WASHINGTON, Sept 28:
The Biden campaign has launched an initiative to reach out to the Sikh community in the US and vowed to address the unique challenges, including xenophobia, being faced by the minority religious group in the country.
The Biden campaign, which launched the ‘Sikh Americans for Biden’, said it has plans for protecting Sikh-American youths in schools.
Sikh-Americans experience bullying at rates twice the national average and have reported a spike in these encounters since 2017, the campaign said in a press release on Sunday.
“The Biden campaign plans to highlight the specific plans and policies that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has outlined in his platform to address the unique challenges that the Sikh American community faces with regards to racism, xenophobia and discrimination,” it said.
Kiran Kaur Gill, a prominent civil rights activist and member of the Sikh American National Leadership Council, alleged that President Donald Trump has not only turned a blind eye to bullying and discrimination, but has also encouraged it.
The Sikh American National Leadership Council is an advisory council to the Sikh Americans for Biden.
With Biden as the US president, Sikh-Americans can feel safer in schools and on the streets, Gill said in a statement.
“(Former) vice president Biden has a track record of taking stances against hate, discrimination and bullying, and his leadership on these issues matter to our community,” she said.
The Biden campaign has said that if voted to power, the Biden administration would allocate additional federal funding for anti-bullying initiatives.
According to civil rights activist Valarie Kaur, “This election is unlike any other. Everything our Sikh ancestors fought for — a world of dignity, equality, and justice — is at stake.”
“A Biden presidency would give us a chance — to save our democracy, heal the earth, and begin to birth a world where we ‘see no stranger’. That’s why I am proud to join Sikhs for Biden — and do everything in power to get out the vote. Our lives depend on it,” she said in a statement issued by the South Asians for Biden on Sunday. (PTI)
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