From a column by Eboo Patiel, and reprinted here from Soujourners, with permission.
Imagine the terror.
You are in a temple, a
safe, sacred place, preparing for a morning service. In the kitchen, you are
busy cooking food for lunch, while others read scriptures and recite prayers.
Friends begin to gather for the soon-to-start service.
At the front door, you
smile at the next man who enters. He does not smile back. Instead, he greets
you with a hateful stare and bullets from his gun.
Such was the scene Sunday
at a Sikh gurudwara in Oak Creek, Wis., just south of Milwaukee, where a
gunman, Wade Michael Page, killed six and critically injured three others
before being shot down by law enforcement agents.
As Page began his shooting
spree, terrified worshippers sought shelter in bathrooms and prayer rooms.
Rumors of a hostage situation surfaced, and those trapped inside asked loved
ones outside not to text or call their cell phones, for fear that the phone
ring might give away their hiding place.
The first police officer to
arrive on the scene stopped to tend to a victim outside the gurudwara. He
looked up to find the shooter pointing his gun directly at him, and then took
several bullets to his upper body. He waved the next set of officers into the
temple, encouraging them to help others even as he bled.
That magnanimity is a
common theme among the stories of victims and survivors of the Wisconsin
shootings. Amidst terror and confusion, Sikhs offered food and water to the
growing crowd of police and news reporters outside the gurudwara as part of langar
— the Sikh practice of feeding all visitors to the house of worship.
We now know that Page was
part of a neo-Nazi movement. But let us not take these moments to look into the
heart of hate. May we instead shed light on a religious tradition of peace and
generosity, the kind of generosity that inspired distraught worshippers to feed
others just minutes after they had been brutally attacked.
The Sikh community has been
one of welcome and hospitality since its founding in India 500 years ago. With
their belief in a supreme Creator and a deep respect for all human beings,
Sikhs place strong emphasis on equality, religious freedom, human rights, and
justice.
Sikhs from India began
immigrating to the United States in the late 19th century, and currently the
Sikh popuation numbers about 314,000 in America and 30 million worldwide.
Today, Sikhs are successful business people, active community members, and
advocates for social justice.
Their love for all humanity
inspires the hospitality we witnessed so vividly outside that Oak Creek
gurudwara, though it has not protected them from being the targets of numerous
post-9/11 hate crimes.
In living out that
hospitality, Sikhs remind us of our own quintessentially American generosity. A
core American idea is that we welcome contributions from all different groups
and build cooperation between people of diverse backgrounds.
While today we hear news
stories of division and hate, American history tells a different story.
The shooting in Oak Creek
reminds us that the forces of prejudice are loud. They sling bigoted slurs and
occasionally bring 9mm guns to places of worship. But we are not a country of
Wade Michael Pages.
We are a country whose
first president, George Washington, told a Jewish community leader that “The
Government of the United States…gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no
assistance.”
We are a country where Jane
Addams welcomed Jewish and Catholic immigrants streaming in from Eastern Europe
in the 19th century as citizens, not as strangers.
We are a country where a
young black preacher, Martin Luther King, Jr., learned nonviolence not only
from Jesus Christ, but also from an Indian Hindu named Gandhi and from a
Buddhist monk named Thich Nhat Hanh.
And we must be a country
where a new generation of leaders rises up to write the next chapter in the
glorious story of American pluralism, or else we will forfeit the territory to
those who would shoot at our neighbors while they worship.
Already we see the forces
of pluralism in action. Donation sites
for families of the victims have sprung up, and supporters have updated their
Facebook profiles with pictures saying “I Pledge
Humanity.”
Groups in Madison,
Minneapolis,
and Detroit
have held vigils in solidarity with those affected by the shooting, and
survivors of the recent shooting in Aurora, Colo., have reached out
to Sikh victims via social media.
There have been periods in American history when the staunch opponents of
pluralism have won the battle. But they didn’t win the war, because
irrepressible people of good faith refused to surrender their nation to such
fear and hatred.
Let us remember that we
cannot cede this moment in our history to the forces of intolerance. And may we
draw inspiration from our Sikh neighbors as we build a world where people of
all backgrounds are honored for their unique contributions to America.
