| 1 | | - | Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 122 CHAPTER 171 Relative to California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. [ Filed with Secretary of State September 21, 2017. ] LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTACR 122, Kalra. California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. This measure would designate November as California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions that Californians of Sikh heritage have made to the state and would seek to afford all Californians the opportunity to understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans. The measure would also condemn all hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh Americans and encourage all Sikhs to practice their faith freely and fearlessly. Digest Key Fiscal Committee: NO Bill TextWHEREAS, California and our nation are at once blessed and enriched by the unparalleled diversity of our residents; andWHEREAS, Sikhs, who originated in Punjab, India, first entered California in 1899 through the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco, California; andWHEREAS, The Sikh pioneers initially worked on railroad construction projects, and in lumber mills; andWHEREAS, By 1910, these pioneers turned to farming in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Imperial Valleys; andWHEREAS, On October 14, 1912, the first Sikh house of worship (gurdwara) in the United States, the Sikh Temple Stockton, was founded by Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh. The following year the congregation formed the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society; andWHEREAS, There are now more than 200 gurdwaras in the United States of which there are 32 known gurdwaras in California including the Gurdwara Sahib of San Jose, the largest gurdwara in North America; andWHEREAS, The Stockton Record, dated November 22, 1915, quoted the gurdwaras elected leadership declaring, We do not permit our people to become charges on public charity. If a man is hungry and out of funds we feed him. Our dining room is open at all hours of the day and is closed only for a few hours during the night. The unfortunate hungry American will be as welcome as our own people; andWHEREAS, Legislation to authorize Sikhs and other East Indian immigrants to naturalize as United States citizens was not enacted until 1946; andWHEREAS, On January 1, 1912, Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh, who migrated 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 Guru Gobind Singh Educational Scholarships at the University of California, Berkeley; andWHEREAS, These scholarships were awarded without regard to ethnicity or religion and the first awardees included three Hindus, one Christian, one Sikh, and one Muslim; andWHEREAS, Board and lodging was provided at the students home at 1731 Allston Way, Berkeley, where smoking and drinking were prohibited; andWHEREAS, On November 1, 1913, The 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; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, The Ghadar Party sent 616 of its members to India, of whom 86 percent were Sikhs; andWHEREAS, Homage is paid to them annually at a dozen different gatherings called melas from Sacramento, California, to Bakersfield, California; andWHEREAS, 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 in the museum at the Sikh Temple Stockton; andWHEREAS, Sikh farmers contribute abundantly towards production of peaches, raisins, grapes, almonds, pistachios, okra, and other specialized crops of fruits, vegetables, and nuts; andWHEREAS, Sikhs have also excelled in security services and transportation services, as doctors, attorneys, engineers, teachers, and small business owners, and in other notable capacities; andWHEREAS, Dalip Singh Saund, a Sikh who was born in Punjab, India, 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; andWHEREAS, Sikh Americans have served and continue to serve as mayors and council members of many California cities; andWHEREAS, Sikhs have served in all American wars since WWI, including 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 British rule, who supported Indian students and lectured on metaphysics throughout the United States, and who has been honored by the Fred T. Korematsu Institute as a Race in the Courts Hero for fighting his citizenship case in the United States Supreme Court in 1923; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, Various Sikh organizations, including the Sikh Council of Central California, the Sikh Coalition, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, United Sikhs, and 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; andWHEREAS, The Sikh American community continues to peacefully overcome attacks on its identity and practices, whether in the form of school harassment, employment discrimination, or hate crimes, 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 Singh Atwal in Elk Grove, California, on March 4, 2011; andWHEREAS, Due to ignorance and hate, Sikhs have been the subject of hate crimes due to their articles of faith, including a turban and beard, which represent the Sikh religious commitment to justice, equality, and dignity for all.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 itResolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month of November 2017 to be Californias Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month; and be it furtherResolved, 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 Legislature condemns all hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh Americans and encourages all Sikhs to practice their faith freely and fearlessly; and be it furtherResolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution to the Members of the Legislature, members of the California Sikh American community, and other interested organizations or persons. |
