American or Sikh?

| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( August 10, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘Beyond Wisconsin’ by MsFarzanaVersey- - Mumbai-based writer.

MsVersey quotes ‘“Nobody’s angry here. We’re just confused. Was this a random act? Was this directed at us because of the way we look?”The questions were raised by an onlooker at the site of the Sikh gurudwara at Oak Creek in Wisconsin where six people were killed by a white man on the morning of August 5; he was shot dead by the cops.’

The responses and reactions to the above question would vary. It did in my own case here in Australia at the University of New South Wales where I was arrested and sent to prison for Peaceful Assembly and listed as a mentally ill person. In the process – the Police listed me as Indian-Black and Sri Lankan. I described myself as Australian which I am including for all legal purposes. I was arrested four times. On the first three occasions I wore the sari and on the fourth one I wore Western suit. On the first three occasions I was taken by force to caged wagons and on the fourth occasion I was interviewed as part of the team and then I walked to the Police car. On that occasion I was listed as Australian – as per description of myself. Yes, the way we dress and the way we ‘look’ do make a difference to the surface reader – even if s/he were in the highest of positions. Only one Judge – Federal Magistrate Smith looked into the description of ‘Sri Lankan’ when I complained against the Police on the basis of Racial Discrimination.

If one were to have asked the guy who killed Sikhs – he is likely to have said ‘it was due to his hatred for Sikhs/Indians’. At the ‘early warning signs of racism’ one could, within a structured establishment, using anti-racism legislation. But not so with those who are not bound by institutional structures and their regulations.

MsVersey says about the killer ‘His motto to “stand proud and raise the white man’s flag” is confusing white supremacy with neo-Nazism. Both have different histories.’ Are the members of that Sikh Community that was attacked aware of these differences? Highly unlikely.The common person expresses as per the majority information registered in the surface mind.

The surface mind is part of the physical body – and is the register on which we record our memories of physical observations and outcomes. This would include ‘hearsay’. The mind that registers ‘white superiority’ more than ‘racial equality’ would tend to be driven by ‘white superiority’. The person may be upset due to other reasons but one who is not able to go into his own deeper mind and find ways of expressing her/his discoveries through a particular regulated path – would ‘show’ the reasons as per her/his majority memory – which is the parallel of me wearing sari and Sikhs wearing their cultural dress.

The judgment delivered by the Establishment to someone who ‘looks’ insignificant – often is as per majority information in surface memory. To the extent this memory is majority hearsay – it is unreliable judgment. Most of the legal judgments in my cases were of this nature. Taken at the individual level – this was ‘wrong’ for me. But as events unfolded, I realized that the institutions against which I complained needed to start thinking seriously about racial equality – and invest in common. Like a mother who knows intuitively the needs of her baby - those pure of racial discrimination know intuitively the Racial Equality needs of their institution. When we accept surface ‘losses’ we become deeper owners of those institutions and environments. That’s when we know our intuition - as if we are One. At the deepest level – when we are in our own Truth and nothing but the Truth – there is no problem without a solution. As we surface our experience for others to ‘see’ – so long as we surface only our Truth – there is a solution to every problem we surface even though often the two are separated by time.

In the above case, if the killer had been a resident of that area longer than the Sikhs and his race was in government, then at his level – he would naturally assume greater power to act, than Sikhs who also are committed to ‘showing’ their cultural faith even where they are a minority. To that extent they equal opportunity but now real equal power. All else being equal, a Sikh at that place would have less surface memory common to that place, than a White person who physically ‘shows’ his faith in white supremacy – the same way a Sikh ‘shows’ through his dress, his faith in his religion which to him is superior to all else available at that place. There is value in this. When we identify with each other through our looks – we invoke the power of majority at that place, at that time. Unless the results of our deeper discriminative mind, as registered in our memory – largely through the work of our independent selves, are greater than the memory of the ‘external’ information through our senses – this majority outcome is the right and just outcome for that place at that time. It is like majority vote. It may be wrong at national and global levels – where there are more minds with independently registered internal memories due to good administration – but so long as these communities have secluded themselves to enjoy ‘cultural sovereignty’ – they are not privy to the power of those outcomes.

When I was in Court – I stood alone except for family – unsupported by wider community - the Tamil Community that I am ‘seen’ to be a part of. Even today, some members of that community use the judgments against me – recently those who claimed for immigration purposes to be part of my family used those judgments, in their application to have me banned as a vexatious litigantIf this group had been attacked, by a person driven by his faith in white supremacy – to me there would not nothing unjust about it.

Racial Equality does not ‘happen’ to fall from above. If we were within our Truth alone – we would know our Oneness with others whatever their outer makeup. It’s how we ‘show’ ourselves that makes the difference. This difference when regulated through global principles – would also help us think we are One Human Family. But without regulation – they are often influenced by the seen and the heard.

The Sikh community, to the extent it failed to invest in racial/religious equality is as guilty as the white killer who had faith in white supremacy. Majority are driven by the surface memory even when they are capable of deeper discriminative thinking based on common principles. Common Values connect us naturally. The way the Sikh in America is naturally connected to the Sikh in India – the White man in a Sikh area in America would also be naturally connected to a White man in England with deep faith in white race.If the faith of the Sikh community was stronger than the faith of the white community in its ruling ability – then the latter would be defeated one way or the other. If we remain idle and expect the Government to ‘tell’ we have no one else to blame but ourselves. I added my energies / investments in racial equality to the community and this has helped me draw more naturally from this community. Eventually we get as per our own true investment. If we invest more in being a Sikh than in being an American – then we must expect the other side reaction from white extremists.