During a recent community gathering, held at Sikh Study Circle Gurdwara, many State representatives participated in it and spoke to the local Sikh Sangat. The State representatives acknowledged the Sikh Community’s hard work and contributions to the local community. Sikh Study Circle Gurdwara is a member of American Sikh Council and has actively participated in taking initiatives aimed at helping the Sikh community.
With the initiative of American Sikh Council and Sikh Study Circle Gurdwara, the local Sikh community took this opportunity to make the State representatives aware of the issues being faced by local Sikh community and also gave a memorandum to Attorney General Sam Olens and Commissioner Larry Johnson expressing their deep concerns about the problem of school bullying, employment discrimination, hate/bias crimes, and religious profiling. The attorney general was also presented a book “Bullying of Sikh American Children – Through the Eyes of a Sikh American High School Student” written by Karanveer Singh.
During his speech to Sikh Community gathering, Attorney general Olen said “Sikh practices are aligned with our constitution on freedom of speech, protecting human and civil rights of individual and right to bear arms”.
This was the first time in GA an attorney General ever visited a Gurdwara. Attorney General assured Sikh community to provide resources and assistance to deal with current issues. General Olens agreed to work with local Sikh community and Sikh organizations on the accommodation of 5Ks.
DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson said he will work on Sikh request on declaring a Sikh heritage month in GA to celebrate the diversity and raise cultural awareness. State guest speakers included:
- Sam Olens, Attorney General for the State of GA
- Larry Johnson, Commissioner DeKalb County, GA
- Judge Angela Brown, DeKalb County, GA
- Gregory Adams, pastor and police officer from Clarkston, GA
