"Putting my turban on is the most American thing I can do," says Angad Singh, a young journalist and story teller from the United States.
Singh tells SBS Punjabi that he was drawn toward storytelling from a young age. After facing discrimination and racial prejudice due to his turban in the years following 9/11, he decided to confront ignorance head on by educating people.
One of the ways he tries to spread awareness about Sikhism in Western society is by taking to the streets in his hometown of New York and tying his turban in the centre of Times Square, for all to see.
His hope is that hundreds of people will watch, ask questions and help expel ignorance that may have been clouding their judgement.
Singh also uses social media as a tool to reach wider audience to spread his message of unity, peace and brotherhood.
"Putting my turban on is the most American thing I can do"
Recently Angad, seen above, in which he can be seen tying his turban in one of America's busiest locations - the centre of Times Square, speaking out against hate crime that has crippled the country of the US in the past few years.
"Every day I know when I out this turban on my head, I know I am putting myself in hate's way," Singh says in the video.
"But I'm not scared to do so because for me, putting my turban on is the most American thing I can do."
He explains that culturally educating others is vital because, "the only way we can tackle hate is by actively challenging the ignorance that surrounds us."
The video, titled 'Unraveling ignorance' quickly gathered more than half a million views on his Facebook page alone and was widely shared across the social network making it a worldwide viral video.
He spoke to SBS Punjabi about this video and why he felt the need to speak out.
Listen to the Angad Singh's full interview (in Punjabi) with SBS Punjabi below:
Angad told SBS Punjabi that he made this video because "hate is inspired by fear and ignorance."
Singh said he felt that it was his "responsibility as an American to raise his voice when racism showed its face in such a brutal fashion in his city."
"I think it is best that we all try to learn about each other so we can start to love one another"
He was specifically addressing a recent hate crime that happened in the New York where a man named Timothy Caughman was attacked with a sword and killed.
“Growing up with my Sikh heritage, I was always taught to stand up against injustice in all its forms, because oppression is an epidemic that affects all humanity," says Singh.
“We are all a family and share this world, so I think it is best that we all try to learn about each other so we can start to love one another.”
Singh says, for him, loving his neighbours and the people of his city means actively standing up against injustices and oppression. He said he felt like being a bystander was not an option.
Angad Singh, picture in Times Square Source: Facebook
Singh was also inspired to make this video because he is a journalist and saw the hypocrisy in the way media portrayed this particular killing.
“If a Muslim, or someone who 'looked like me' had slayed an innocent person in the streets of New York with a sword, I believe the whole United States would’ve been crying 'jihad' and this would still be trending in news,” he explains.
He believes that a discussion on the issue of domestic terrorism is not happening as vocally as it should in his country. Singh says he believes that race played a huge role in the media’s complacency with this particular act of violence and by the end of the week, the whole thing was mostly forgotten.
Source: Supplied
“I decided to go speak up in Times Square because I felt I had to.”