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| 1 | + | Enrolled September 15, 2017 Passed IN Senate September 12, 2017 Passed IN Assembly September 05, 2017 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20172018 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 122Introduced by Assembly Member Kalra(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Chu, Cooper, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, and Quirk)(Principal coauthors: Senators Nielsen and Wieckowski)(Coauthors: Senators Beall and Pan)(Coauthors: Assembly Members Acosta, Aguiar-Curry, Travis Allen, Arambula, Baker, Berman, Bigelow, Bocanegra, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Caballero, Calderon, Cervantes, Chau, Chvez, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Cooley, Cunningham, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez Fletcher, Gray, Grayson, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limn, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, ODonnell, Patterson, Rendon, Reyes, Rodriguez, Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, and Weber)August 21, 2017 Relative to California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTACR 122, Kalra. California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. This measure would designate November as California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions that Californians of Sikh heritage have made to the state and would seek to afford all Californians the opportunity to understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans. The measure would also condemn all hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh Americans and encourage all Sikhs to practice their faith freely and fearlessly. Digest Key Fiscal Committee: NO Bill TextWHEREAS, California and our nation are at once blessed and enriched by the unparalleled diversity of our residents; andWHEREAS, Sikhs, who originated in Punjab, India, first entered California in 1899 through the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco, California; andWHEREAS, The Sikh pioneers initially worked on railroad construction projects, and in lumber mills; andWHEREAS, By 1910, these pioneers turned to farming in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Imperial Valleys; andWHEREAS, On October 14, 1912, the first Sikh house of worship (gurdwara) in the United States, the Sikh Temple Stockton, was founded by Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh. The following year the congregation formed the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society; andWHEREAS, There are now more than 200 gurdwaras in the United States of which there are 32 known gurdwaras in California including the Gurdwara Sahib of San Jose, the largest gurdwara in North America; andWHEREAS, The Stockton Record, dated November 22, 1915, quoted the gurdwaras elected leadership declaring, We do not permit our people to become charges on public charity. If a man is hungry and out of funds we feed him. Our dining room is open at all hours of the day and is closed only for a few hours during the night. The unfortunate hungry American will be as welcome as our own people; andWHEREAS, Legislation to authorize Sikhs and other East Indian immigrants to naturalize as United States citizens was not enacted until 1946; andWHEREAS, On January 1, 1912, Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh, who migrated 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 Guru Gobind Singh Educational Scholarships at the University of California, Berkeley; andWHEREAS, These scholarships were awarded without regard to ethnicity or religion and the first awardees included three Hindus, one Christian, one Sikh, and one Muslim; andWHEREAS, Board and lodging was provided at the students home at 1731 Allston Way, Berkeley, where smoking and drinking were prohibited; andWHEREAS, On November 1, 1913, The 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; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, The Ghadar Party sent 616 of its members to India, of whom 86 percent were Sikhs; andWHEREAS, Homage is paid to them annually at a dozen different gatherings called melas from Sacramento, California, to Bakersfield, California; andWHEREAS, 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 in the museum at the Sikh Temple Stockton; andWHEREAS, Sikh farmers contribute abundantly towards production of peaches, raisins, grapes, almonds, pistachios, okra, and other specialized crops of fruits, vegetables, and nuts; andWHEREAS, Sikhs have also excelled in security services and transportation services, as doctors, attorneys, engineers, teachers, and small business owners, and in other notable capacities; andWHEREAS, Dalip Singh Saund, a Sikh who was born in Punjab, India, 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; andWHEREAS, Sikh Americans have served and continue to serve as mayors and council members of many California cities; andWHEREAS, Sikhs have served in all American wars since WWI, including 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 British rule, who supported Indian students and lectured on metaphysics throughout the United States, and who has been honored by the Fred T. Korematsu Institute as a Race in the Courts Hero for fighting his citizenship case in the United States Supreme Court in 1923; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, Various Sikh organizations, including the Sikh Council of Central California, the Sikh Coalition, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, United Sikhs, and 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; andWHEREAS, The Sikh American community continues to peacefully overcome attacks on its identity and practices, whether in the form of school harassment, employment discrimination, or hate crimes, 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 Singh Atwal in Elk Grove, California, on March 4, 2011; andWHEREAS, Due to ignorance and hate, Sikhs have been the subject of hate crimes due to their articles of faith, including a turban and beard, which represent the Sikh religious commitment to justice, equality, and dignity for all.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 itResolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month of November 2017 to be Californias Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month; and be it furtherResolved, 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 Legislature condemns all hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh Americans and encourages all Sikhs to practice their faith freely and fearlessly; and be it furtherResolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution to the Members of the Legislature, members of the California Sikh American community, and other interested organizations or persons. |
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