Sikh-Americans engage in creating Sikhism awareness in US

Washington: In efforts to reduce the hate crimes and violence that the Sikhs have faced since 9/11, the Sikh-American community has hired a well-known marketing firm to generate a nationwide awareness about Sikhism.

It has become increasingly important in today’s political and social environment, the National Sikh Campaign (NSC) said in a statement as it announced to hire the services of FP1, a conservative-leaning Washington-based marketing firm which has an impressive clientele, which includes Facebook and Ford.

Through research conducted in early 2015, it has been verified that when Americans learnt about the key tenets of the Sikh religion, their feelings became far more positive, a media release said.

“Engaging FP1 was a crucial decision in making our entire strategy complete, and their expertise in reaching conservative Americans will be valuable in expanding our reach beyond our target audience of millennials and progressives,” said Dr Rajwant Singh, Co-founder and senior adviser of NSC.

“This is perhaps the first time that any US Sikh community has undertaken a major, proactive effort to reach out to Americans nationwide,” he added.

“Every step in our plan has been tested to have maximum effectiveness in shifting the perception and driving positive awareness of Sikh Americans,” said Shawn Singh Ghuman, communications director of NSC.

“We plan to use every tool, channel and capability in the marketing communications industry to engage our society with the values Sikhism extols,” he said.

The Sikhs’ articles of faith--the turban and beard--have been falsely associated with terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

While there are an estimated 500,000 Sikh-Americans in the US, who have been an integral part of the American fabric for generations, the first post-9/11 fatal hate crime victim was a Sikh.