress Quvenzhane Wallis, as a “c*nt” in reference to her Oscar nomination that year for Beasts of the Southern Wild. --

Post your thoughts or questions here.

"As humanity enters the Age of Space, how will Whites, who can't relate to
Blacks and Browns, relate to Grays and Greens." ACTForDiversity.com

White America                   Colored America
  Exclusive                              Inclusive    

Pages And Points To Ponder

Why Don't Sikh Women Tie Turban? Desmond Tutu's Plea To Israel.
See The Homeless Banned And Jailed In 'Christian' America.
See Let's Have 'The Race Conversation' For Real, This Time.
See Required Reading. See Recommended Reading.
See Why Are White Tantra Yoga Classes So 'White'?
See Islamic Extremism vs Christian Extremism.
See A Native American's Thanksgiving Rebuke.
See What White People Need To Know.
See For The People Of Color.
See What Is White Privilege?
See The Butterfly Effect.
See Ubuntu Philosophy.
See ACT For Diversity.
See Obama 43 To 1.
See My Main Point.
See Turbanators.
See Sikhs Shine.
See Sikh Tribes.
See Definitions.
See Questions.

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

RESPONSES

The above author, Fareed Zakaria, has pointed out in detail everything wrong with Christianity and which can be applied to every kind of fundamentalism. Faiths of all kinds are now going through their fundamentalism. All three religions of Abraham; Christianity, Judaism, Islam. Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and others all have serious elements of fundamentalism. Even the New Agers have that element in another form. These are the Piscean elements that simply cannot let go and are fighting so hard to keep the inevitable from happening, the Aquarian Age.

Take the rise of the feminine, the women honored and made equal that so many faiths DO SAY should be. And the many paths to God recognized as equal. Guru Nanak is the final word on this. Said it very simply... All are equal. Equa! Pluralism! This old Piscean Age has been working against women and against equality. Time's up!

What do you think? Post your thoughts or questions here.

I agree, and though I am not Catholic, I love this Pope. I also like Zakaria. This makes a great deal of sense to me.

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Great post...watched his show this morning. Only take exception to one thing...to those who believe in life and a soul at conception, thou shalt not kill pretty well covers the abortion issue. Namaste, and thanks for the interesting posts.

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Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Satpal Singh Khalsa

Walking the Walk

“Truth is the highest virtue, higher still is truthful living.” Guru Nanak Dev

“If you cannot see God in all, you cannot see God all.” Siri Singh Sahib

See Rare Historical Photos.

Contact Bhai Sahib Satpal Singh Khalsa here.

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Emily E. Smith

A student told me I ‘couldn’t understand because I am a White lady.'

I’m White. My classroom is not. Sure, it’s been my dream to work at an “urban” school. To work with kids whose challenges I could never even fathom at such a young age. And changing at-risk lives through literature is almost a media cliché by now. These were, however, how I identified myself at the beginning of my teaching career. I was a great teacher. I taught children how to truly write for the first time and share meaningful connections on a cozy carpet. We made podcasts about music lyrics and filled our favorite books so full with annotated sticky notes that they would barely close. We even tiptoed into the alien world of free verse poetry.

But something was missing. If you’ve already forgotten, I’m White. “White” is kind of an uncomfortable word to announce, and right now people may already be unnerved about where this is going. Roughly 80 percent of teachers in the United States today are White. Yet the population of our students is a palette. That means America’s children of color will, for the majority of their school years, not have a teacher who is a reflection of their own image. Most of their school life they will be told what to do and how to do it by someone who is White, and most likely female. Except for a few themed weeks, America’s children of color will read books, watch videos, analyze documents and study historical figures who are also not in their image.

I’ve been guilty of that charge. But things changed for me the day when, during a classroom discussion, one of my kids bluntly told me I “couldn’t understand because I was a White lady.” I had to agree with him. I sat there and tried to speak openly about how I could never fully understand and went home and cried, because my children knew about White privilege before I did. The closest I could ever come was empathy.

