Current Events
Thank You, Gap!
Make Love, Not Bigotry
VALARIE KAUR
This holiday season, an ad campaign is selling clothes and challenging bigotry in America.
A poster of a turbaned and bearded man in Gap clothes with a woman hanging on his shoulder hit store windows and subway walls across the United States last month as part of Gap's "Make Love" ad campaign. The model is Waris Singh Ahluwalia, a Sikh actor whose turban and beard is part of his faith.
Thus, a mainstream, nationwide ad presents a turbaned man as beautiful, even sexy. He is not a suspect, but a model; not a terrorist, but a person with dignity; not a foreigner, but an American.
The ad thrilled Sikh-Americans like me, who have worked for years to dismantle one of the most pernicious prevailing stereotypes in American culture: turban equals terrorist.
Nearly every person who wears a turban in the United States is Sikh. Many Sikhs wear five articles of faith, including kesh, long uncut hair that most men and some women wrap in a cloth turban. Tragically, the turban meant to represent a commitment to service and justice marked Sikh-Americans as targets of hate.
Recently, the ad featuring Waris Singh Ahluwalia was found covered with racist graffiti on a New York City subway wall. "Make Love" was crossed out to read "Make Bombs." Someone scrawled beneath it, "Please stop driving TAXIS."
The racial epithets were familiar, but what happened next was altogether new.
The photograph went viral on Twitter. Within 24 hours, Gap set out to replace the defaced ads, made the ad its background image on Twitter and Facebook and released the statement, "Gap is a brand that celebrates inclusion and diversity." The company's response set off a chorus of #ThankYouGap posts.
The story is a powerful example of how a groundswell of people can "make love" in response to hate. It's a story we need now more than ever.
Twelve years after September 11, 2001, the stereotype of the turbaned and bearded terrorist is deeply entrenched in our social imagination. It shows up in profiling at airports, bullying in the school yard, violence on the streets, surveillance of houses of worship, and yes, graffiti on a New York City subway wall.
In daily encounters, our minds default to stereotypes we have unwittingly absorbed. The most dangerous racial stereotypes trigger fear and animosity -- for example, African-Americans as "criminal," Latinos as "illegal," or Muslims and Sikhs as "terrorist." Once a person is reduced to a stereotype, it becomes easier to harm them, or to permit harm to be done to them.
But there is a powerful antidote to these stereotypes: the diversity of faces, voices and stories of real people that show our shared humanity.
In the aftermath of the 2012 mass shooting in a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, thousands of people wrote heartfelt letters in an outpouring of love and support to families who lost loved ones and signed petitions that led to a new government policy to track hate crimes against Sikhs.
This fall, after Columbia University professor Prabhjot Singh was brutally beaten in New York City, nearly 4,000 people of different faiths sent him prayers and messages online.
And 11 days ago, when photographer Robert Gerhardt, a white Catholic, saw racist graffiti covering a photograph of a Sikh, he chose to take a photograph of the ad. He sent the photo to Muslim American writer Arsalan Iftikhar, who decided to post it on Twitter. Others shared the photo, which prompted Gap to take a public stand.
Earlier this month, Gap employee Casey David Muir-Taylor made the same choice when an irate customer complained about the Muslim "terrorist" in the "do-rag." He defended the ad and posted about it on Facebook. Each of these individuals chose to fight for a community not their own.
As a Sikh-American, these acts of courage deepen my commitment to do the same for others.
Companies should take note that taking a public stand against hate wins new customers.
But it would be a mistake to miss the deeper lesson: We as individuals can no longer claim helplessness in the face of racism. In the digital era, the power to "make love," not bigotry, lies in the palm of our hands. Whether in response to a Sikh model in a fashion ad, or a South Asian American woman crowned Ms. America, new media give a new generation a chance to speak out for our vision of America.
The key is using our power to dismantle the stereotypes that shape our social landscape.
Valarie Kaur is an award-winning filmmaker, civil rights advocate, and interfaith organizer. She is the founding director of Groundswell, an initiative at Auburn Theological Seminary that combines storytelling and advocacy to mobilize faith communities in social action. Kaur co-produced a short film on the Oak Creek shooting, and directs the Yale Visual Law Project.
[Courtesy: CNN. Edited for sikhchic.com]
December 5, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Sarvjit Singh (Millis, Massachusetts, USA), December 05, 2013, 12:27 PM.
Well said, Valerie ji! I do have one curiousity and question, during this entire episode with the Gap ad, we never heard Waris Singh ji say anything in the media. Personally, I think from the PR perspective, it was an opportunity wasted when we had the exposure on the mainstream media, even if it lasted two hours. This was reported on CNN's one liner news captions. I wish Waris Singh ji would have used his connections to speak up on this issue. Waheguru has gifted him with good looks and may he prosper in all endeavors.
2: Harinder Singh 1469 (New Delhi, India), December 05, 2013, 2:08 PM.
One of the best adverts any clothing brand can think of. I remember seeing the Burberry advert in the Peninsula Hotel in 1997, with a burberry pattern turban. Wish someone can get us that as well. I am sure Sandeep Singh Brar would have in his images bank. GAP has surely minimised the 'gap' for Sikhs in western countries. Well done, Gap, and well done sikhchic.com for sharing such an important image.
3: Harbeer Kaur (San Francisco, California, USA), December 05, 2013, 2:57 PM.
Who's this moron in Davis protesting against the Gap ad? "This is a highly sexualized ad," is his complaint. Well, mister, here's some advice for you: YOU need to get a bit sexualized. Go have some sex with your wife, or girlfriend, your partner ... whoever ... before you keel over. And stop meddling in matters you don't and can't comprehend. Go get a life. You don't represent me or anyone else in the Sikh community. Go and protest whatever, but do it on your own behalf, not in the name of Sikhs or the community. Lord, where do these idiots appear from? No, "It's California!" is not the answer. I'm from California! We want more ads like this one. Hats off to Gap ... and to Waris from me, my family, my friends, in fact everyone I've spoken to about this ad!
4: N Singh (Canada), December 05, 2013, 4:31 PM.
Prior to the Black Friday sales this ad was prominently displayed in the high-end, expensive mall at Oakridge in Vancouver. I was surprised to see it because for some reason I thought it was only appearing in the US. Anyways you cannot imagine how I walked past this ad with my head held up truly high. I was so proud. We just need to keep up the effort. Once in a while is not enough. We need this all the time, we need more Waris Singhs ...
5: R Singh (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada), December 05, 2013, 7:43 PM.
All publicity is good publicity. Bravo to Gap. It is about time that there were more turbaned models, male and female.
6: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), December 06, 2013, 5:18 AM.
Ads like this do more for the Sikh image than any Sikh organization in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc. could ever do!
7: Sarabjit Singh (Michigan, USA), December 06, 2013, 6:13 PM.
Thank you, GAP. Sikhs in turbans are cool, handsome, and smart!