‘Never forget but forgive’: Bellingham’s Punjabi community forges a new path, makes an impact

First of two parts

The history of Punjabis is rooted deeply in Bellingham.

Punjab is a region in India that is known for its vibrant agriculture. People who originate from the region are known as “Punjabis.” Sikhism, or otherwise known as Sikhi, is a religion and philosophy originated in Punjab and those who adhere to it are commonly referred to as “Sikhs.”

It was nearly 116 years ago on Sept. 4. 1907 when Punjabi migrant workers in Bellingham were forced out of their homes by mobs of white men. Their goal was to drive South Asians out of the city, said Satpal Sidhu, the current Whatcom County executive.

Sidhu, who has resided in Lynden for about 30 years with his family, made history when he was the first Sikh and person of color to be elected as Whatcom County executive in 2020, according to a Bellingham Herald article.

Today, the Punjabis of Bellingham and Whatcom County have become recognized members of various communities. From berry farmers to the creation of the Chardi Kala Project, a group that bridges gaps, Sikhs forged their path in the city.

Currently, out of the nearly 230,677 people who live in Whatcom County, about 5.1% are Asian alone, according to the United States Census Bureau. The Chardi Kala Project estimates that about 8,000 Punjabis reside in the county, or about 3% of the population.

History of Punjabis in Bellingham

When Punjabi folks first came to Bellingham, they took up jobs in the lumber mills. Punjabis, who were incorrectly called Hindus or Muslims at the time, lived in rented homes, sometimes with up to 10 people, Sidhu said.

“So Bellingham gained in the early 1900s, about 250 to 350 living here, and they lived together on the lettered streets,” Sidhu said. “There would be five, six, seven or 10 people living in one home and they will pay one person to be their cook and they’re not related by blood, but they live together.”

The Punjabi people divided up the work, some people worked day or night shifts at the lumber mills, one person would do laundry and another person would cook. The people who worked at home would get paid through wages that were divided up.

“So these [Punjabis] were very successful, successful in the sense that first thing they will get the job and then they were very loyal. And since they had come that far, they wanted to send money back home [to India]. So they would not refuse overtime and they were not into unions,” Sidhu said.

The managers at the mills took advantage of their willingness to work extra for more money and would schedule them to work on weekends or ask them to stay late, and the working Sikhs obliged without complaint, he said.

“Because they’ve made that money, they will send the money back home [to Punjab], but at the same time, it caused some friction with the white people. They said ‘they are reducing our value because the wages won’t go up because they will work [for] a few cents less,’” Sidhu said.

The 1907 riots against Sikhs

On Sept. 4, 1907, mobs of 400-500 white men took action against the Punjabis living in Bellingham.

According to The Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, the rioters wanted to scare Punjabis out of the mills and the city. The rioters broke windows in town, beat people, overpowered police officers and pulled men who were working that day out of the mills.

Groups of rioters went to the lettered streets, as it was common knowledge Punjabis lived there and forced them out of their homes, Sidhu said. Punjabis spent the night in a basement under the old City Hall.

“They were afraid and a lot of people didn’t understand the language,” Sidhu said.

The Punjabis were forced out of town within the next day or two and none of them came back. It was not until the 1980s when a few Punjabi people returned to live in Bellingham, unaware of the history that was long since forgotten.

Sidhu said he and other Punjabis learned in 2007 about what happened when the Bellingham Herald wrote about the anniversary of the riots in an article titled, “Our View: 100 years after riot coverage: our apology.”

During that time in 1907, the Herald’s editorial board tolerated and encouraged racism in the paper, the article said.

Sidhu said after spending a lot of time researching and uncovering what happened in 1907, he and several other Punjabi community members brought up the subdued history to the former mayor and former Whatcom County executive who also were unaware.

“We said our community is upset and we want action taken,” he said.

Sept. 4 was declared a “Day of Healing and Reconciliation” by the city in acknowledgment of the violence against Sikhs.

In 2017, the Arch of Healing and Reconciliation was built as a way to honor early Whatcom County immigrants. The arch sits across from the current City Hall.

What is the Chardi Kala Project?

In Punjabi, “Chardi Kala’‘ means to keep your spirits uplifted by grace and doing the right thing, said Kamalla Kaur, executive director of the local Chardi Kala Project.

The Chardi Kala Project, led by Sikh community members, was started in 2018 to bridge the gap between Whatcom County Sikhs and the broader community. The ultimate goal is to reduce hate crimes against Sikhs through outreach and education.

According to their website, the Chardi Kala Project founders, Kirpal Singh and Phyllis Singh, decided to develop the foundation in response to increased discriminatory actions against Sikh Americans.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2018 about 60 hate crimes against Sikhs were reported.

Kaur said that Sikhs in Whatcom County witnessed parades of pickup trucks with large United States flags honking outside of the Sikh temple and yelling “go back to where you came from.”

Gurdwaras are temples where Sikhs come together to worship. There are four gurdwaras in Whatcom County, one in Blaine, two in Bellingham and one in Lynden.

Some work that the project has done includes inviting non-Sikh communities to the gurdwara to talk to older and younger Sikhs. They get the chance to learn more of the culture and traditions of Punjabis while eating food at the Langar hall provided by the kitchen. Langar is known as a community kitchen in gurdwaras.

“We noticed that spontaneous translations started happening that the people who are both Punjabi and English started talking to each other and laughing together,” Kaur said. “It’s absolutely the best intercultural thing I could imagine.”

On other occasions, volunteers of the Chardi Kala Project speak to groups such as K-12 students. According to their website, they teach students about the significance of turbans and why not to fear them. Volunteers are joined by Ragi musicians, who are Sikh musicians that play hymns.

To high school and college students, members of the Chardi Kala Project talk about hate crimes, how students can get involved in learning about new immigrant cultures and how they can advocate for justice, the website says.

The Chardi Kala Project has worked with the Interfaith Coalition and various religious organizations. They are an umbrella organization under the Chuckanut Health Foundation, and have partnerships with One Whatcom and Whatcom Educational Credit Union.

Chardi Kala’s “The Homeless Hunger Project” is a collaboration with HomesNow! to deliver food to unhoused people in two of Bellingham’s tiny house villages. Chardi Kala’s goal is to provide food every other week, especially during the colder seasons, Kaur said.

“That’s the first thing we started doing is feeding the homeless in Bellingham,” she said. “So we started taking food from the langar hall and feeding the homeless every two weeks.”

Kaur said that they take batches of vegetarian Indian food from the Guru Nanak Gursikh Gurdwara temple in Lynden, which can feed around 100 people, and hand it off to volunteers from HomesNow! so they can deliver it.

“We try to stay in relationship with [the unhoused people] and it is a wonderful thing because they’re just folks, you know?”

Kaur said many of the unhoused people in Bellingham have become Indian food fanatics from eating vegetarian curries to pakoras.

She said they are applying for grants to feed more unhoused people. They received some money from WECU and Industrial Credit Union.

When the history of Sikhs being driven out of Bellingham was uncovered, it brought the Punjabi community and broader community together to acknowledge the violence. Sidhu said the Punjabi community wanted to create cooperation instead of spreading animosity.

“We [want to ] show the teachings of our religion that you never forget, but forgive,” Sidhu said.