Supreet Singh Manchanda

“We are a resilient, amazing people, should we start deciding that I am not going to be a victim, I am going to be a victor. And that’s a key tenet of our faith anyway,” says Supreet Singh Manchanda in closing his interview.

He recounts growing up in Africa, but always identifying as an Indian. Then, in 1984, he found himself in Texas, USA, where he had come for higher studies, feeling alienated by non-Sikh Indians. “After June…We were the outsiders and they were the insiders… All of a sudden, we wore a scarlet letter on our chest.” He believes 1984 “accelerated his need to become American…to belong.”

He remembers his sister and him educating others about what had happened and learning to negotiate “where the rage was necessary and where the rage was not necessary!” They mutated their fear and anger into activism and pride. “Before 1984, it wasn’t uncommon to walk around with a baseball hat…post 1984, its a rare thing. I walk around with my turban, with a lot of pride.”