(New York, New York) October 15, 2006 -   It is with great pleasure that the Sikh Coalition celebrates its Fifth Year Anniversary today.   Though we informally began our work on September 11, 2001, it was five years ago on October 15 that we incorporated the Sikh Coalition and formally began building an institution to ensure Sikhs can practice their faith.

After five years of hard work, only two words come to mind:   Thank you.    Thank you for your moral support.  Thank you for your financial support.   Thank you for helping us institutionalize our work. 

Let’s look back at the last five years.  Your trust and support have resulted in the following victories for the Panth:

A Look Back --- Five Years of Victories for the Panth

• 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.
• 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.
• 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. 
• The Sikh Coalition created an online hate crimes database that permanently houses over 400 complaints of discrimination.
• The Coalition hired the community’s first and only full-time Legal Director to fight Sikh community discrimination cases.
• 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.
• 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 400 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 30 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 .
• After the Sikh Coalition led a world-wide protest, the video game-maker, Eidos, pulled images of Sikhs being portrayed as terrorists from its Hitman 2 video game, the most popular video game in America in 2002.

Click on any of the images above and hear about the work of the Coalition from the people we have helped

The truth is that through the people we have helped and your financial support we have been granted a position of trust.     Your trust inspires us everyday to put forth the effort required to institutionalize this work. We regard your trust as sacred and a privilege. We will never lose site of it.

You may have noticed that in the last paragraph, we have the used the word trust three times. We come back to the word trust now because after five years of victories and hard work, we ask that you trust us to continue to grow this work by making a 5 year commitment to support our work.

We want to hire more people to fight for our rights.  We want to open offices in new cities. If the Sikh community is ever going to progress, we need institutions to defend our rights.   That’s why we ask that you make more than a one-time donation.  We have been here for the community for five years now, we respectfully request that you commit your Dasvandh to supporting us for five more years through a recurring yearly donation.

            It is our hope that together with you we can build a world where all people are free and enjoy the most basic human and civil rights.   We thank you again for your past support.    Your contributions help sustain our work and ensure we continue to achieve new milestones for the Sikh community.  We look forward to writing you again, god-willing, on our Ten Year Anniversary.

With Much Appreciation,

The Sikh Coalition