CNN network’s acclaimed show “United Shades of America” has won yet another Emmy Award-this time for its episode “Sikhs in America" which was aired in May earlier this year.
Show's editor Bryan Eber took home the Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program.
Emmy Ward or an Emmy is an American award that recognizes excellence in the television industry, and is the equivalent of an Academy Award for film or a Tony for theater and the Grammy for music.
In the hour-long episode showcasing the lives of Sikhs in the US, the show’s host W. Kamau Bell travels to various parts of the country to document the experiences and journeys of prominent Sikhs, touching upon various issues related to identity, inclusion and discrimination faced by the people of the faith especially after the 9/11 attacks.
The show opens with the host walking around the streets of America showing random people a picture of a Sikh man in a striking yellow turban on his mobile phone, asking them if they could identify his religion.
While most of them fail, one of them thinks the man in the picture is a Muslim, with the host establishing that indeed “very little is known about the Sikh religion.”
So Mr Bell sets out to clear the “misunderstanding.”
During the episode, Mr Bell is seen in conversation with Sikh Coalition Co-Founder Harpreet Singh who shares with him the real meaning of being a Sikh calling it a religion of “love and this love requires sacrifice for others specially the oppressed, the marginalized and the downtrodden.”
Snapshot from the episode where the host can be seen showing a picture of a Sikh to a passer-by in the US Source: YouTube
Mr Bell also interviews America first ever Sikh Mayor Preet Didbal of the Yuba City who talks about the overwhelming response she received from within the community when she got elected.
Seasoned with various historical facts about Sikhism, the show’s host travels to various parts of America where he speaks with a Sikh child, a farmer and then actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia who talks about being a Sikh in New York and how he was attacked after 9/11.
Mr Bell also interviews Sikh lawyer and an established film maker and leader Valerie Kaur who also talks about the recent spike in hate crimes against Sikhs in America.
According to a 2009 report released by the Sikh Coalition, 41 percent of Sikhs surveyed in New York City had been called derogatory, while at least 9 percent of Sikh adults have experienced physical assaults since 9/11 because of their religious identity.
