California declares November as Sikh-American awareness month

Amritsat,panjab: United Sikhs, an NGO working in the United States, has invited all Californian youths to participate in Sikh Youth Voices Promoting Diversity, a video contest, to share their story about Sikh culture and their experience standing up to bullying with November 2012 being declared as ‘Sikh-American awareness and appreciation month’ by Californian legislature.

United Sikh director Jatinder Singh told TOI on Saturday that they had asked Sikhs to create a 3-8 minute video which talks about Sikh culture, the experience of being a Sikh, ways to make social environment more welcoming and increasing awareness against bullying of Sikh youths with real solutions. “The videos can include a monologue, short skits, re-enactments, a rap song, a slide-show, artistic drawings expressing their experience or any other innovative ways they think to solve the problem,” he said.

He added that state superintendent of public instruction, Tom Torlakson, had sent a letter to notify all county and district superintendents and charter school administrators that the Californian legislature had declared November 2012 to be California Sikh-American awareness and appreciation month.

He had also encouraged local educational agencies to observe the month by conducting commemorative exercises to promote awareness of the contributions of Sikh Americans to California’s history. “Our team encourages Sikh youths to take this opportunity to share their experiences and educate the community about Sikh culture,” he said.

Source:TTN