White Supremacy in the Golden State: Sikh Targets, Responses, and Solidarities

Event Date/Time
March 9, 2021, 2:00pm
Event Location
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hSzJtUXNTwyh_GbVdV4rwA
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White Supremacy in the Golden State: Sikh Targets, Responses, and Solidarities
Naindeep Singh Chann 
Executive Director of the Jakara Movement
with
Christine Hong, CRES Director
Associate Professor, LIT/CRES 
Talib Jabbar
Graduate Student, LIT/CRES Designated Emphasis 
 
Tuesday, March 9th
2:00 - 3:15
 
On August 25, 2019, Paramjit Singh was murdered while going for his evening stroll in an affluent area of Tracy, CA. 
The case against the alleged perpetrator, who had affiliations with white supremacist groups, was quickly dropped 
by the judge and the Singh family has been left shocked. 
 
While specific political economic contingencies increase formations of white supremacist groups, their presence, power, 
and assertions of paramountcy in California has dated back to its admittance in the Union in 1850. Anti-Asian violence then 
and now has a particular trajectory in California, and in this discussion we look at how power is asserted locally and which 
white supremacist groups are most active in various regions of California. Using Sikh-Americans as a specific example, we 
examine how communities respond, react, and seek to build their own power and solidarities.
 
 
Based in California's Central Valley, Jakara is the nation's largest Punjabi Sikh youth organizing and base-building organization, 
dedicated to educational justice, immigrant rights, resident empowerment and civic engagement. Naindeep also currently serves 
as a School Board Trustee member for Central Unified in Fresno County.