In the wake of an April mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility that took the lives of four members of the Sikh community, administrators at Clark-Pleasant schools want to make sure their Sikh students feel welcome.
So, they expanded on the district’s “Courageous Conversations” Zoom series started in February to discuss racial inequity surrounding Black Americans. The latest installment touched on recognizing the culture and tenets of Sikhism, and providing a more welcoming environment to the more than 100 Sikh students at Clark-Pleasant schools.
Gaganpal Dhaliwal, a member of the Sikh community, and Heath Harrison, an English teacher and English co-department chair at Whiteland Community High School, both covered the beliefs, customs and origins of the religion. Harrison completed his dissertation at Indiana University by interviewing Sikh students and their parents about their experiences at Clark-Pleasant schools, he said.
Though Sikh students may not be actively bullied, they may feel left out in the school environment, Harrison said.
“I found, more than anything else, that students and parents just want people to be informed about what it means to be Punjabi Sikh, what is their culture,” he said. “Punjabi Sikh students are some of my favorite people to teach. They do their work, they’re kind, they’re respectful. They just want to be recognized as who they are and we value who they are.
They are very much part of our community. It’s a community we value and love.”
Sikhism was born out of the Punjabi region in India, in the year 1469.
Surviving persecution, members of the Sikh community immigrated throughout the world. While the Punjabi region still has about 28 million people, members have immigrated in large numbers to the United States, Canada and England, Dhaliwal said.
Members of the Sikh community often have kesh, or uncut hair inside their turbans; kangha, a wooden comb for the hair; kara, an iron bracelet; kachera, a cotton tieable undergarment; and kirpan, an iron dagger that is worn across the chest as an article of faith and self-defense, he said.
The key to building understanding is to take conversations about Sikh culture to the classroom, such as having Sikh students discuss their holidays and traditions, Dhaliwal said.
“Awareness is key,” he said. “We as a team of people with good in their hearts and intentions should try and organize things where we can take it to the classroom. If I were in middle school or high school, I’d rather be on Snapchat than attend this. We may have to think about how we can organize a quick 15-minute catchup in classrooms. Make things sound cool, like ‘they are people like us.’”
