Community Peace Rally for American Sikhs

San Joseans from all walks of life attended a community peace rally for Sikhs on August 9 at the Santa Clara County Government Center in downtown San Jose. It came in the wake of the death of six Sikhs in a Gurdwara (a place of learning and worship) in Wisconsin by a deranged supremacist. The hundreds of participating Sikhs were moved by the support and sympathy of Americans of all faiths and color. Although the occasion was somber, the evidence of common humanity lifted the spirits of local Sikhs and strengthened their faith in an inclusive America.

Leaders from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist , Hindu and other religious and humanitarian organizations - NAACP, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Punjabi  - spoke at the rally. Posters reading “I Pledge Against Violence” and “When ONE American is hurt, we ALL hurt” underscored the message of the rally.

Speaker after speaker emphasized zero tolerance policy in America for hate, bigotry and prejudice. They bemoaned the culture of violence that seems to have gripped America. “Sikhs are peace-loving, law-abiding Americans,” said one speaker. “It is a terrible tragedy that a bigot chose to attack these gentle people in their place of worship. We must be united against such acts of violence anywhere. “

Another speaker, a lawyer and an activist, reminded the audience that the attack in Wisconsin was far from being an isolated incident.  “Just a few days ago, a gun freak opened fire in a theatre in Colorado, killing several movie goers. Columbine, Arizona, Virginia, the list goes on and on. Only a few psychopaths are breeding domestic terrorism. We have become hostages in our own country. Violent people are using the Second Amendment to kill. With violence so pervasive in the U.S. today, the idea that anyone has the right to bear arms has become outdated. As a nation, we must have the courage to amend the Second Amendment.” Otherwise, she said, bigots and supremacists will continue to target Americans who do not fit their narrow definition of who an American is.

Within hours of the Wisconsin shooting, domestic terrorists burned down a mosque in tornado-ravaged Joplin, MO. Fueled by hate and irrational fear and by irresponsible, conspiracy-theory-prone politicians, violence is rising dramatically throughout the United States. Collectively, Americans own 300 million guns, more than cars and more than there are adults in the country. Without effective gun control, as several speakers emphasized at the rally, violence of the type at the Sikh temple will become a daily occurrence in America.

Sikh children sang devotional songs and songs of peace at the rally. Sikh leaders spoke of resilience, love and unity, tempering their thoughts with practical ways to halt the cycle of violence in America, their beloved homeland.

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Will Win Gold in London Olympics

In the July 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany, Japan beat the U.S. 3-1 on penalty-kick shootout. The match was drawn 1-1 after regulation, then 2-2 after overtime. To lose the world cup on a shootout was heartbreaking for the Americans but a glorious affirmation for the Japanese, especially since the land of the rising sun was still reeling from the disasters of the tsunami and Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

A year later, at the London Olympics, the U.S. women’s soccer team escaped with a near-miraculous 4-3 victory over Canada in Manchester. Judging from the way the two teams played, the Canadians had as much right to expect a victory as the Americans. For the duration of the regulation time, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and friends found themselves playing catch-up to their northern neighbors, led by the brilliant Christine Sinclair of Canada who scored a hat trick. U.S. players had to rally three times to tie the score.

Then came overtime and until the 122^nd minute, the score was tied at 3-3. In the 123^rd minute, Morgan converted a perfect cross from Heather O’Reilly with a midair header that found the sweet spot in the net. It is no exaggeration to say that it was a header heard round America, if not the world.

So a repeat of the world cup showdown from a year ago awaits soccer lovers. The U.S. will meet Japan in the gold-medal match on August 9 at London’s fabled Wembley stadium.

Here’s my prediction: United States will beat Japan. The thrilling victory over Canada has given the mental edge to Wambach and company who will be riding it to a hard-fought victory against their nemesis. Also significant will be the “avenger” role that will animate every U.S. player to help them redeem the haunting defeat at the world cup a year ago. (It is possible that LeBron James and friends may, just may, face the Russians for the gold in basketball in this Olympics, and avenge the infamous loss at the Munich Olympics 40 years ago). The force seems to be with the U.S. Women’s soccer team in the London Olympics.  There is no other way to explain the victory against the Canadians.

A Star is Born in Gabby Douglas

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball at the age of 28 in 1947. It was a monumental milestone for a sport that had been segregated for over 50 years.

Sometimes we do not realize the progress we make as a society because we take things for granted. Can anyone imagine MLB without African-American players now? Yet 1947 isn’t that far back into the past, if you think about it. It is a year later than the initial age bracket of baby boomers.

There have been a few African-American women gymnasts here and there but until the magnificent Gabby Douglas came along, they were merely place holders, limited more by their mindset than by their talent. African-American girls were just not expected to excel in a sport dominated by fair-skinned Europeans, Russians, Asians, and yes, Americans.

