BILL NUMBER: ACR 34	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Cooper and Cooley
    (   Coauthor:   Assembly Member  
McCarty   ) 

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2015

   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  30th   30
year  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.