Abstract
Growing up in South Texas, Dr. Simran Jeet Singh and his brothers confronted racism daily. As a turbaned, bearded, brown-skinned Sikh, he continued to face prejudice and hate in college and beyond. Simran chose to be defined not by the negativity that often surrounded him but by the Sikh teachings of love and justice that he grew up with. Delving deep into these core tenets of Sikh wisdom, he has sought to embrace an outlook that guides us to see the good in everyone and to forge a path of positivity, connection, and service—a way of life that so many of us are seeking in today’s world.
We all say that we choose love over hate. But when tested, we realize that it’s easier said than done and that our empathy for others is not rooted deeply enough. As a turbaned and bearded Sikh man, Simran has been subjected to racism his whole life. He has been working on the frontlines of hate violence for more than a decade. And yet, he has managed to avoid falling into the toxic trap of hate and anger. In this lecture, drawing on his recent book The Light We Give, he will draw from his personal experiences and from hate incidents he has witnessed firsthand to share the wisdom he has gained on what it really takes to choose love over hate.
Simran Jeet Singh, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Religion & Society Program at the Aspen Institute and the author of the national bestseller The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life (Riverhead, Penguin Random House). Simran's thought leadership on bias, empathy, and justice extends across corporate, university, and government settings. He is an Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity with Columbia University and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, a Soros Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, a Visiting Lecturer at Union Seminary, and a Senior Advisor on Equity and Inclusion for YSC Consulting, part of Accenture.
Organized and hosted by the Interfaith Fellows Program of the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas and the Minnesota Multifaith Network in collaboration with the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community at St. Olaf College and the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University. Cosponsored by Minnesota Multifaith Network, and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Diversity Activities Board (DAB), and the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas. Funded, in part, by generous grants from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota, and the Center for Faculty Development at the University of St. Thomas.