Grewal is Second Sikh in Recent Months to gain Prominent Position
It is a historical moment for civil rights with the nomination of Gurbir Grewal to Attorney General of New Jersey. New Jersey Governor-elect Phil Murphy made the appointment of Mr. Grewal.
New Jersey Elects First Sikh Attorney General[/tweetthis]
Mr. Grewal has had an illustrious career, serving as the past president of the South Asian Bar Association of New York and a member of the New Jersey Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association. He had previously been nominated as Bergen County prosecutor by former governor Chris Christie.
This will be the first Sikh Attorney General in the United States. This follows the election of the first Sikh mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, Ravi Balla.
Mr. Grewal will become New Jersey’s chief law enforcement official. Beyond the important symbolism this creates for more diverse representation, it has been demonstrated that officials with diverse background have an increased likelihood to push for civil rights cases. Pointly, Mayor Balla had dealt with racist and misleading flyers that accused him of terrorism hours before the election. There have been some notable cases of Sikhs being mistakenly called out as Muslims and victims of hate crimes.
Sikhism began in India 500 years ago and there are over 500,000 Sikhs that live in the United States. Manwinder Singh, the UNITED SIKHS Civil Rights Director, stated that “this is a great moment for the community and a victory for the Civil Rights movement in the United States.”