Empowering Sikh Americans: A Conversation on Civic Engagement with Jaslin Kaur

We're thrilled to welcome Jaslin Kaur to the SALDEF team as our new Senior Manager of Community Outreach and Civic Engagement! In this exciting role, Jaslin will be working to empower and engage Sikh Americans across the country.?

As part of our ongoing commitment to fostering civic engagement, we sat down with Jaslin to discuss her vision for mobilizing the Sikh American community and inspiring Sikh youth to actively participate in our society.

We're confident that Jaslin's passion and expertise will be instrumental in strengthening our community's voice and impact. Let's extend a warm welcome to Jaslin and join us for this insightful conversation about civic engagement within the Sikh American community!

How do your past experiences with running for New York City Council and leading community organizing efforts influence the goals you have for the community outreach and civic engagement team here at SALDEF?

The Punjabi community I ran to represent in the City Council has grown so quickly, and I wanted to communicate how important it would be to not only potentially elect the first Sikh to the New York City Council, but to become a constituency that can decide an election. We developed a dedicated Punjabi squad that helped run ads in Punjabi, translate campaign literature in Punjabi, and spoke to voters on the phones and at the doors in Punjabi.

To my knowledge, that level of outreach and coordination had never been done in NYC, and I’m proud that we prioritized building our sangat’s power. While I did not win my election, I continued to engage our community in a fight for taxi workers which made me think about long term engagement strategies.

Reflecting on that helps me be more creative and innovative at SALDEF, especially in a major presidential election year. I want to lead our Community and Civic Engagement team with the intention and responsibility of not only driving Sikh Americans to the polls, but understand the value and power of voting and staying engaged locally long after election day. Every election is a mobilization opportunity, and everything in between is an opportunity to build power.

What are some ways you would like to build a stronger national sangat through SALDEF’s programs and initiatives? How do you see our organization playing a role in creating an amplified community voice?

Our sangat is strong when we have solid bonds to each other and consistent engagement. If you ask someone to vote and the response is “menu ki?” or “sanu ki?” that signals a systemic disengagement in politics because we may be more concerned about what happens in our individual households rather than how our sangat grows together.

My plan this year is to marry voter education with voter mobilization towards a goal of consistent civic engagement. We have a duty to educate ourselves and each other about the civic process, so that the votes we cast, the community board meetings we attend, and the discussions we have with each other result in some meaningful wins for us. While the gurdwara is a great starting point to having these conversations, I want to mobilize our sangat even further towards being the deciding factors in local elections and in community projects. With new pilots this year and some creative ideas for our SikhVOTE 2024 plans that I am working on, the SALDEF team will be helping the Sikh American community make even more noise locally and nationally.

What advice would you offer to Sikh Youth who plan to run for office or want to become civic engagement/community organizing leaders in their localities?

Public service is about learning and growing all the time. I knew so much about what my hometown and what my city needed just by virtue of growing up here and organizing with my peers. But I learned so much more by leaning on my family networks, friends, and professionals who advised me on the tactics that would make the campaign a serious operation. You will also learn quickly how interconnected your local Sikh community is, since everyone knows someone somehow – that’s just power mapping.

My background in organizing also helped me sharpen my skills in outreach, communication, and advocacy, and I learned so much from peers and mentors who taught me a lot about the movements I cared about. So if you want to run for office or be a leader, you must be rooted in the collective and know what matters to you. I think we need more leaders who are clear about their own values and know how to organize others.

Where would you like to see collective action within the Sikh American community be in 5 years? What would that look like?

I want the Sikh American community to be a force to be reckoned with everywhere, up and down the ballots and all across community involvement. I want us to plant our roots so firmly in our community that we know exactly what our community deserves, how to achieve those wins, and dream even bigger for what’s next – I want to erase the limits on what we think is possible.

I want to build more cross-cultural and cross-faith initiatives, too. Collaboration and solidarity across communities is beautiful, and I think we have a lot to learn and a lot to gain when we envision collective action with clear eyes, open hearts, and strong relationships. Our gurdwara networks are so tight and meaningful and I hope that translates to thriving neighborhoods where we vote often, occupy local seats, and build strong foundations for future generations.

Why is it so important to make sure the Sikh American voice is heard? How does this tie into the 2024 election cycle, and what would you say to people who feel hopeless or apathetic towards politics now?

While every presidential cycle is monumental, Sikh Americans have truly emerged as a politically active powerhouse. We mobilized in record numbers for the Farmer’s Protest and governments are taking notice of transnational repression against our community.

Many of our families straddle two homes, and if we are going to bring justice to the international issues that plague us abroad, we must be a powerful voting bloc in the United States as well. That means channeling the energy into local fights at home, where basic rights to healthcare, housing, and jobs are on the ballot, too.

These are the most mundane aspects of our lives here, civil rights that everyone deserves. And if we operate under the principle of sarbat da bhala, for the good of all people, then protecting our civil rights in the United States is a Sikh cause, too.