Key Facts and Achievements

Key Facts

• With a full-time staff of eight, and offices in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area, we are the most-staffed Sikh organization in the history of the United States

• We have three program areas: 1) Legal; 2) Advocacy (which includes Community Organizing); and Education

• Our headquarters are located in New York City

• We were founded in 2001 in response to bias and prejudice against Sikhs in the aftermatch of 9/11

• Over 600 print articles have been written on the Sikh Coalition’s work and Sikh discrimination issues since 2001.  The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Reuters, and Associated Press have written about Sikh concerns.

• Over 50 television and radio news pieces on the Sikh Coalition’s work and the Sikh discrimination issues have appeared on BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, UPN .

Notable Achievements

Legal Program

• Amric Singh and the Sikh Coalition filed and won a lawsuit against the NYPD for not allowing him to wear his turban on the job. 

 

• Rajinder Singh Khalsa filed the first civil suit by a Sikh hate crime victim asking for monetary compensation from his attackers. 

• 18 Sikhs were spared the humiliation of criminal convictions for carrying their kirpans with the help of the Sikh Coalition.

• With the Sikh Coalition's assistance, Sukhvir Kaur successfully filed a Charge of Discrimination with the EEOC

Advocacy Program

• The U.S. Congress institutionalized the term “Sikh-American” when it unanimously passed a resolution initially drafted by the Sikh Coalition that specifically condemned hate crimes against Sikh-Americans on October 17, 2001.

• The U.S. Department of Transportation enacted regulations, co-drafted by the Sikh Coalition, that govern the searches of Sikh airline passengers.

• The Sikh Coalition drafted and is leading a coalition of over 50 organizations that support the enactment of New York City's first Dastaar Legislation

• The Sikh Coalition created an online hate crimes database that permanently houses over 400 complaints of discrimination.

 

Education Program

• Over 6,800 people visited the “Sikh Community, Over 100 Years in the Pacific Northwest" exhibit co-organized by the Sikh Coalition at the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle, Washington.

 

• The Sikh Coalition's Diversity 2nd Annual Diversity Essay Competition attacted 1600 essays from around the world.

 

• The Coalition has distributed over 20,000 of its “The Sikhs” brochures.  The popular brochure has been translated into English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  Translations in German, French, and Chinese are pending.

 

• Over 5,500 agency officials, police officers, teachers, human resources professionals, and college students have received training from the Sikh Coalition on Sikhs and Sikh practices.  The Coalition has conducted trainings for the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, New York City Police Department, International Monetary Fund, and United Airlines.

Download an introductory pamphlet about theSikh Coalition's work.