# Sikh Lives Matter



## Admin

After the deaths of two protesters in India, Sikhs around the world have been using online protest tactics to highlight what they say is injustice - and one supporter went off-topic on a BBC TV program to make his case.






When pages of the Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism's central text, were found ripped up, protests spread across the Indian state of Punjab. Police used water cannons, batons and live rounds to disperse the crowds, and at one protest last week police opened fire, leaving at least two dead and more than 50 injured, according to reports. One of those shot, 27-year-old Gurjit Singh, had reportedly gone to give food to the protesters, according to an interview with his father by the Indian Express newspaper. Online and in the streets, a movement quickly sprang up. Tweets showing his body, and photos of other injured protesters were shared widely along with the hashtag "Sikh Lives Matter" on Twitter.

"Sikh Lives Matter" has now been used more than 40,000 times, has spread to other social networks such as YouTube and Facebook, and was surging again on Monday.

In the UK the campaign got another shot of notoriety when Jagmeet Singh - representing a Sikh point of view and from the educational charity Basics of Sikhi - appeared on BBC One's Sunday Morning Live programme. After a studio debate about interfaith marriage, Singh went off-topic, stood up in front of the camera and interrupted presenter Sian Williams, saying: "Sikhs are being killed in Punjab and nobody is reporting it, please report it." Williams told him: "I will have to get you taken out unless you allow quiet and respect for guests here and our audience at home." Video of the episode soon found its way on to YouTube.





_Protest starts at 13m15s_

Jagmeet Singh: "_Sikhs are being killed in Punjab and nobody is reporting it, please report it_"

Online, protest messages are coming not only from India but from large Sikh communities abroad - especially the UK. One of the first people to re-ignite the hashtag's popularity was Bally Singh, based in Wolverhampton, who tweeted: "Police violence towards our peaceful Sikh protestors should not go unnoticed." Many others tweeting compare the clashes with anti-Sikh riots in 1984, during which nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed.

"Sikh Lives Matter", which borrows its language from US protest movements such as "Black Lives Matter" and "Muslim Lives Matter," actually began in the US too - where it originally was used  to highlight the bullying of Sikh children who are sometimes confused with Muslims. But it's been used in recent days to highlight the events in India and rail against Western media reporting, a big theme of the protests. A petition to the BBC on Change.org has received more than 70,000 signatures. It calls for more coverage of the story and for coverage of India's treatment of its Sikh citizens.

The BBC denied the protesters' allegation that there was a "blackout" around the story and moved to correct the assertion on the petition that there had been "no mention" of the story on BBC outlets. "The BBC is covering this story online and on radio and it has been discussed on the BBC Asian Network," the BBC press office said in a statement. The story has also been covered by the BBC's Hindi language service.

Protesters across India continue to demand justice for the alleged sacrilege against the Guru Granth Sahib. In some places, Muslims have reportedly taken to the streets alongside their Sikh neighbours to protest at India's treatment of minorities, with videos of Muslims marching being widely shared online.

"As a religious minority, Sikhs are frequently overlooked by the Indian media - which is then reflected internationally," says Sunny Hundal, a British journalist of Sikh heritage."The comparison to 1984 is a bit exaggerated, but shows how little Sikhs trust the Indian state and worry about a repeat."

Religious intolerance is a big issue in India at the moment - and as BBC Trending recently reported, the conversation has grown increasingly heated of late, with supporters of Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi squaring off against those who rail against "Modi's toadies".

_Blog by Jody Lan-Castle_


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## Parma

That's Freaky. The whole way the reporter tried to silence the commentators comments. I still cannot understand why people have to die over eugenics communities that can clearly live side by side without the need for death to be used as a measure of progress the whole beauty measure thing that the world is using to study it's progress actually shows me how really ugly the world really is and the need to show a greater understanding of the procedures and processes needed to enhance that measure doesn't make much sense. There is times when communities may interbreed and stuff to keep the cycle pumping of life but why do others suffer for the vanity of a mirror that no one else can see the beauty of; I will never truly understand. I think news reports are a beautiful show of how you really look in the face of natural God's grace and they talk about love and interfaith?


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## Parma

I guess when it comes down to the debate they were talking about. Myself my answer is this I'm a man of humanity not a sect. So about marriage out of a sect to me is plausible. I see humanity the same in all religions.


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## Ishna

There seems to me to be an undercurrent of hostility towards Jagmeet and Sikhi from the beginning from the host and all of the guests.

I wholeheartedly agree with Jagmeet on the issue.  To be welcome to have a civil ceremony in the Gurdwara and to receive a blessing from Guru Sahib in Darbar is a beautiful middle ground for a Sikh/non-Sikh couple.

The anand karaj is more about Guru Ji than it is about physical marriage between spouses anyway.  It makes no sense at all for a non-Sikh to participate.

Also, respect to him for having the courage to stand up like that to make a loud and visible statement about media coverage in Punjab.  The host handled that part very well, and it was disrespectful of Jagmeet to do it that way, but given the circumstances I think the action was justified and he did it well.


