Amended in Assembly April 8, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 34

Introduced by Assembly Members Cooper and Cooley

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(Coauthor: Assembly Member McCarty)

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February 25, 2015

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 34—Relative to the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 34, as amended, Cooper. November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms: remembrance.

This measure would remember those who lost their lives during the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms and massacre.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, November 2014 marked the begin delete 30th end delete begin insert 30 year end insert
anniversary of the horrific anti-Sikh pogroms, which claimed the
lives of thousands of Sikhs throughout India in the first week of
November 1984; and

WHEREAS, Many Sikh lives were saved from the massacre by
compassionate Indians of all religious backgrounds, who put their
own lives at risk by providing shelter to their Sikh friends and
neighbors; and

WHEREAS, Sikhs were beaten with iron rods; forcibly shorn
of their hair, which Sikhs are religiously required to maintain uncut;
doused with kerosene; and set on fire; and

WHEREAS, Sikh women, many of whom lost their husbands,
sons, and fathers during the pogroms, were gang raped and sexually
assaulted by the attackers; and

WHEREAS, Sikh homes, businesses, and houses of worship
(gurdwaras) were looted, damaged, and destroyed during the
pogroms; and

WHEREAS, The pogroms resulted in the intentional destruction
of many Sikh families, communities, homes, and businesses; and

WHEREAS, Eyewitnesses, journalists, and human rights
activists have compiled evidence showing that government and
law enforcement officials organized, participated in, and failed to
intervene to prevent the killings through direct and indirect means;
and

WHEREAS, Individuals and organizations throughout the world,
recognizing the need for justice, continue to demand prosecution
of those responsible for the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms;
now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature remember those who lost
their lives during the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms and
massacre; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.