“In these sour times, please allow me to vouch for mine.” — Riz Ahmed said in his raw and intense performance of “Sour Times” as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“In light of all the current events that are going on, it just seems like we’re living in really, really divided times and it really hurts,” the rapper from Swet Shop Boys said. “It’s my attempt to get behind the headlines and work out where all this extremism is coming from.”
Last Monday, the rapper and actor performed the track he wrote ten years ago in response to the recent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. He hoped that this poem would eventually become irrelevant. Unfortunately, that was not the case: extremism continues to magnify in all forms.
“So see, it ain’t religious faith that’s causing these crimes/It’s losing faith in democratic free market designs/It’s no coincidence that bombers came from ghettos up north.”
In his work, Ahmed stresses the dangerous mindset of extremists. He underlines how their lack of faith in justice makes them “weak targets.” Consequently, they are brainwashed into thinking that committing terror attacks “pleases” God.
For this exceptional performance, Ahmed added to a part of the lyrics based on current events.
“The truth is, terrorism ain’t what you think it is/ There ain’t no supervillain planning these attacks from some base/ The truth is so much scarier and harder to face.”
Furthermore, Ahmed shines a glaring light on the facts that need to be discussed. He brings a voice to those hurt by the bitter wounds of racism and prejudice based on religion.
“See, there’s thousands of angry young men that are lost…They think there’s no point in putting ballots up in the box/ They got no place in the system and no faith in its cause… The way that Trump talks, gives a lost boy a cause.”
As a Muslim myself, I understand what it feels like to “lose my religion to the headlines.” Every time I see the words “Islamic Terrorism,” my heart hurts. It pains me to see people normalizing the association between Islam and violence.
I thank Ahmed for his honest and passionate approach to the matter with his powerful poem.
Amina Khan is a writer and painter living in Dallas, TX. You can see her work here.
Every year on August 5th, the Sikh American community remembers one of our community’s most devastating tragedies in recent memory — the Oak Creek massacre. On this day in 2012, a white supremacist gunman entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) in Oak Creek, Wisconsin where he shot and killed six worshippers and severely injured others. This violent attack was the deadliest mass shooting targeting Sikh Americans in U.S. history, and at the time, was one of the worst attacks on a U.S. house of worship in decades. Six worshippers — Paramjit Kaur Saini, Sita Singh, Ranjit Singh, Prakash Singh, Suveg Singh Khattra, and Satwant Singh Kaleka — were killed on that horrific day. An additional community member, Baba Punjab Singh, was severely paralyzed and ultimately passed away from complications related to his injuries in 2020. Others, including Bhai Santokh Singh and responding police officer and hero, Lt. Brian Murphy, were seriously wounded during the shooting.
In 2022, the community came together to demonstrate that we are undaunted. My organization, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) joined in supporting the anniversary observance at Oak Creek: a remembrance eventcentered around the theme of “Heal, Unite, Act.” The Oak Creek Sikh community hosted a series of in-person events, including the 10th Annual Oak Creek Sikh Memorial Anniversary Candlelight Remembrance Vigil on Friday, August 5, 2022. The program included a representative from the White House, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz, and representatives of the families who lost loved ones. Being there in Oak Creek 10 years after the tragedy was deeply meaningful — both to see the inspiring resilience of this community and to remember how much remains to be done.
In D.C., SALDEF continues to fight for policies that improve the lives of Sikh Americans. I had the honor of chairing the most recent iteration of the Faith-Based Security Advisory Council at the Department of Homeland Security, providing recommendations at the request of Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. Consequently, the three subcommittees published a report that emphasized the importance of greater accessibility, greater equity, and greater transparency in counterterrorism efforts that for too long revolved around surveilling populations like the one that was senselessly attacked at the Oak Creek gurdwara in 2012. Leading the FBSAC as a Sikh woman, and representing a community that was highly targeted alongside Muslims by both white supremacists and in post-9/11 counterterrorism profiling, was an opportunity to push the Council to advocate more fiercely for further information-sharing between communities and law enforcement, extending grant opportunities for security for Gurdwaras and other houses of worship, and building trust between the government and Sikh communities. In addition, I advocated for accountability for the damage needlessly caused to Muslim, Arab, South Asian, and Hindu (MASSAH) communities by federal agencies historically pursuing “counterterrorism” objectives which has resulted in eroded trust rather than the development of strong partnerships.
Although we have made great strides in this country, there is still more to do. Through our work we have partnered with many across the nation to come together and find solutions through tenets central to Sikhism and America — unity, love, and equality.SALDEF continues to strongly endorse the policy framework articulated across the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 350 / S. 963); Justice for Victims of Hate Crimes Act; and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) Improvement Act (H.R. 6825). We believe strongly in mandating federal agencies to create dedicated offices to investigate domestic terrorism; allowing prosecutors to feasibly indict perpetrators of hate crimes; and allowing religious nonprofits to access federal funding to enhance their own security.
While 11 years have passed, the effects of the Oak Creek shooting are never far from the minds of Sikh American advocates and the community we serve. SALDEF will not stop taking a stand against senseless violence and hate crimes. We continue to work in unity with our community and movement partners, and fight for better policies that will actively keep all of our communities safe. Through tragedy, we find hope. We know there can be a world where people from all backgrounds and cultures can practice their faith freely and, even though it has eluded the Sikh American community in the past, we still believe this world is possible.
Photo Courtesy of Amrita Kular
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Kiran Kaur Gill is an accomplished professional with exemplary executive experience. In her role as Executive Director, she is responsible … Read more ›
Amina Khan is a writer and painter living in Dallas, TX. You can see her work here.
