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How To Ensure Continuity Of The Sikhs In The West Presently And In Future?


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How to make sure that Sikhs survive the oncoming melting-pot of humanity. We do not want now and in partcular in future people saying that one of their great - grand parent were Sikh and the other is Christian, and they themselves follow buddism. The is exacly what white people say from the New York area, my great grand parent is Irish and the other Italian, it does not matter about race, but it does matter about religion.

We need to ensure that the Sikh religion is the dominanat religion steming from asia in the west , particualrly more dominat then Islam. In terms of lifestyle and culture. We need to make sure Sikhism is know to all, using the media. We need to accept the the Sikhs of future will not look like us, they maybe mixed race , may have blue eyes. maybe black or white, there is NOTING wrong with this as long as they say they are Sikh. We need to think outside our caged panjabi beliefs.

What does the sangat think?

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I am a white guy, and my fiance is punjabi, and I plan to raise my children sikh. The sikh religion is, for the most part, very easy to accept as a westerner. I actually have found lately that I struggle less with holding sikh beliefs than I did as a catholic. However, I do know other intermarried couples and they tend to not raise the kids hindu/sikh. The answer why is very simple. Indian people as a group are very racist (sorry, its true). When you constantly feel unaccepted you are not going to want to go to Gurdwara every week and raise your kids in that religion. I regularly face this crap. They also think less of my fiance, which kills me since most of the "good" indian girls I know are actually well, not so good and my fiance is actually a good girl. It also sends many indian guys my age off the deep end that I am marrying an attractive punjabi girl... like I stole her or something. Had to face some serious threats from these guys for a while, but in the end I realized that most of them are wanna be black guys... and when I called them out on it all the threats of violence stopped. I have to tell you, I do not take this crap from white community nearly as much.

So honestly, most people are just not gonna take this crap. They are going to just not practice the sikh religion so they don't have to put up with feeling unwelcome and ostracized all the time. It is very easy to just merge into the mainstream and leave all the BS behind.

-W

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am a white guy, and my fiance is punjabi, and I plan to raise my children sikh. The sikh religion is, for the most part, very easy to accept as a westerner. I actually have found lately that I struggle less with holding sikh beliefs than I did as a catholic. However, I do know other intermarried couples and they tend to not raise the kids hindu/sikh. The answer why is very simple. Indian people as a group are very racist (sorry, its true). When you constantly feel unaccepted you are not going to want to go to Gurdwara every week and raise your kids in that religion. I regularly face this crap. They also think less of my fiance, which kills me since most of the "good" indian girls I know are actually well, not so good and my fiance is actually a good girl. It also sends many indian guys my age off the deep end that I am marrying an attractive punjabi girl... like I stole her or something. Had to face some serious threats from these guys for a while, but in the end I realized that most of them are wanna be black guys... and when I called them out on it all the threats of violence stopped. I have to tell you, I do not take this crap from white community nearly as much.

So honestly, most people are just not gonna take this crap. They are going to just not practice the sikh religion so they don't have to put up with feeling unwelcome and ostracized all the time. It is very easy to just merge into the mainstream and leave all the BS behind.

-W

Great post for it's blunt truth. I am not white. However, I totally relate to your frustration about the racism amongst indians including so called sikhs. I do disagree with respect to crap from the white community. The white community remains very racist, much of that racism is rather sophisticated and refined. Nonetheless, i am appalled and disgusted at how racist and insular punjabi's can be. Thank you for being honest.

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Indian people as a group are very racist (sorry, its true).

Yeh you're right, but I'm hoping that this will die out in the future and sikhs will start to understand that a sikh is a sikh and we are forbidden to believe in the caste system and judge people because of their race.

The older generations cannot overcome their way of thinking as it has been implanted in them since childhood.

We are essentially a mix of converted hindus and muslims and even greeks (Alexander the great-or should I say not so great!) and this in itself should have made us the most undiscriminating religion in the world, not even including he fact that Guru Nanak totally preached against caste and race discrimination.

I really don't understand where it all went wrong.

I don't look typically Indian as I have fair skin and many Indians treat me differently before they realise what I am.

It doesn't matter how racist other communities are, we as sikhs follow the true kings, we follow god and the truth and are to set an example to humanity, the world needs true, tolerant, compassionate sikhs.

I have white friends and treat them the same as my Indian friends (I don't have many as they tend to stick together excluding other races) and if my parents would allow me to marry a white sikh that I liked I would in a second.

But the fact is that they wouldn't let me, some families are different but mine and all of my cousin's, second cousins and third cousins families are the same.

Alot of families of course are more understanding however I think most indians have a long way to go before they begin to understand that we are all god's children and he loves us all. If that's not reason enough to look on humanity as equal then we don't have much of a chance.

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Whites/indians/asians... everyone is racist. I think your right about whites being racist as well... I guess I just don't feel it as much because I am white. White racism occurs behind closed doors, I guess indian is just more obvious. In any case its their problem so why worry about it.

In retrospect my post was a little harsh. I had just got through dealing with some of that crap when I responded to the message. My fiances family was the same way, but now I know they would lay down in traffic for me. People can change. Racism is just one aspect of someone's personality, it does not make them a bad person. It exist in every culture. .

If you wanna do something about it do this. If you see a gora walk into gurdwara... after establishing he is not an evangelist... strike up a conversation. Ask him if he has any questions about sikhism. Or even just talk to him about the food, anything! I have a group of friends now, but at first I was avoided like the plague.

Life is good. Now I gotta watch the US beat some engish <banned word filter activated>.

-W

Maybe I spoke too soon... 4:07 and its 1-0

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