Seeking Recognition: Patriotism, Power and Politics in Sikh American Discourse in the Immediate Aftermath of 9/11

Abstract

After the events of 9/11, Sikh Americans were victims of specific hate crimes and more generalized discrimination and distrust. This essay draws on participant observation and interviews conducted in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 with the Sikh community of the greater Washington, DC, area to examine the range of their responses to the pressures confronted by the community. It examines both the creativity and the anxiety surrounding the intersubjective efforts of Sikh communities to redefine together diasporic Sikh identity in the eyes of a hostile non-Sikh public; this was achieved through the actions undertaken by a joint committee of the leadership of gurdwaras and advocacy groups. Vigils, charity work ( sewa ), public meetings, and advertisements in support of the 9/11 victims and their families were significant not only insofar as they professed American patriotism but also because the backstage planning for them made clear the depth of diversity and difference within the Sikh-American communities of the region. Joint action was achieved even as, in certain pockets of the Sikh-American community of Washington, DC, Khalistani American activists conflated their patriotism for America with their patriotism for Khalistan by creating a discourse in which their two "homelands" were seen as simultaneously under attack by outside terrorists (Al Qaeda and the Indian state, respectively).