Ricky Gill Shies Away From His Sikh Identity

[Sherdil]

Taken from AmericanTurban.com

By Rupinder Mohan Singh

In his address to the Republican National Convention today, Ricky Gill, who we can only presume is a Sikh American running for Congress in California’s 9th Congressional District, passed on the unique opportunity to acknowledge our visible minority — whose recent turmoil in Oak Creek, Wisconsin occurred not a month ago — on the national stage.

In his speech, Gill disappointingly neglected to make any reference to his Sikh background, instead naming “India and Africa”. This follows a trend with Gill in that he has never openly acknowledged his Sikh faith, and instead, appears to make every effort to downplay this background. Despite this reluctance, the Sikh American community, which has become very topical given the mass shooting at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin Gurdwara earlier this month, has been one that Gill has solicited heavily for campaign donations. He comes from a Sikh family, and the district he seeks to represent contains the oldest Gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) in the United States, in Stockton, California. The Central Valley of California is known for its large and historic Sikh American population.

The tragedy is, of course, that Sikhs in California who hoped he would provide a voice for the community in the federal government have supported him significantly, but Gill fails to honor this moral contract. If we needed any evidence of Gill’s inability or unwillingness to be that representative, we now have it.

LODI, CA - Congressional candidate Ricky Gill today delivered the following remarks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida:

"My name is Ricky Gill, and I am humbled to stand before you today as a Republican nominee for Congress – and a proud son of California’s San Joaquin Valley.

My parents immigrated to the Valley from India and Africa with only their love for each other, a strong work ethic, and the enduring desire to pursue their American Dream.

We all work hard in the Valley, and we’re proud to live there. But today we face crippling unemployment and foreclosures-even the bankruptcy of Stockton, our largest city. Young people leave — or drop out of school to help their families make ends meet. Our friends and neighbors are suffering.

But the Valley is a cautionary tale of failed policies, not false ambitions. No one in this country dreams of dependency; no one hopes for mediocrity. We are ready again to seize the measure of our ambitions – not because the government says we can, but because we believe we can.

We need a new generation of leadership to chart the path – to fight for policies that create jobs, rather than red tape — and to help small businesses succeed, rather than helping green energy companies fail.[/indent]

Like you, we Valley folks are tough, independent, and faithful – and we are ready to rebuild our American Dream.

Thank you, and God Bless America."

[Sherdil]

Wherefore art thou, Ricky Gill?

By Rupinder Mohan Singh (AmericanTurban.com)

I have written several times about Ranjit “Ricky” Gill, the Republican Party candidate for Congress in California’s 9th Congressional District. Gill is challenging Democratic Party incumbent Jerry McNerney for the seat.

Gill, 25, is the son of Sikh physicians in the Stockton, California area. Much of the donations to his campaign have come from the Sikh community, as well as interests in the healthcare and agricultural industries. The northern California constituency for which Gill is contesting is an area that has a sizable Sikh population and is, in fact, home to the first and oldest Gurdwara in the United States (the Gurdwara is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year).

In April, I wrote about the emerging perception that Ricky Gill was also distancing himself from his Sikh background:

Much like South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley did when she ran for the Governor’s seat, Gill is reportedly distancing himself from his Sikh heritage in his campaign and emphasizing a Christian background. As Haley endorsed Gill late last year, perhaps it should not be a surprise that he is following her playbook, but it is nonetheless disappointing that a Sikh American is choosing to obscure his own background for the sake of an election.

The recent mass shooting at the Oak Creek Gurdwara brought forth many statements of support from politicians, officials and civil rights leaders of all stripes, and it is curious to see whether a Sikh American candidate, running for federal office in a district with a large Sikh American population, would also have at least made a statement in sympathy with the Sikh community in Wisconsin.

On Gill’s website RickyGill.com, there is no such statement offered to show any kind of sympathy to his (I assume, his) co-religionists. If he has made private statements, or a statement in other such venues, they are not easy to find. Gill’s only public comment on the attack was a status update on his Facebook page, dated August 5, 2012:

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of today’s shooting in Wisconsin, with their families, and with their communities. As they suffer through this tragedy, please keep them in yours, too.

Nikki Haley posted a very similarly distanced statement on her own Facebook page.

[Sherdil]

Why do we support politicians who don't do anything for us in return?

Ricky Gill and Nikki Haley have done nothing for the Sikh community, yet they come to Gurdwaras to win our votes and recieve donations for their campaigns.

Nikki Haley is not even a practicing Sikh. She has converted to Christianity and has married a gorrah Christian man. Yet, our community still helped her to get elected.

