‘Here in solidarity’: Residents offer support to Orangevale Sikh temple after racist vandalism

Two weeks after a local Sikh spiritual center in Orangevale was defaced with racist graffiti, members welcomed residents, local officials and interfaith leaders to an open house and lunch Saturday morning to reject the hate-fueled message.

The Guru Maneyo Granth Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Center moved to the Walnut Avenue location from Granite Bay earlier this month. Just a day after three-day prayer celebration for the new temple, members of the local Sikh spiritual center found the concrete sign in front spray painted with swastikas and the words “white power.”

“To see something like this right after the grand opening was indeed a little puzzling and at the same time disturbing,” Jashan Singh told the crowd seated together. “To see everyone come here in solidarity, shoulder to shoulder, is very uplifting. It’s very encouraging. We are one.”

Donning scarves, kippahs and taqiyahs, community members filled the Sikh temple to listen to the singing of hymns from the holy Sikh scriptures, and learn more about the fifth largest organized religion in the world over Chana Sabji and Daal. In California, there are about 300,000 Sikhs, according to the local temple, and about 40,000 in the Sacramento Valley alone.

In recent years, as hate crime attacks against marginalized groups have increased, members of different faith groups have repeatedly come together to support each other, said Willie Recht, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region. “It’s awful. It’s scary. We don’t know what to do when it happens,” he said.

When the federation was invited to the open house, the leadership team discussed whether they would attend because Saturday is Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.

“But we thought, ‘How could we not?’ It’s in the faith of what we do and the core of who we are” Recht said. “Your community was here with us when we gathered mourning the 11 lives that were murdered at the Tree of Life synagogue.”

Open houses like the one on Saturday offer a “wonderful” opportunity for residents to learn about Sikhi and its values of equality and justice for all, said Rajneet Kaur Sekhon, a member of the local Gurdwara — which means, “door to the guru,” or gateway to the guru’s teachings.

“It can be challenging that something bad happened, but you can feel like something good actually, like this, it brought people together to learn about a different way of life a different system,” Sekhon said.

Miguel Zavala, an Orangevale resident, said he isn’t religious but felt that it was important show support for the members of the new Sikh spiritual center in the community.

“Hating a group just for being different is unacceptable. We should be promoting love and acceptance,” said Audrey Ashdown, Zavala’s girlfriend, as they finished up langar, the customary vegetarian communal meal offered for free at Gurdwaras. “Everybody here has shown nothing but love.”

Hearing about the vandalism incident “made me sick,” said Della Johnson, a practicing Christian who lives in Granite Bay and attended the open house. She said she hopes residents of all faiths take the opportunity to attend future open houses at the local Gurdwara and learn more about Sikhi.

“The more you know the more you’re going to understand this is a very loving, compassionate group of people focused on serving the community and it’s amazing,” Johnson said, who came with her daughter Tia.

Anti-Sikh violence in the United states spiked 200 percent, according to the latest Federal Bureau of Investigations report on hate crimes. Last year, a Sikh man named Parmjit Singh was killed in a park in Tracy, and in Manteca the year before, Sahib Singh was killed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime, reported India West, an Indian news outlet based in California.

“We are continuing to work with the FBI (and) local law enforcement officials to try and figure out who did this,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California McGregor Scott told the crowd Saturday. “If appropriate, I can assure you we will bring criminal charges for the defamation that took place here at this place of worship.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 4:23 PM.