“Education is the vaccine for violence”. These words by Edward James Olmos matter more than ever today as hate crimes are on rise especially, against Asian-Americans, including Sikhs. Sikh Youth Alliance, a NJ non-profit, drafted a resolution to incorporate Sikhism instruction into social studies curriculum in New Jersey public schools. It was introduced in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly as Senate Resolution 108 and Assembly Resolution 172.

A volunteer for SYA and a high school student in Burlington County, Bhavleen Kaur, says “during my experience with the American education system, I have felt underrepresented.” While she and other individuals across the state have made efforts throughout the school years to include Sikh history and values in presentations, it only reaches those few.  However, the resolution, the first if its kind, pushes to change that throughout the entire state of NJ.

Bhupindar Singh, the lead author for this resolution, says “the seeds for inclusivity in the world starts at classrooms. In preparing our future generations, the right information about culture, religion and history about any community’s faith is key to combat violence, bullying that arises from misinformation against underrepresented communities, such as Sikhs,”  especially in classrooms.

Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation (S4021/A6100 and A3764/A3369) in January of 2022 that would pave the way for the inclusion of AAPI communities contributions, history, and heritage as a requirement in the New Jersey curricula from kindergarten through grade 12. Followers of the Sikh religion, originating from Punjab in the 15th century, have been relevant in the United States since the late 1800s. Jaspreet Singh, co-founder of SYA, elaborates the root of issue:

Unfortunately, the events of 2001 left our community as targets since the images of the terrorists resembled the identity of Sikhs, even though they weren’t. Ever since, we have faced violent on Sikh places of worship and discrimination by those who were never taught the difference.

Sikh children have witnessed bullying in schools due to this confusion of identity, with estimates that over 50 percent of Sikh children and roughly 67 percent turbaned-Sikhs endure physical or verbal abuse at schools.

“In school, we are taught to respect everyone, no matter their identity, however, Sikh students are subject to discriminatory treatment by their classmates simply because they fail to recognize the difference between them.” Jaskiran Kaur, a NJ high school graduate, shares an incident that happened during her senior year: “In 2022, there was an incident in my school where a student targeted a Sikh student’s turban as a joke. The turban is an important part of Sikh identity so this was an act of disrespect, and it needs to be acknowledged,” she adds.

The resolution aims to aide the struggle of the Sikh community for a better future in the State of New Jersey where Sikh kids can continue to grow up and attend schools without fear of discrimination, bullying, violence, and hate. This resolution urges the State Board of Education to require the inclusion of education on Sikhism history, religion, and identity in social studies classrooms in all NJ school districts where kids of different communities can understand at younger ages who Sikhs are, where they come from, and how they look. As stated by Amritpal Singh, another co-founder of SYA, “we applaud the efforts of the NJ legislature in allowing the opportunity to bring Sikh awareness into our classrooms, thus enabling the community to feel closer, understood, and blossom in their diaspora for a better America.”

This is a press release.