Sikh Day Parade brings tens of thousands to Kent

KENT - Celebrating with food, martial arts displays and a parade through Kent, tens of thousands of people gathered Saturday for the Sikh Day Parade at the ShoWare Center.

Men, women and children streamed into the center's main room to give an offering and a prayer to start the day. Barefoot and topped with scarves and turbans, some wore traditional clothing. Others wore T-shirts with logos like Nike or Formula One. Another wore a slogan that riffed on a 1989 gangsta rap album, adjusted for Sikhism's birthplace: Straight Outta Punjab.

Saturday's events were organized by Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Renton and brought together two Sikh celebrations. (A gurdwara is a Sikh place of worship.)

First, the day commemorated Vaisakhi (pronounced VA-sock-ee), the most important Sikh holiday, usually celebrated in mid-April. It was originally a harvest festival in North India, and the Vaisakhi of 1699 established the Sikh initiation ceremony.

"It's about Sikhs being baptized as a Singh, eliminating all caste, religious discrimination, having the same last name," said Gurpreet Singh, a volunteer with the gurdwara. So since then, Sikhs carry the same last name as Singh."

The second part of the celebration included the Sikh parade, which is known in Punjabi as Nagar Kirtan. It shares, as organizers put it in a news release, "the universal Sikh message of equality, service, compassion, and humanity with people from all walks of life."

Singh, 39, is a Covington resident who owns gas stations and a restaurant and volunteers at the gurdwara. For him, Saturday's celebration was a way to invite other Washingtonians to learn about Sikhs and their 100-plus-year history in the state.

That history includes the racism Sikhs have endured since nearly the beginning of their arrival.

In September 1907, hundreds of white men gathered in Bellingham to drive out South Asian lumber mill workers, including Sikhs, according to the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project.

"The rioters moved through town, breaking windows, throwing rocks, indiscriminately beating people, overpowering a few police officers, and pulling men out of their workplaces and homes," according to the project, a collaboration based at the University of Washington, adding: "The mob was successful in that within ten days the entire South Asian population departed town."

More recently, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Sikhs in Washington were told to "Go home! Sikh cabdrivers were attacked, and a Sikh motel owner in SeaTac was beaten with a cane.

Memories like that are fresh in Singh's mind.

"Thinking about this war going on (with) Iran, we're just imagining if it were happening here in the United States, we would be the first people to get targeted," said Singh. Because of wearing turbans, "we so look alike."

In the main room Saturday, people listened to speeches and music as they waited to make their offerings. Kent City Councilmember and Punjabi American Sharn Shoker spoke and state Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh was on hand. Dave Larson, a former judge making a run for state Supreme Court, gave a campaign speech: "We're in a struggle between people who want to be free, and people who want to dominate and control."

Outside the main room, eventgoers Saturday were treated to 55 food stalls, all of which served vegetarian dishes, according to Harpreet Singh, another volunteer with the gurdwara.

Before the afternoon parade made its way out of the ShoWare Center and into Kent, people gathered to watch a demonstration of gatka, a traditional martial art using swords and weapons. Performers danced, twirled and dueled to music while the crowd cheered.

For Harpreet Singh, a 48-year-old financial adviser, the celebration is one way to help pass down Sikh and Punjabi culture to his two sons, who were both born in America.

As for what he likes about the day, Harpreet pointed to a sign near the front of the stage that shared three Sikh values. Translated, it read: "Earn an honest living, always remember god, share with the needy."

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