Yearly Archives: 2008

My Grandfather’s Funeral

November 25th, 2008 | 9 Comments

Today was Papa Ji’s funeral. His wisdom and love made me who I am — and inspired Divided We Fall. I stood before his casket adorned with flowers, where his face shone regal in a red turban, and gazed out at a hundred people who had gathered in the small chapel. I never write down what I will say before an audience, but today, I knew I needed to draw courage from words on

… Continue Reading

 

Election Night 2008

November 5th, 2008 | 2 Comments

Today marks a new era of possibility for America and the world. After seven years of despair in the shadow of September 11th, the election of Barack Obama as President throws wide open the doors to the future, and I am left blinking in the light. September 11th was the nightmare from which we could not awake; the election ushers in a new era of possibility I keep mistaking for dream. The world unites again,… Continue Reading

 

The DWF Campaign

September 11th, 2008 | 1 Comment

Starting today, 80 cities across America will hold screenings of Divided We Fall and hold deep community dialogues about race, religion, and renewal during the seven-year anniversary of September 11, 2001. To find a screening nearest you: http://dwf-film.com/tour

After two years on tour with Divided We Fall, my director Sharat Raju and I sat with our circle of friends and volunteers this summer to talk about what how to release the film.… Continue Reading

 

Tubman Middle School – Augusta, GA

May 3rd, 2008 | 11 Comments

Today, I was invited to present at Tubman Middle School in the inner-city of Augusta, Georgia. The students live in a depressed part of Augusta where textile workers used to live before the mills shut down. They have grown up with gang violence in their neighborhoods and go through routine weapons inspections at schools. These kids know violence. I have taken the film to middle-class kids at public and private schools but never inner-city… Continue Reading

 

The Space Between – Detroit, MI

February 26th, 2008 | 3 Comments

In the last week of January, my co-producer Sharat Raju and I traveled with our film Divided We Fall around the state of Michigan — from a screening at Wayne State University in Detroit, to a workshop at the South Asian American Network conference at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, to a day at an all-girls Catholic high school, the Academy of the Sacred Heart… Continue Reading

 

Dr. King and I – Ann Arbor, MI

January 23rd, 2008 | 6 Comments

On the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, it was snowing in Michigan. Like most schools, the University of Michigan had given its students a day-off. Unlike most schools, it had created an ambitious month-long symposium in honor of Dr. King so rich and impressive, that even the snow couldn’t keep more than 300 people from packing the auditorium to standing-room-only to watch Divided We Fall.


My director and I… Continue Reading

 

To Be Afraid of Hope

January 17th, 2008 | 3 Comments

The new year begins in blood. Kenya is seized by violence. Benazir Bhutto is assasinated and Pakistan is consumed by riots. More soldiers are killed in Iraq. And here at home, terrible news spreads through the Sikh community — two Sikh brothers are shot to death at their restaurant in Richmond, California:

Two men shuffled down San Pablo Avenue on a wet December night. They passed a burger joint and… Continue Reading

 

Why Do We Fall?

January 8th, 2008 | 8 Comments

It has been nearly a year since I wrote here last, and yet 2007 was my most public year yet. I traveled the country on a national film and speaking tour, living out of my suitcase, moving from city to city, encountering stories and people and ideas like never before. If writing is my primary way of understanding my experiences, why did I not write? I was asked over and over again, and… Continue Reading