My curriculum from then on shifted. We still did all of the wonderful things that I had already implemented in the classroom, except now the literature, the documents, the videos, the discussions, the images embodied the issues that my children wanted to explore. We studied the works of Sandra Cisneros, Pam Munoz Ryan and Gary Soto, with the intertwined Spanish language and Latino culture — so fluent and deep in the memories of my kids that I saw light in their eyes I had never seen before.

We analyzed Langston Hughes’s “Let America be America Again” from the lens of both historical and current events and realized that the United States is still the land that has never been. The land that my kids, after reading an excerpt from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s letter to his son that connected so deeply to their personal experiences, decided they still wanted to believe in. The land they decided to still hope for. The land that one of my kids quietly said would be changed by her generation. A generation of empathy.

We read about the Syrian crisis, analyzing photographs of war-torn faces at the border and then wrote poetry of hope, despair and compassion from the perspectives of the migrants. Many of my kids asked to write about their own journeys across the border and their [dreams] for a better future. One child cried and told me he never had a teacher who honored the journey his family took to the United States. He told me he was not ashamed anymore, but instead proud of the sacrifice his parents made for him.

We listened to StoryCorps podcasts by people from different walks of life, and children shared their own stories of losing pets, saying goodbye to a mother or father in jail, the fear of wearing a hoodie while walking to a 7-Eleven, and thriving under the wing of a single parent who works two jobs.

So as I stand here today I can declare that I am no longer a language arts and social studies teacher, but a self-proclaimed teacher of social justice and the art of communication with words.

Looking back, I think that my prior hesitation to talk about race stemmed from a lack of social education in the classroom. A lack of diversity in my own life that is, by no means, the fault of my progressive parents, but rather a broken and still segregated school system. Now that I’m an educator in that system, I’ve decided to stand unflinching when it comes to the real issues facing our children today, I’ve decided to be unafraid to question injustice, unafraid to take risks in the classroom — I am changed. And so has my role as a teacher.

I can’t change the color of my skin or where I come from or what the teacher workforce looks like at this moment, but I can change the way I teach. So I am going to soapbox about something after all. Be the teacher your children of color deserve. In fact, even if you don’t teach children of color, be the teacher America’s children of color deserve, because we, the teachers, are responsible for instilling empathy and understanding in the hearts of all kids. We are responsible for the future of this country.

So teach the texts that paint all the beautiful faces of our children and tell the stories of struggle and victory our nation has faced. Speak openly and freely about the challenges that are taking place in our country at this very moment. Talk about the racial and class stereotypes plaguing our streets, our states, our society. You may agree that Black and Brown lives matter, but how often do you explore what matters to those lives in your classroom?

Put aside your anxieties and accept your natural biases. Donald Graves once said, “Children need to hang around a teacher who is asking bigger questions of herself than she is asking of them.” I know I’m going to continue to ask the bigger questions of myself and seek the answers that sometimes feel impossible, because my kids deserve it … you’re welcome to join me. Thank you. -- Source.

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Diversity Dialogues
MySense

Hari Singh Bird

"If you cannot see God in all, you cannot see
God at all." Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji

Sat Nam. It is both interesting and pathetic that the three Abrahamic religious tribes of our world, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, fight with each other in wars over the same God. Today's headlines and mankind's history over hundreds of years leave a legacy of deja vu all over again... redundancy double-over, and over, and over again. (See The Seige Mentality.)

What follows is an interesting narrative from a latter-day school girl who opines over what it's like to be Brown at a mostly White school? Read on.

"Tribal radar pulses through every higher institution in America."

There were five of us at my Catholic high school, of different ages. We called ourselves the “Brown Girls Club,” (BGC) and held “meetings,” where we’d really just hang out.

One night we went to a party thrown by an Indian-American student society at the local university. The ivy-choked campus was historically a kind of holding zone for the dimmer sons and daughters of the city’s rich white set. Because of this, a radical tinge ran through the proceedings, as if we were stealing the mating rituals of a warring tribe: awkward dance circle, cheap rum sloshing in plastic cups—held, though, by brown hands.

For BGC members, the novelty of moving through instead of around a party thrilled. Afterwards, we huddled in the parking lot to trade stories of the boys we’d spoken with. A photograph exists somewhere of this moment, our faces captured with a disposable held at arm’s length by the eldest girl in the club.