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## sukhsingh

Ishna said:


> There seems to me to be an undercurrent of hostility towards Jagmeet and Sikhi from the beginning from the host and all of the guests.
> 
> I wholeheartedly agree with Jagmeet on the issue.  To be welcome to have a civil ceremony in the Gurdwara and to receive a blessing from Guru Sahib in Darbar is a beautiful middle ground for a Sikh/non-Sikh couple.
> 
> The anand karaj is more about Guru Ji than it is about physical marriage between spouses anyway.  It makes no sense at all for a non-Sikh to participate.
> 
> Also, respect to him for having the courage to stand up like that to make a loud and visible statement about media coverage in Punjab.  The host handled that part very well, and it was disrespectful of Jagmeet to do it that way, but given the circumstances I think the action was justified and he did it well.


Might not make sense to you, doesn't need to make sense to you.


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## Sikhilove

Aman Singh said:


> After the deaths of two protesters in India, Sikhs around the world have been using online protest tactics to highlight what they say is injustice - and one supporter went off-topic on a BBC TV program to make his case.
> 
> View attachment 19708
> 
> When pages of the Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism's central text, were found ripped up, protests spread across the Indian state of Punjab. Police used water cannons, batons and live rounds to disperse the crowds, and at one protest last week police opened fire, leaving at least two dead and more than 50 injured, according to reports. One of those shot, 27-year-old Gurjit Singh, had reportedly gone to give food to the protesters, according to an interview with his father by the Indian Express newspaper. Online and in the streets, a movement quickly sprang up. Tweets showing his body, and photos of other injured protesters were shared widely along with the hashtag "Sikh Lives Matter" on Twitter.
> 
> "Sikh Lives Matter" has now been used more than 40,000 times, has spread to other social networks such as YouTube and Facebook, and was surging again on Monday.
> 
> In the UK the campaign got another shot of notoriety when Jagmeet Singh - representing a Sikh point of view and from the educational charity Basics of Sikhi - appeared on BBC One's Sunday Morning Live programme. After a studio debate about interfaith marriage, Singh went off-topic, stood up in front of the camera and interrupted presenter Sian Williams, saying: "Sikhs are being killed in Punjab and nobody is reporting it, please report it." Williams told him: "I will have to get you taken out unless you allow quiet and respect for guests here and our audience at home." Video of the episode soon found its way on to YouTube.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _Protest starts at 13m15s_
> 
> Jagmeet Singh: "_Sikhs are being killed in Punjab and nobody is reporting it, please report it_"
> 
> Online, protest messages are coming not only from India but from large Sikh communities abroad - especially the UK. One of the first people to re-ignite the hashtag's popularity was Bally Singh, based in Wolverhampton, who tweeted: "Police violence towards our peaceful Sikh protestors should not go unnoticed." Many others tweeting compare the clashes with anti-Sikh riots in 1984, during which nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed.
> 
> "Sikh Lives Matter", which borrows its language from US protest movements such as "Black Lives Matter" and "Muslim Lives Matter," actually began in the US too - where it originally was used  to highlight the bullying of Sikh children who are sometimes confused with Muslims. But it's been used in recent days to highlight the events in India and rail against Western media reporting, a big theme of the protests. A petition to the BBC on Change.org has received more than 70,000 signatures. It calls for more coverage of the story and for coverage of India's treatment of its Sikh citizens.
> 
> The BBC denied the protesters' allegation that there was a "blackout" around the story and moved to correct the assertion on the petition that there had been "no mention" of the story on BBC outlets. "The BBC is covering this story online and on radio and it has been discussed on the BBC Asian Network," the BBC press office said in a statement. The story has also been covered by the BBC's Hindi language service.
> 
> Protesters across India continue to demand justice for the alleged sacrilege against the Guru Granth Sahib. In some places, Muslims have reportedly taken to the streets alongside their Sikh neighbours to protest at India's treatment of minorities, with videos of Muslims marching being widely shared online.
> 
> "As a religious minority, Sikhs are frequently overlooked by the Indian media - which is then reflected internationally," says Sunny Hundal, a British journalist of Sikh heritage."The comparison to 1984 is a bit exaggerated, but shows how little Sikhs trust the Indian state and worry about a repeat."
> 
> Religious intolerance is a big issue in India at the moment - and as BBC Trending recently reported, the conversation has grown increasingly heated of late, with supporters of Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi squaring off against those who rail against "Modi's toadies".
> 
> _Blog by Jody Lan-Castle_



What he said about people not being allowed to have a wedding ceremony in the Gurdwarra is  incorrect and incredibly intolerant. That people were forcefully stopping weddings and acting like animals in the gurdwarra is ridiculous. 

What the jewish woman says about sikhi being born out of a hatred of intolerance is basically on the right path . The woman, Anita is correct and Jagmeet does come across as intolerant.

 I do agree with his comments regarding what happened in India and how Sikhs are being killed and it's not being reported.


Many sikhs really have gone cuckoo and disregard the Gurus teachings about religious tolerance, freedom etc. Instead many try to control, impose their views on others and walk around as if theyre on a pedestal above others, when the Gurus taught us to put our heads on the ground and leave them there.


External appearances, religious rituals don't mean anything and religious pride is maya. It was never meant to be a religion. the Gurus just taught us to walk on the path of Truth and to relalise who and what we truly are. Other masters had practiced the Truth before and belonged to no religion, just practiced the Truth.

No Hindu, No Muslim.


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