Niether Ricky nor Nikki has said a word in support of Sikhs since the Wisconsin shooting, or even before the shooting.

Ishwar Singh, head of the Sikh Society of Central Florida, is set to speak on Wednesday.

[singh135]

This article should be read is USA Gurudwaras

[S1ngh]

He is from my area and believe me that there are more Sikhs on side of dem candidate Jerry mcnerny, who in past supported Sikhs in every possible way. There are some punjabis who are die hard fan of Ricky gill for various personal reason.

Ricky is none but a rich kid with inflated resume.

[VanHelsingh]

Why do our lot keep voting for these kind of candidates? Do we just see the brown face and go all weak at the knees?

[Jonny101]

He seems like a coconut like nicky hailey. Sikhs in America need to ditch this guy. Don't waste your money and vote on someone who will not do anything for the community. Look at Canadian Sikh politicians. They always raise their voice for their community. That's the kind of politician you should donate to or vote for. Under normal circumstances I think Sikhs should always vote for a fellow Sikh. But if that fellow Sikh is trying to distance himself from his Sikh heritage and acting like an uncle Tom then it's better to vote and donate to the Gorah opposite to him.

[N30S1NGH]

Change has to come within Sikh Community. If we keep voting for opportunist, individuals who exploit the community, then we have no reason to whine collectively as community. We bring punjab mentality here which gives our so called leaders to flirt with the idea of punjab type politics.

In general, we as community need to set the bar high or precedent that just because you have dhara or some punjabi sikh name in election does not mean you will get automatic votes. All punjabi type politicians need to be summon by community leaders to explain themselves why should we vote for your party? Not you but your party? We are not even asking right questions here as we limit ourselves to mp in our area and not looking at larger implication- nation wide interest. We sikhs should not only look for personal interest but nation wide interest as whole as well as we ask for sarbat da bhalla every day.

Here in Canada, i laugh at all these right wing conservatives sikh politicians and sikhs who supported them. How could a sikh politician be evangelical or Anglican conservatives is beyond me...!!!! Now conservatives who are in majority power came back and bite us in our arse..!!

We are truly are our worst enemies..!!

[mrsingh12]

Why do our lot keep voting for these kind of candidates? Do we just see the brown face and go all weak at the knees?

Who said he was Sikh anyway? Lol, Im not judging anybody but Sikhs nowadays only look at a person's name or if they wear a Kara to define whether a person is a Sikh or not. I'm not saying he has to be amritdhari or anything like that, but even so, we shouldnt just give someone the title of Sikh without knowing whether they visit the Gurdwara regularly, do they know anything about the 11 prophets of Sikhism etc. BTW, please do not interpret this post as Mona = Non-Sikh. Mona or Kesadhari, knowing something about your religion is the minimum to justify the title of Sikh.

Secondanly, Sikhs in the UK (me included) should shy away from giving any advice to Americans or Canadians on how to vote. It is the dumb Sikhs of Wolverhampton who did the following:

General Election 2010 Wolverhampton Seat:

- Rob Marris (Labour), had served as chair of all parliamentary group of Sikhs, helped stop the visit of Tytler or another known Genocide culprit in the early 2000's, championed Sikh rights.

- He was up against "Paul Uppal", I believe he is a trustee of a local Gurdwara in Wolverhampton. No evidence to suggest that Paul Uppal would help out SIkhs anymore than Marris did.

- Dumbo sikhs of wolverhampton at the election, voted to kick Marris out and Uppal in. I urge wolverhampton Sikhs to come on this forum and tell us did Waheguru give you just 2 ****** brain cells or did you have one to many glassys and voted for the wrong person on the day. How the **** is Marris feeling. Helped Sikhs and got ditched by em.

Same thing happened In Southall with "Virendra Sharma" voted in against a Singh of the Khalsa who stood for Torys. Now I am a Labour man, cant stand the torys, but even I would elect to vote in a member of the great 10th prophet's brotherhood over a high caste brahmin.

Moral of the Story: Sikhs in UK have no right lecturing others.

P.S. I would urge Pat Mcfadden and John Mcdonnell to watch out in 2015, you might be out of a job because our lot cant see past their own nose when it comes to voting.

[N30S1NGH]

May be sikhs worldwide need crash course on 'How to use their vote and select right politicans' ...selecting right politician is more than promises of making road to gurdwara or making senior parks, or pretending to be listening to concerns of community or giving rhetoric speech on 1984 in the parliament etc etc etc.