Deep Singh Chan

As an activist, Singh Chan understands how different groups share a stake in the fight for justice.

He is a co-founder of The Jakara Movement, “an institution for the recruitment and training of volunteers and a hub for the Sikh Californian youth.” Jakara engages young Sikhs through service-learning, activism and volunteerism in their communities. Yet when Singh Chan reflects on his path to this calling, he says that the creation of Jakara wasn’t merely informed by the Punjabi Sikh community’s history—but also by witnessing the racial justice struggles of the Black and Latinx communities in CA as he grew up in the eighties and nineties.

Singh Chan is inspired by the younger generation, and says that when he visits the high school down the street, “the Punjabi kids are more than happy to celebrate themselves” in a way he didn’t experience growing up.