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JUN 5, 2025
June 5, 2025 (Hartford, CT) — Today, the Sikh Coalition is pleased to share that Senate Bill 38, which would have replaced Connecticut’s social studies standards (which already meaningfully include Sikhs and Sikhi) with new standards that primarily feature Sikhi in the context of terrorism, has failed to advance.
SB 38 called for the implementation of the so-called “American Birthright” social studies standards, which are created and promoted by an advocacy group called the Civics Alliance. As a reminder, social studies standards set the bar for what is taught in our classrooms: they identify the subjects that are shaped into curricula, which then inform individual teacher’s lesson plans. Unfortunately, the “American Birthright” standards only mention Sikhi two times—the most prominent of which is for students to learn about “Sikh terror” as they “describe the history of independent India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka” in their 10th grade history classes.
In October of 2023, Connecticut’s State Board of Education voted to implement new standards that represent some of the country’s most comprehensive inclusion of Sikhi, Sikh history, and Sikh contributions to the United States. SB 38 would have replaced those standards with the “American Birthright” standards—including their focus on “Sikh terror.” It also would have removed the state’s locally-driven standards process in favor of a ‘one size fits all’ model driven by political ideology rather than student, teacher, and community needs and concerns. Thankfully, with the conclusion of Connecticut’s legislative session, the bill is no longer at any risk of becoming law.
Over the course of the past several months, Sikhs in Connecticut and across the nation worked to push back on this legislation and the Civics Alliance in general, including:
Four Connecticut gurdwarae and two Connecticut-based Sikh organizations joining a letter of opposition to SB 38;
More than 630 Sikhs and allies across the country sending 13,000 messages to state legislators publicly affiliated with Civics Alliance and/or pushing legislation similar to SB 38; and
Nearly 50 Sikh organizations, gurdwarae, SSAs, and Sikh academics joining an open letter opposing the Civics Alliance framing.
As we continue our years-long campaign to ensure Sikh inclusion in social studies standards in an accurate and constitutionally-appropriate manner, the Sikh Coalition will continue to stand against harmful characterizations of our communities. We believe that Sikh children deserve an education where they can see themselves reflected in classroom discussions—not one where they have to defend their faith and their history against misconceptions and misrepresentations.
As always, the Sikh Coalition urges you to practice your faith fearlessly.
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