The status quo has been turned upside down by a 16-year-old “flying squirrel” whose poise, grace and sheer ability earned her the crown jewel of the Olympics gymnastics program, the women’s all-around. Gabby is the little engine that could, the ballerina who refused not only to be shackled by history but soar above it.

And how she soared! A bird, a gazelle, a wunderkind with gravity-defying moves who left you gasping for superlatives. The favored Russians paled next to her. “What planet did this alien come from,” their stunned expression seemed to be saying when the four-routine program was over.

Gabby brought along a stirring and quintessentially American story to the London Olympics. It broke her tender heart when her parents divorced. She wasn’t sure she could overcome this emotional abyss. Then she moved from her home state of Virginia to Iowa to train with famed trainer Lian Chow when all attention was focused on Michigan’s Jordyn Wieber, the reigning all-around world champion. Although impressed with Gabby’s ability, even Chow didn’t think Gabby had what it took to reach the pinnacle of Olympics gymnastics.

But what tested Gabby the most was the whisperings of her own mind. No African-American had ever worn gymnastic’s crown jewel. Add to that the intimidating fact that a billion pairs of eyes would be watching.

If there were any doubts in the beginning, however, Gabby soon overcame them. When the barriers of the mind fell, only the sky, almost literally for this “flying squirrel,” was the limit. The result? A star was born, a dazzling and disarming star in whose light we were privileged to bask, from continent to continent.

Track and Field is yet to start. Undoubtedly there will be more athletes who will capture our imagination. Perhaps Usain Bolt will recover his brilliant Beijing form. Or maybe he will have to pass the torch to fellow Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake. Famed Kenyan and Ethiopian runners are waiting for their moment in the sun. Michael Phelps has already become the most decorated Olympian ever.

But if a single athlete becomes the face of the London Olympics, it is Gabby Douglas. With her transcendent victory, she has opened the doors for girls for whom race will no longer be a barrier but a catalyst for success and glory, not just in the Olympics but in the wider arena of life.

Iconoclast Gore Vidal (1925-2012)

Gore Vidal was incapable of writing a dull sentence, hence his preeminence as an essayist. Whether or not you agreed with his views, and they were often radical, no one equaled him when it came to puncturing the pomposities of leaders, celebrities and mediocrities. He was a self-taught polymath who used his devastating wit to provoke, entertain and educate. In his books and essays, Vidal took on his country – the United States of America – with unrelenting attacks on its leaders for undermining the constitution and waging wars around the world. “I am so alarmed by what is happening with our global empire, and our wars against the rest of the world,” he said in an interview during George Bush’s regime, “it is to time to take political action.”

Although Vidal failed in his attempts at public offices in the two times that he ran - first in 1960, when he was the Democratic Congressional candidate for the 29th District in upstate New York, and again in 1982, when he campaigned in California for a seat in the Senate - his powerful pen skewered the shakers and makers of American foreign policy for decades. With his passing, Henry Kissinger is undoubtedly feeling relieved.

But Vidal did not spare the mainstream literary heavyweights either. He was the quintessential intellectual gadfly. Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike, Truman Capote, William F. Buckley, to name only a few, felt the sharp sting of his criticism. He considered their work pretentious and sophomoric. His fiery rejection of what he considered trite and transient was something he shared with Vladimir Nabokov.

Vidal was too negative and extreme for most peoples’ taste. Comedian Bob Hope used to make fun of his cotrariness in his skits. But Vidal’s pungent wit and biting one-liners made him a sought-after guest on TV and campuses around the country. No shades of gray for him; he knew exactly what he thought and felt and expressed himself memorably and forthrightly. “Style is knowing who you are,” he explained, “what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” He had a matching ego to go with his talent. “There is not one human problem that could not be solved,” he once said, “if people would simply do as I advise.”

When asked during an interview where the young Vidals, the young Mailers, the young Millers were in contemporary America, Vidal alluded to Eisenhower. “Eisenhower, in a rather great speech when he left office – he warned against the military-industrial complex which he said was taking over too much of this nation’s money and life. A part of it is that is never quoted – he said, in effect, that the universities and learning will be hurt the most because when place of learning and knowledge are dependent upon government bounty and subsidies for their very lives … we have a whole generation of teachers and they are not very good teachers. Some of them are very talented writers, but they’re quiet. They don’t want to rock the boat. They want to keep their jobs … They saw what happened if you got associated with radical movements … Now, they’re quiet as could be.”

Vidal was being unfair to many talented writers and teachers who took on (and continue to take on) the establishment (the late David Foster Wallace, to name only one) without fear but his larger point that we have become a politically partisan nation, indifferent to the essence of our constitution, is on the mark.

I did not read Vidal’s novels – somehow, I could not find them compelling reads - but his essays were something else. “Brilliant” is too small a word to describe them. Incisive, witty, universal, fresh, all delivered with incomparable verve, imagination and style. Just two of the thousands of quotable snippets that I recall off the top of my head now are “drones in their unchanging hives” and “presidents and paint manufacturers.”

Gore Vidal is gone but surely his essays will live on.