Satwant Singh Kaleka is a hero. When Michael Wade Page walked into his temple spraying bullets, Singh engaged the attacker with his bare hands in order to buy time for others to escape. This isn’t really a surprise. Sikhs are expected to fight injustice and intolerance at every turn, and when peaceable measures are exhausted, their faith warrants the use of force.
I was moved by the words of a Sikh representative on CNN last night, who emphasized compassion for the survivors and a spirit of resilience rather than mourning or anger. They are an admirable and selfless people, and that makes this tragedy all the more acute. I hope that others take this situation as a chance to learn more about their creed.
And their attacker? Page was a washed-out missile repairman who couldn’t make something of his life, and who could only find validation from an ignorant and loathsome philosophy that stands in absolute contrast to that of his victims.
White supremacy has adapted to the internet, allowing it to reach a wider audience without risking physical exposure, and it’s co-opted its share of disturbing pseudoscience to give itself some veneer of legitimacy. It may have been pushed out to the fringe, but it’s still somewhat resilient, and we do ourselves a disservice by assuming it’s gone away.
They’re just smart enough not to wear the white hoods in public any more.