Sikh community lauded for feeding thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters

While the United States is rocked with Black Lives Matter protests, the Sikh Center of New York, in Queens Village is mobilising resources to provide food to demonstrators who are out on the streets demanding justice for George Floyd who died in police custody. The Sikh community is being hailed as “generous” yet again after recently few people from the community stepped up to deliver homemade food to vulnerable people in the society amid coronavirus outbreak. During these unprecedented times of global health crisis, the Sikhs have managed to feed thousands of people in the country for free or provide 'Langar'.

According to reports, just last week dozens of volunteers from the Queens centre served at least 500 portions of Indian food including Matar paneer, rice, and rajma along with thousand bottles of water and cans of soda to protesters in Sunnyside. Moreover, they also offered a sweet dish, Kheer. Internet users are sharing the images of Sikhs feeding thousands of protesters while covering their faces and wearing masks. One of the netizens even said that “the Sikhs know” how to help people even during COVID-19 pandemic. 

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‘We are looking for justice’

According to an international media outlet, a coordinator at the World Sikh Parliament Himmat Singh has assured that “we are looking for justice”. Restating that the community will come forth and provide help to any protesters who are raising their voice peacefully. The executive director of the Sikh Coalition Satjeet Kaur has reportedly said that the feeling of helping the people as the call to action and responsibility is deeply engraved in the ‘Sikh way of life’.

Thousands of internet users have united to applaud the Sikh community in the United States to stand up for the protesters and provide the ‘much-needed’ assistance. One Twitter user wrote, "I definitely felt more warmth toward humanity in general when I drove past a local example" of Sikhs feeding the hungry. Even Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said, "The Sikh community in Queens is among most notable and generous."

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