Before You Hate Us…

Before you hate on us, try to understand us. Before you go shouting to protect ‘alleged’ abusers, try to listen to their victims. If a female Kirtani has an extra marital affair with her tabla player, is it illegal? No. Can they be arrested and tried for it? No. But is it wrong from a Sikhi standpoint? Yes. Should they be taken off stages? Yes. Otherwise we, as a Sikh community, are effectively saying that we condone that kind of behavior and that it’s okay to do. Can we forgive? Yes, of course we can. But forgiveness also comes at a price. Saying sorry isn’t enough when certain allegations are so serious. People need to see actions were taken against that individual. That is why we request people who go on stages, who have committed these crimes (in the eyes of Sikhi) to get off stages – it helps protect not only the Sangat from the person who committed the offenses but also the individuals themselves to encourage them to work on their own personal issues. When they do not respond and accept the requests, then we resort to protests and using any other means to force them off. They need to be off our stages. If you put a pedophile, as an example, in a room full of children with no supervision, you increase the likelihood that they are going to offend and abuse one of those children. We want to decrease those chances and help protect people.

Again, think of the victim or ‘alleged’ victim. Think from their standpoint. Is it easy for young males, for example, to stand up and say “we have been sexually abused”? They even reveal their identity to the public in hopes that it makes people open their eyes and makes their account of what happened more plausible. They risk everything including being ridiculed by society for being abused, they risk future relationships and chances of “rishtas” and marriage, they risk themselves and their families being beaten up or worse by their attackers.

So whether you love us or hate us, that is the truth of why pages like Real Sikh Issues and Real Sikh Talk exist. If we are judged by Maharaj when our time comes to have done this with wrong intent, we will be punished accordingly and accept His Hukam.

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