Our ages decreed separation during school hours. Into the herd we slipped, running for elections, playing sports, making our schoolmates laugh. A chance meeting at the cafeteria could feel like a union of countrywomen in a faraway land, bonded over the task of fitting in.

Tribal radar pulses through every higher institution in America. I have felt its pull in colleges and newsrooms throughout the country, but the BGC felt particularly revolutionary by context. We lived in Texas. For decades our private high school reared women with long roots and not far to go. A graduate might marry a boy from that local university, buy a two-story nearby and a plaid skirt for her daughter when the time came. We signified disruption. People left a country to bring us here, and we might leave again, too.

I’d come explicitly for lack of a better option. My public junior high school had a bad reputation. A network of gangs ran through it, bearing childish names based on Disney movies. Some months before I left, a Lion King boy wearing metal cleats kicked the forehead of an Aladdin kid. One night I dreamed of the injury, holes pocking a young stretch of skin like hoofmarks in the snow. I awoke in acceptance of my parents’ decree: it was time to leave.

My new world held narrow religious principles and sophisticated educational ones. In theology class, the teacher, a Jew for Jesus, who’d converted into intense Catholicism, told us the ones unbaptized would go to hell. She sported long dresses that covered her neck and arms, and a head of what one girl called “fundamentalist hair,” tapering nearly to her knees.

'Fundamentalist hair' according to Google.

I was the only Hindu in the class. There was also a Muslim girl, parents from Iran. Occasionally she joined BGC meetings as what we called an honorary member. We made friends with compliments predicated on what set us apart from our schoolmates. She liked my black hair; I, her green eyes.

Privately we mocked our teacher, who was too shy for eye contact. We felt superior to her. I think we sensed that she was actually more of an outsider than we were. The world belonged to people like us, people whose secret societies expect members to feign normalcy during working hours.

My Iranian friend shot her hand in the air. She quizzed our teacher on the dimensions of heaven. Was it finite? Able to hold only a certain number of bodies, then? We led the conversation into talk of animals. We coaxed her to admit the end didn’t look good for dogs and cats, unbaptized as they were.

Finally we struck resistance. A buxom brunette known for a cruel sense of humor and an orange tan piped up that her dog was going to heaven right along with her no matter what the Bible said. Others called out variations of the same. In later tellings we remained proud of this rare daytime rebellion, though it was the souls of everyone’s sweet dogs and cats and not Hindus or Muslims that carried the conversation until the bell rang, our teacher standing helplessly in silence at the front of the room. -- Mallika Rao

Related links.

See American schools are still segregated. These parents are making it worse.

See Virginia schools closed over frightening reaction to Islam homework.

See A New Jersey school teacher says she was fired for being Muslim.

See Undocumented immigrants in Flint say they've been denied free water and are scared to get help.

See World Synchronized Meditation for Syria.

Pages And Points To Ponder

Why Don't Sikh Women Tie Turban? Desmond Tutu's Plea To Israel.
See The Homeless Banned And Jailed In 'Christian' America.
See Let's Have 'The Race Conversation' For Real, This Time.
See Required Reading. See Recommended Reading.
See Why Are White Tantra Yoga Classes So 'White'?
See Islamic Extremism vs Christian Extremism.
See A Native American's Thanksgiving Rebuke.
See What White People Need To Know.
See For The People Of Color.
See What Is White Privilege?
See The Butterfly Effect.
See Ubuntu Philosophy.
See ACT For Diversity.
See Obama 43 To 1.
See My Main Point.
See Turbanators.
See Sikhs Shine.
See Sikh Tribes.
See Definitions.
See Questions.

Pages And Points To Ponder

See 8 Things People Need To Understand About Race. See What Happens When We Fight Over Race? See Islamic Extremism vs Christian Extremism. See Why Are White Tantra Yoga Classes So 'White'? See Why Do Millennials Not Understand Racism? See Sensitivity Summit. See Recommended Reading. See Required Reading. See The Butterfly Effect. See ForThePeopleOfColor.com. See Women Are Much More Than This. See Definitions. See Disclaimer.

Post your thoughts or questions here.