BILL NUMBER: ACR 37 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gray
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen,
Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonta, Brown, Calderon,
Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu,
Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Dahle, Daly, Dodd,
Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gatto, Gipson, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Grove, Hadley,
Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,
Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein,
Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian,
Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone,
Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
and Wood )
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
Relative to Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 37, as amended, Gray. Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation
Month.
This measure would designate November 2015 as California Sikh
American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would
recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions Californians
of Sikh heritage have made to the state. The measure would also seek
to afford all Californians the opportunity to understand, recognize,
and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh
Americans.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, California and our nation are at once blessed and
enriched by the unparalleled diversity of our residents; and
WHEREAS, The Sikhs, who originated in Punjab, India, first entered
California in 1899 legally through the Angel Island Immigration
Station in San Francisco, California; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh pioneers initially worked on railroad
construction projects, and in lumber mills; and
WHEREAS, By 1910, these pioneers turned to farming in the
Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Imperial valleys; and
WHEREAS, On October 14, 1912, the first Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in
the United States, the Sikh Temple Stockton, was founded by Professor
Teja Singh of the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society; and
WHEREAS, There are now more than 100 Gurdwaras in the United
States; and
WHEREAS, The Stockton Record, dated November 22, 1915, quoted the
Gurdwara's elected leadership declaring, "We do not permit our people
to become charges on public charity"; and
WHEREAS, Legislation to authorize Sikhs and other East Indian
immigrants to naturalize as United States citizens was not enacted
until 1946; and
WHEREAS, On January 1, 1912, Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh, who
immigrated to California through Angel Island in 1908 and served as
the founding Granthis of the Sikh Temple Stockton, recognized the
value of education, and started six Sri Guru Govind Singh Educational
Scholarships at the University of California, Berkeley; and
WHEREAS, These scholarships were awarded without regard to
ethnicity or religion and the first awardees included three Hindus,
one Christian, one Sikh, and one Muslim; and
WHEREAS, Board and lodging was provided at the students' home at
1731 Allston Way, Berkeley, where smoking and drinking were
prohibited; and
WHEREAS, On November 1, 1913, Ghadar, the first Punjabi-language
newspaper in the United States, was published by Kartar Singh
Sarabha, who was then 17 years of age, with financial support from
the Stockton Gurdwara; and
WHEREAS, On December 31, 1913, Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh
organized the Ghadri Conclave in Sacramento to form the Ghadar Party
to overthrow the British colonial rulers of the Indian subcontinent;
and
WHEREAS, The Ghadar Party sent 616 of its members to India, of
whom 86 percent were Sikhs; and
WHEREAS, Homage is paid to them annually at a dozen different
gatherings (Melas) from Sacramento, California, to Bakersfield,
California; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh history and culture is represented in the Asian
Art Museum in San Francisco, in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington,
D.C., in the Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, and the
Museum at the Sikh Temple Stockton; and
WHEREAS, Sikh farmers contribute abundantly towards production of
peaches (Didar Singh Bains), raisins (Charanjeet Singh Batth),
pistachios (Mangar family), and okra and other vegetables (Harbhajan
S. Samra); and
WHEREAS, Sikhs have also excelled in security services (Akal
Security) and transportation services, and as doctors, attorneys,
engineers, teachers, and other notable capacities, and as small
business owners; and
WHEREAS, Dalip Singh Saund, a Sikh who was born in Punjab, India,
and earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in
1924, initially worked as a foreman of cotton pickers in the Imperial
Valley, and later became a farmer, played a major role in raising
the funds needed to lobby for the Luce-Celler Act of 1946 that
enabled him and others to naturalize as citizens, and served as an
elected judge in the Westmoreland Judicial District from 1952 to
1956, before becoming the first Asian American elected to the United
States Congress, wherein he served three terms from 1957 to 1963; and
WHEREAS, Sikh Americans have served as mayors of many California
cities, including, for example David Dhillon in El Centro, Gurpal
Samra in Livingston, Amarpreet "Ruby" Dhaliwal in San Joaquin, Sonny
Dhaliwal in Lathrop, and Kashmir Singh Gill in Yuba City. Numerous
Sikh Americans have served as council members of California cities;
and
WHEREAS, Bhagat Singh Thind, a Sikh born in Punjab, India, who was
a United States veteran of World War I, who campaigned actively for
the independence of India from the British Rule, and who supported
Indian students and lectured on metaphysics throughout the United
States, has been honored by the Fred Korematsu Institute as a "Race
in the Courts Hero" for fighting his citizenship case in the United
States Supreme Court in 1923; and
WHEREAS, Sikhs have served in all American wars since World War I;
and
WHEREAS, Narinder Singh Kapany of Palo Alto, a Sikh born in
Punjab, India, is an accomplished scientist and inventor, who has
been awarded over 100 patents that spurred advances in lasers,
biomedical instrumentation, pollution monitoring, and solar energy,
and is widely acknowledged to be the father of fiber optics, a
technology that has allowed for high-speed digital communication; and
WHEREAS, Yuba City, often called "Mini-Punjab" because of its 10
percent Punjabi population, commemorates the inauguration of the holy
Sikh scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, on the first Sunday of
November, rain or shine, and this international event has in recent
years attracted up to 100,000 participants from all over the United
States, Canada, and even abroad; and
WHEREAS, Sikh Americans throughout California celebrate the
coronation of Sikh scripture and other Sikh festivals at the
Gurdwaras and through parades in cities across California and the
United States; and
WHEREAS, Various Sikh organizations, including the Sikh Council of
Central California, the Sikh Coalition, the Sikh American Legal
Defense and Education Fund, Sikhs United, Jakara, and individual
Gurdwaras participate in interfaith meetings, seminars, conferences,
meetings, and functions and share the tenets of their monotheistic
religion that respects other religions and welcome all to their
Gurdwaras, and try to promote mutual understanding and respect among
all peoples; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh American community continues to make significant
contributions to the California and United States economies and
societies through military service, as business owners,
transportation professionals, doctors, attorneys, engineers,
teachers, farmers, and in a great many other notable capacities; and
WHEREAS, Since September 11, 2001, the Sikhs are often mistaken
for terrorists of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaida owing to the commonality
of beard and the turban, and subjected to a disproportionately high
rate of hate crimes, and Sikh boys suffer bullying at twice the
national bullying rate for other boys; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh American community continues to peacefully
overcome attacks on its identity and practices, whether in the form
of school harassment, employment discrimination, or fatal shootings,
including the murders of six Sikhs during the Oak Creek Wisconsin
Sikh Gurdwara shooting on August 5, 2012, as well as the senseless
murders of Surinder Singh and Gurmej Atwal in Elk Grove, California,
on March 4, 2011; and
WHEREAS, The faithful service of the Sikh American community to
this state and country merits appreciation as an integral thread in
the fabric of American plurality; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month
of November 2015 to be California's Sikh American Awareness and
Appreciation Month; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes and acknowledges the
significant contributions made by Californians of Sikh heritage to
our state, and by adoption of this resolution, seeks to afford all
Californians the opportunity to better understand, recognize, and
appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans;
and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution to the
Members of the Legislature, to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction for the purpose of advising county and district
superintendents and charter school administrators, to members of the
California Sikh American community, and to other interested
organizations or persons.