January 14, 2025 (Washington, DC) — Today, the Sikh Coalition is proud to share the fourth edition of Combating Bias, Bigotry, and Backlash: Sikh American Civil Rights Policy Priorities, our flagship federal policy guide.
As we move to engage the 119th Congress and the incoming second Trump Administration, the Sikh Coalition seeks to ensure that the civil rights priorities for our community remain at the forefront of the national conversation. Sikh American Policy Priorities articulates the core areas of the Sikh Coalition’s federal policy work, including hate crimes, transnational repression, employment discrimination, safe and inclusive schools, policing and profiling reform, immigration issues, and more. Each section describes why the Sikh Coalition works in a given area and how our policy goals serve our and other communities sarbat da bhala; then, the document presents specific recommendations for each issue area in the form of previously proposed bills to reintroduce and pass, new priorities for Congress, and potential actions for the White House and/or executive branch agencies like the Department of Justice, Department of Education, and others.
Sikh American Policy Priorities was first unveiled in 2020 as part of the Sikh Coalition’s efforts to ensure that the nationwide sangat’s perspective was well-represented during election years. Since then, it has served as an essential blueprint for our congressional and executive branch engagement on the core civil rights areas in which our organization has more than two decades of experience and expertise. To learn more about Sikh American Policy Priorities and our upcoming federal policy work in 2025, join Sikh Coalition Executive Director Harman Singh and Sikh Coalition Federal Policy Manager Mannirmal Kaur on an Instagram Live tomorrow, Wednesday January 15, at 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT. You can follow the conversation via Instagram handles @sikhcoalition and @sikhcoalition_ed.
The Sikh Coalition’s additional federal work to engage this new administration and Congress includes our December policy priorities letter to Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, nominee to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, as well as our work alongside national coalition partners to prepare questions for the record for several cabinet nominees; you can expect to hear more about both of those efforts in the weeks ahead. Of note, last week, we also attended the launch of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders’s final report to President Biden; several of our policy recommendations were included in the document.
Along with all of this federal-level work, the Sikh Coalition continues to take advantage of opportunities for progress at the state level. This year, our team has already engaged to support legislation related to hate crimes in Washington, California, and Illinois; alongside coalition partners, we are also pursuing an inclusive education bill in New York, an immigration bill in New Jersey, and transnational repression bills in different states across the nation. In the months ahead, we look forward to sharing ways that sangat members can take action in support of these and other initiatives across the nation.
As always, the Sikh Coalition urges you to practice your faith fearlessly.