Sikh community rallies together to support Waukesha Christmas parade tragedy victims
WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Two weeks to the day of the Waukesha Christmas parade that took the lives of six people, people of all different backgrounds in the community are gathering together to continue to pray for and support victims, families and the City of Waukesha.
Members of the Sikh community came together Sunday, Dec. 5, at Veterans Park in Waukesha to pray for the community.
The Wisconsin Sikh community is sadly familiar with community tragedy, another reason why organizers say they're giving as much as they can to help those hurting.
"All Sikh community, all from Brookfield and Oak Creek, we all came over here to pray for them for their souls, God, give them strength, and their families, to bear this pain," said Inderjeet S. Dhillon, the Wisconsin Secretary of the Sikh Temple of Oak Creek.
When a white supremacist interrupted the morning of peace on August 5, 2012, at the Oak Creek Sikh Temple, killing six people with a gun before killing himself.
"We seen it first hand when it happened in Oak Creek almost 10 years ago," said Gurduara Brookfield Wisconsin President Gurcharan Grewal. "We know how it feels, it's hard to cope."
Members say that's why they gathered Sunday, to take a stand against hate and violence of all kinds.
"Good and bad people is everywhere," Dhillon said. "It don't matter what color, it don't matter community, it don't matter where it comes from wherever it is."
Grewal told CBS 58 Sunday that their community will also helping out victims financially.
"We will be donating around $14-thousand dollars for the Waukesha Community United Fund, and we'll present them the check next week" Grewal said.
Sikh leaders also stated that although our community is full of differences, we're all Americans-- and no true moral code says killing people like this is right.
"None of their religions are going to say take someone's life away, nobody is going to say that," said Dhillon.
The Sikhs say they planned to donate their check today but the office was closed today.
Members say they plan to make the donation later this week.