Monty has created some buzz around himself and Sikhi, making the sports world a bit more aware, at the very least. He’s also leaner and taller than his older brother. Go Monty! Sports Illustrated and the Washington Post have taken notice. Sports Illustrated article. Washington Post article.

Make sure you submit your essay to this year’s contest. It’s great to see lots of folks excited about the topic–they’re looking for both sides of the issue and have more information about the contest online here. First place is $1000!

Inni Kaur writes:

Dear Sangat:

The film AMU needs our help. The community has not come out and shown its support and the opening of AMU in other cities is in jeopardy.

A way to show your support - even if you are not in Manhattan.

Please go to the net to the Cinema Village link and buy a one 10 dollar ticket to the
film. Just one.

This would be your contribution in internationalizing the issue of ‘84.

The link is:
http://www.readyticket.net/webticket/htmlshowtimes/27/ShowTimes39238.html

The success of AMU in NY affects the opening in the rest of the US.

If you feel 1984s story needs to be heard and the silence to be broken please buy 1 ticket and show your support. This week in crucial - please show your support.

Gur Fateh
Inni Kaur

Kirpal Singh Nijjhar, a long-standing pioneer of the east coast Sikh Youth Camp scene, notifies us of a youth camp from June 30 - July 7, 2006. It’s called MiriPiri camp–and you can find more information on it at their website: http://miripiricamp.com. Sikh camps are a great way to engage and “recharge your Sikhi battery.” I had the opportunity to be part of the organizing team of the Seattle Sikh Retreat this past weekend, and it was totally amazing. Coincidentally, we picked a similar theme — Miri Piri: Life where two swords meet.

SALDEF and the Sikh Foundation of Virginia partnered with the FBI to encourage Sikhs to join the bureau. Cool Stuff. The full press release follows.

SALDEF, FBI and Sikh Foundation of Virginia Co-sponsor Recruiting Event in Virginia

Washington D.C. – May 25, 2007: This past Sunday, May 20, 2007, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nation’s oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization, co-sponsored an event with the Sikh Foundation of Virginia (SFV) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to increase recruitment of Sikh Americans into the Bureau.

For the past several months, SALDEF has been advocating on behalf of the community for concerted efforts to increase the recruitment of Sikh Americans into the FBI. In meetings with National FBI Headquarters, FBI Washington Field Office, and the FBI’s Personnel Recruiting Unit (PRU), Bureau representatives have told SALDEF that Sikh American youth and young professionals, including those who possess Punjabi language skills, are highly desirable to the FBI.

Speaking at the event were:

• Joseph Persichini – Assistant Director, FBI Washington Field Office
• Gwendolyn Hubbard – Division Chief, FBI Personnel Resources Unit
• Sunjeet Singh – Sikh FBI Analyst
• Rajbir Singh Datta – Associate Director, SALDEF
• Harjit Singh Chawla – Board Chairman, Sikh Foundation of Virginia

The purpose of this pilot event was to engage with the community and gauge the effectiveness of a possible national initiative between SALDEF and the PRU to increase recruitment and retention of Sikh Americans into the FBI as special agents and professional support staff.

“SALDEF is working closely with the FBI and other federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security to encourage active recruitment efforts withing the Sikh American community,” stated SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh. “We urge Sikhs from across the country to collaborate with SALDEF to organize similar events in their local communities to explore opportunities with federal agencies.”

Additionally, SALDEF is working with the Washington Field Office of the FBI, and a number of Arab and Muslim organizations, on a Future Agents in Training (FTI) program to recruit a total of fifteen high school students from the DC Metro Area, aged 16 - 18, to participate in a week long event in Quantico, VA at the FBI Training Academy. This pilot program, if successful, has the potential to expand nationally and provide Sikh American youth with the unique opportunity to learn more about the FBI and its career options with an on-hands approach.

If you would like to organize a similar event in your local community, please contact SALDEF at 202-393-2700 ext 27 or by email.

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See below.

Valarie Kaur, who took some time off Stanford right after 9/11 to document the aftermath and its repercussions for America, will be interviewed by Paula Zahn tonight. She and her partner in crime Sharat Raju will be talking about their film, Divided We Fall, an awesome flick that I hope makes a big national debut. Congrats Valarie! We love you! More after the jump.

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Here’s an awesome opportunity for all you forward-thinking and open-minded Sikhs out there. Attend an interfaith conference at the expense of the World Sikh Council! I would absolutely love to do this. Right now, I’m tied up by some entrepreneurial opportunities that conflict with the dates of this program, but it’s really incredible and hopefully, one day, my career will be stable enough that I can go to these conferences as a Sikh representative. In college, I absolutely loved interfaith dialogue because I believe that it’s part of the Sikh faith. “Interfaith Dialogue is Itself Spiritual Practice,” said an extremely wise person (whose name I forget) at an interfaith conference I attended in Washington DC in 2001. That is a beautiful quote, and I think it holds true for Sikhi. Guru Nanak was the master of interfaith dialogue–he talked and debated everybody under the sun, and developed an awesome faith as a result of those discussions. I challenge all Sikhs to get out there and engaged in interfaith dialogue–go in with an open mind, and go in expecting to learn something from your fellow man, and you will be rewarded. Details on the World Sikh Council program after the jump.

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So I think there’s a typo in this article on NJ.com:Three days of celebration at new temple for Sikhs. Any idea what a brightly colored Jagwinder is? I’d say this is a generally good article, except for a few errors. Mr. Bajwa is quoted as saying Sikhism is basically an offshoot of Hinduism. Though almost anything that appeared in the same region as Hinduism can be ostensibly called an offshoot–I think the term is too heavy to apply to Sikhism. It implies that we take major beliefs from Hinduism and just change a few things here and there, when in fact Sikhs do something completely different. We have our own Scripture, believe in One God, have a unique identity, and foster a radically different world-view.

Great News! The Sikh Coalition Library Project is coming to a library near you! Have you ever been to a library, looked for Sikh books, and found almost nothing? I have! Well, now, for just $165, I can donate 10 books and 2 DVDs to the library of my choice. This is an outstanding program and is a practical way for anyone to make a difference. The hard work in selecting books and DVDs and creating a package for libraries is done–you just need to pony up some cash and pick a library. This is a really outstanding, smart project, and I’m proud to support it.