I was honored to deliver the address to the graduating class at Chapman University’s recent Baccalaureate service. After the service, Gail Sterns, the Dean of Wallace All Faiths Chapel at the
Kaur’s first film Divided We Fall (2008) with director Sharat Raju toured in 200 U.S. cities, won a dozen international awards, and became known as the go-to documentary on post-9/11 hate crimes. The Divided We Fall Campaign inspired dialogues on 100+ campuses and communities in the 2008 and 2016 election seasons.
The massacre in Oak Creek, Wisconsin that claimed the lives of six people on August 5, 2012 is only one in a tragically long list of mass shootings. Yet in this political moment – when sustained public pressure could lead to real gun control reform – the Oak Creek tragedy and response offers a vital lesson: the efficacy of resilience.
Portait of a Supermax Prison depicts Connecticut’s sole supermax prison, where many inmates are held in solitary confinement for months and even years at a time. Hard-hitting interviews with a range of experts and administrators are interwoven with the powerful stories of those who spend their days within the walls of Northern: inmates and correctional officers.
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a 7-Eleven in Baltimore, they arrested dozens of bystanders on the grounds of alleged immigration violations. “Alienation” follows the story of two families swept up in the 2007 raid and examines current controversies in immigration law and policy.
The law permits police officers to stop and frisk people based on “reasonable suspicion.” Do “Stop and Frisk” police practices cause racial profiling, or deter crime? “Stigma” explores the dynamic between the community and the police through the eyes of three people who grew up on the streets of New York City.
American Made explores the conflict between faith, freedom, assimilation and modernization—themes that immigrants continue to struggle with when recreating family in a new world. Learn More About the Film For information on purchasing educational screening rights, please contact Emily Baxter at emilybaxtervk@gmail.com.
As the eighth volume in Dave Eggers and Lola Vollen’s poignant Voice of Witness series, with Valarie as associate editor, Patriot Acts is a groundbreaking collection of oral histories that tells the stories of men and women who have been needlessly swept up in the War on Terror. In their own words, narrators recount personal experiences of the post-9/11 backlash that have deeply altered their lives and communities. Patriot Acts illuminates these experiences in a compelling collection of eighteen oral histories from men and women who have found themselves subject to a wide range of human and civil rights abuses—from rendition and torture, to workplace discrimination, bullying, FBI surveillance and harassment.
This groundbreaking volume gathers an array of inspiring and penetrating stories about the interrligious encounters of outstanding community leaders, scholars, public intellectuals, and activist from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. With wisdom, wit, courage, and humility, these writers from a range of religious backgrounds share their personal experience of border-crossing, and the lessons learned from their interreligious adventures. We live in the most religiously diverse society in the history of humankind. Every day, people of different religious beliefs and practices encounter one another in a myriad of settings.
The world is in crisis and it seems that many are looking to women to heal the planet and our human family. Before women can step into our full potential as leaders and guides in this moment, we must individually reconnect with our deepest wisdom and with our spiritual roots; collectively heal the many dimensions of separation that keep us fragmented and ineffective as agents of social change; and globally reclaim our rightful place as spiritual leaders in service of a balanced and compassionate new paradigm. This empowering resource engages women in an interactive exploration of the challenges and opportunities on the frontier of women’s spiritual leadership.
On September 15, 2001, the murder of a turbaned Sikh family friend launched then-college student Valarie Kaur on a road trip to chronicle hate crimes across the United States. For nearly a decade, she filmed stories in her community—Sikh American men, women, and children whose brown skin and turbans marked them as suspects. Her journey unfolded into a broader exploration of who counts as “one of us” in times of crisis. She now speaks widely to inspire all Americans to recognize that their struggles to live without fear are bound up in one movement for justice.
In the days, months, and now years following the events of September 11th, discrimination against the Sikh community in America has escalated sharply, due in part to a populace that often confuses Sikhs, compelled by their faith to wear turbans, with the Muslim extremists responsible for the devastating terrorist attacks. Although Sikhs have since mobilized to spread awareness and condemn violence against themselves and Muslims, there has been a conspicuous absence of academic literature to aid scholars and commentators in understanding the effect of the backlash on the Sikh community, the group disproportionately impacted by post-9/11 discrimination.
The National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ) was founded in 1991 to advance the fair administration of military justice and to foster improved public understanding of the military justice system. Between 2008 and 2009, observers from the Nation Institute of Military Justice were invited to observe military commissions at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Valarie served as official observer working to ensure that all military commission satisfied the right to a public trial.
Although there’s no ‘correct’ target for hate, misdirected Islamophobic violence against Sikh Americans has continued for two decades. In this episode, The Takeaway spoke with activist and author Valarie Kaur about what the post 9/11 era has meant for Sikh Americans.
From a failed “war on terror” with dubious origins to the legal black hole of Guantanamo — take a look back at the practices and policies of the past 20 years and their present day implications in this FRONTLINE documentary that includes an in-depth interview of Valarie Kaur, American After 9/11.
“‘It’s sort of like getting the Martin Luther Kings, the Gandhis, the Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschels, the Dorothy Days, the Fannie Lou Hamers of our time together and creating a sense of community,’ said the Rev. Katharine Henderson, the president of Auburn Seminary in New York.”
