Oh, and speaking of New Jersey, Ravi Bhalla became the first Sikh mayor in the state's history having been elected mayor of Hoboken.
Now, I think that's pretty damned impressive. Sikhs are some bad ass motherfuckers. No less of a conservative hero than Winston S. Churchill spoke admiringly of the Sikh soldiers who fought for the British in World War I and World War II. They charged into battle wearing Turbans, rather than helmets, and oh yes, they died by the thousands. In so doing they helped to forge modern South Asia and its place in the world. Now that's courage. The moral code of the Sikhs demands abstinence from sexual immorality and substances that addle the mind, courage, fidelity, good conduct, honesty, truthfulness, and also resistance to tyranny in all its forms. Sikhs are Monotheists, although they believe in reincarnation and some other traditional beliefs of their country and they reject the (often oppressive, historically) caste system of Hinduism. The Sikhs are a defensive warrior culture, living as they often did in an environment where they might need to form up an army real quick. The distinctive trappings of their religion...the bears and uncut hair of the men, the turbans and daggers or swords...and they also wear special shorts and carry a comb...all have particular significance. This is referred to as the "Five K's" and in effect, along with the name "Singh" which means "Tiger" (either as a middle name or a surname) served as a sort of uniform for baptized Sikh men in ages past.
To this day Sikhs, much like Native Americans or Pacific Islanders who serve in the United States Armed Forces in a larger percentage than their share of the population, have an outsize presence in the Indian military.
But they, and their fierce mentality and theologically-driven tendency to stand for justice are present in all walks of life. They're people, the descendants of a proud warrior culture but...like so many others who can make such a claim...Apaches, Afrikaners, Japanese, Lakota, Maori, Zulus, you name it...they're as diverse as any other group and other accomplishments often outshine the ferocity for which they were once primarily known.
I ran into a Sikh dude at work last week, just a normal looking young dude, probably a college student. His beard, turban and what looked to be Indian ethnicity aside, he fit right in with the mix of Americans and international students in the crowd he was with. Just a bunch of young guys (and a few girls) out for a night at the casino. I was on my way to go take my break. I nodded politely at him, he returned the gesture. I smiled once I'd passed by. Social and cultural change, yo. We might as well get used to it.
In the last apartments I lived in I had a lot of Indian neighbors...college students mostly...and they seemed, one and all, to be people. The guys would sometimes play Cricket or Rugby, which I thought was pretty cool. Most of those neighbors...the ones who ever showed any evidence of faith...were Hindu or Muslim. Before last week, the only times I'd met Sikhs were in Canada. I know Sikhs are present in other places that I've been. I'd just never had any interactions with them anywhere else.
Broaden your mind, meet new people, stay engaged in the processes of life.
See...it's not just that I knew a little about Frank Sinatra, it's that I knew quite a bit. Our music industry literally owes a big part of how it does business to that guy. I knew that. He played to the "Bobby Soxers" as the pop-culture teenage girls of the era were known, as a demographic because they were an untapped market. Nobody had done that before. We wouldn't have people like Justin Timberlake, Mark Wahlberg, or for that matter Michael Jackson or at least, they'd never have made it to the level that they did without Frank Sinatra. Who also, while we're at it, was one of the first big crossovers from singing to acting. It's that I knew who he associated with and what their own histories were. Frank Sinatra came of age when there was still much racism directed against Italians, and his ties to mafia figures were more than once used in an effort to derail his career. Thus he was always passionately against racism and became an advocate for Civil Rights at a time when there weren't very many white people openly supporting the rights of people of color. One of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack" running buddies and best friends was Sammy Davis Jr. Now, Sammy Davis Jr. was an African American actor, singer and stage performer in a time when that...and being in the military, which he also was during WWII, serving as part of an integrated entertainment troop...were two of the only ways you could get a fair shot if you were a black person. But oh yes, before and during his career Sammy Davis Jr. faced racism.
In the 1950's and early 1960's Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. were largely responsible for integrating the casinos and hotels of Las Vegas, forcing hotels to hire African American staff. Both Davis and Sinatra supported the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now, by the standards of today's purity testing movements, neither man would probably be considered either a liberal or a conservative...although both were Democrats, Sinatra would become a Republican later on, and support Ronald Reagan in much the same way as he had John F. Kennedy...though he never gave up his passionate civil rights advocacy. As both a Democrat and a Republican, Sinatra supported and raised money for Israel, a cause near and dear to the heart of most Conservatives. Davis was an avid gun collector and trick shot, and he would perform on a USO tour in Vietnam at the request of Richard Nixon.
...And hey, I didn't have to look any of that up.
I feel like I can confidently say that if he were around, Frank Sinatra wouldn't have been bothered in the least by Hoboken's new Sikh mayor. Hell, I think either he or Sammy would have had much respect for Danica Roem, Virginia's new transgender legislator, once they found out that she could play an electric guitar pretty well. See, common ground and common interests give people a real reason to get along and at least try to work together.
Learn your history, and you too can avoid embarrassing yourself by getting basic facts wrong.
No bout a doubt it!
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