Diasporic community-building enterprises: Race, religious identity, and Sikh American grassroots political organizing before 9/11

This project explores the broader implications of three spatially and organizationally disparate instances of contemporary Sikh American political mobilization, each occurring, or climaxing, in 1998. The grass roots mobilizations range from the struggle to gain approval for building a new gurdwara (Sikh temple) in San Jose, California, to the congressional campaign of a young, turbaned Sikh American in a Chicago suburb, to the unionizing activities of Sikh taxi cab drivers in New York City who were being xenophobically assailed by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. These case studies illustrate the trajectory of contemporary Sikh American political activity, revealing a profound increase in the community's political involvement in the diasporic site in which they have settled. This is a marked change from the homeland political affiliations and activities which have characterized Sikh American political activity for most of the past century.;While Sikh American communities throughout the nation experienced a tremendous growth in political organizing and activity after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, my work reveals that the political maturation of Sikh Americans was well under way years earlier. I make clear that the roots of the dramatic expansion in the community's political activity after the terrorist attacks were clearly visible if one traced Sikh American political activity to the ground level, where the political work of non-citizens is often confined.;Each of the moments of Sikh American political engagement I examine are extraordinary not only because of their focus in the United States, but because of the political savvy and dexterity they demonstrate. Each case study is also notable for the multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multi-religious coalitions it engendered and utilized, transcending these still puissant boundaries in our nation's social and political life. These examples exhibit the adaptability, creativity, and integration an immigrant community working within the United States political system.;Throughout the narrative, I identify and interrogate how the twin streams of racial and religious bigotry have hampered both the integration of Sikh Americans into the polity, as well as their multi-faceted political engagement. The intersections of white and Christian supremacy continue to condition Sikh American social, economic, and political life. However, the Sikhs in the three communities I study offer poignant illustrations of the success immigrants can achieve when uniting to resist bigotry and prejudice through organized political action.