Dear Family,

Happy Vaisakhi! Vaiksahi is the springtime harvest festival celebrated through India. It’s also the day that Sikhs around the world celebrate as the birth of the Khalsa, a beloved community committed to the path of the sant-sipahi, the sage-warrior.

Let me share what Vaisakhi means to me — and how it’s part of the origin story of the Revolutionary Love Project.

As a little girl growing up in the Sikh tradition on the farmlands of Califiornia, my grandfather was my sage-warrior. He saw the world through the eyes of wonder, listened to kirtan with his eyes closed, and wrote poetry for hours in his garden. He would also tell me his stories – surviving air raids as a soldier in World War II, ushering people to safety during the massacres of the 1947 Partition, keeping guard on a rooftop during the Sikh pogroms of 1984. He was proud to never have fired a bullet; his fight was nonviolent. Papa Ji tied his turban proudly every day and carried his dignity into old age. He was courageous and joyfully surrendered.

The warrior fights; the sage loves:
It’s a path of revolutionary love.

I believe that all the world’s great wisdom traditions carry a call to this kind of powerful, muscular love — love that leaves no one outside our circle of care.

Every year, on Vaisakhi, Sikh families like mine share stories of how our ancestors walked that path of love, even in the face of pain and darkness. Vaisakhi has become a return to courage, a refusal of despair, and a renewal of spirits.

This year, Vaisakhi is taking place in a moment when the Sikh community is experiencing two patterns of violence: racial violence on U.S. soil and human rights violations in our ancestral land Punjab. This is a powerful time to show your solidarity. Keep reading for 3 things you can do.
To my Sikh family: May we keep speaking even when our wounds are open. May we keep telling our stories and making our art and playing our music and singing our songs and serving with our hands and fighting the good fight as our Gurus called us. For on Vaisakhi, our Guru was preparing us for this impossible moment. To face atrocity — whether across the sea or outside our own homes — and step forward as sant-sipahi. To let our tears fall and still say, You cannot diminish me. Still I breathe, still I serve, still I sing:

Deh Shiva bar more ihai
shubh karman te kabhun na taron

“Oh Divine, give me this one blessing —
that I may never hold back from doing good.”

– Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Dasam Granth

In Chardi Kala,
Valarie Kaur


1. Visit your local Sikh gurdwara. This Sunday morning, visit any Sikh gurdwara near you. You will be welcomed warmly and invited to listen to sacred music and sit and eat langar, a delicious vegetarian meal prepared with love. Share a conversation over that meal, and let relationships blossom. This is the perfect time: April is Sikh American Awareness Month, and festivities are happening all weekend. Before you go, read the legendary story of Vaisakhi.

2. Learn what’s happening right now.

  • In the U.S.: April 15th is the two-year anniversary of the most recent massacre of Sikhs on U.S. soil, the mass shooting at a FedEx in Indianapolis. We remember this loss at a time when the FBI has reported anti-Sikh hate crimes at an all time high. Read an update from our partner the Sikh Coalition here. Explore their site for Sikh resources.
  • In Punjab: In the last few weeks, the Indian government has enacted widespread human rights violations in Punjab, reminding many of the painful climate before the Sikh pogroms and disappearances of the 1980s. Read about the situation from our friend Professor Simran Jeet Singh here. Send a message to Congress using this tool from our partner SALDEF.

3. Share our resources. Check out all the films, videos, books, and articles about the Sikh community on our learning hubs here and here. Download our free Reader’s Guide to the book SEE NO STRANGER. Bring what you find to your classrooms and communities.


We’ve been on the road with the message of revolutionary love. At our most recent event in Indianapolis, hosted by Butler University, we were joined by two young Sikh activists, Komal Kaur and Aasees Kaur. Komal lost her grandmother when a gunman opened fire at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis on April 15, 2021. Aasees was one of the first activists on the ground, holding her in grief and organizing with the community. The police did not investigate the role of bias, and the media was mostly quiet. No major headlines. No hashtags. Together, we changed that.

We held a nation-wide Solidarity Vigil to #StandWithSikhs one week after the shooting. We were joined by 10,000+ people and 145 partner organizations in a historic multiracial, multifaith vigil. More than 30 speakers and artists weaved a tapestry of testimony, witness, music, poetry, prayer, and song:

Watch this powerful 7-minute video from the Solidarity Vigil.
In the video, you will see Komal speak about her grandmother. She has since devoted her life to social justice in her grandmother’s memory. She and Aasees are modern-day Sikh woman warriors. Let us stand with these sisters. Please light a candle to honor the lives of all eight people lost in Indianapolis: Matthew R. Alexander, Samaria Blackwell, Amarjeet Kaur Johal, Jaswinder Kaur, Amarjit Kaur Sekhon, Jaswinder Singh, Karli Smith, John Weisert.