The Brief

In the dirt path between a rural road and a persimmon orchard, around 30 people are walking, kicking up dust with each step. Children run towards the front of the march, where a group of older men with turbans and thick beards keep the pace at a steady clip.

For three weeks in October, a group of Sikhs — some joining for just an hour or a day — have walked 350 miles up the spine of California’s Central Valley, from Bakersfield to Sacramento. Stopping at Gurdwaras, or Sikh temples, along the way, they finished their journey on Friday, with a rally organizers say drew about 1,300 people at the state capitol. The events commemorate a Sikh massacre that happened in India 40 years ago. They also call attention to growing threats the Sikh community says has followed them here.

The Fearless for Justice march was organized by Jakara Movement, a Sikh advocacy group. Jakara’s executive director, Naindeep Singh, says they intentionally traced the old 99 freeway that Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers walked during their 1966 strike.

Sikhs have been farming in the Central Valley for over a century, but many fled here in the years after 1984. That is when former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent the army to occupy the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh sites, to rout out separatists who were agitating for their own Sikh state, a place they called Khalistan. In response, Gandhi’s Sikh bodyguards assassinated her. What followed were anti-Sikh riots that killed thousands, and a decades-long effort by the Indian government to stamp out an armed Sikh insurgency.

Last year, the California Legislature recognized what happened in 1984 as a genocide. A federal resolution to make the same recognition was introduced this month in Congress.

“My mom came to Modesto from Punjab in 1984, you know?” says Jakara’s Samirpreet Singh. “She lived through that.”

He says many younger Sikhs grew up in the shadow of that trauma.

“They left India to find protection here, to find peace here and now that same government they fled is sending folks here to the U.S. and Canada to essentially assassinate those same folks' children and grandchildren.”

Members of the Sikh community pray at the closing event at the California State Capital where the 300 mile march concluding starting from Bakersfield.

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A moral comprised of photos of the victims of the 1984 Sikh Genocide at the California State Capital. Sacramento, California. November 1, 2024. The Jakara Movement’s powerful "Nirbhau & Niyaa Morcha" (Fearless for Justice March), a 24-day, 350-mile on foot march from Bakersfield to Sacramento commemorates 40 years since the 1984 Sikh Genocide.

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A growing threat: Transnational repression

In Canada last year, a Sikh activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was assassinated in a Gurdwara parking lot. Canada alleges that India’s Interior minister, who is also the chief aide to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was behind the murder. In New York last year, the FBI says it stopped another assassination plot against a prominent Sikh activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannum. Two Indian nationals have been indicted, one of them a former Indian intelligence officer. India denies involvement in either case.

These incidents are both examples of alleged Transnational Repression, known as TNR. The FBI defines TNR as foreign governments working in the U.S. to silence, harass, or even kill people from the diaspora.

Standing in the Ceres Gurdwara after a long day of walking, Simarpreet Singh says it’s a scary time to be a Sikh. “We have evidence that the Indian government is going around literally naming people who are in this building today, calling them things like 'they're a terrorist,' because we represent something that they are trying to repress.”

Marchers, Amarjit Singh, center, and Karnail Singh, right, pray at Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple before finishing the last 3 miles of their 300 mile march to California State Capital all the way from Bakersfield.

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Both the assassination and the alleged assassination attempt were made on members of the group Sikhs for Justice. Earlier this year, someone fired at a car on a California highway. The three men inside were members of that same Sikh group, though the incident is still under investigation. Sikhs for Justice continues to advocate for an independent Sikh state of Khalistan. The Indian government says they are terrorists, but the group says they are activists who are using peaceful and legal means in a fight for Sikh self determination. That includes an ongoing non-binding referendum where Sikhs are voting to show support for a Khalistani state. But it isn’t just Sikh separatists facing threats, says Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, the first Sikh American elected to California state office.

“This is an attempt by the Indian government to annihilate and destroy an entire community,” she says.

This year Bains introduced legislation which aims to better track and explain Transnational Repression in California, including training local law enforcement on how to deal with the threats.

“Right now there are attempts by the Indian government to silence and to push back against the freedom of speech that is being carried out by Sikh Americans,” she says. Critics of the Indian government say democracy is faltering under Modi and his Hindu Nationalist government, which they say attacks and marginalizes other minority groups and religions, including Sikhs and Muslims.

Sacramento Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains speaks at the closing ceremony of the Fearless for Justice March at the California State Capital.

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Members of the Sikh community pray at the closing event at the California State Capital where the 300 mile march concluding starting from Bakersfield.

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Mike Kai Chen

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Opposition to the Transnational Repression bill

After proposing the bill, Bains says she received death threats and other messages accusing her of protecting terrorists. She says the TNR bill was killed in committee after a flurry of opposition letters from Hindu advocacy organizations. They claimed that naming India in a list of countries engaged in TNR, would put a target on the backs of Hindu Americans. One of the opposing groups is CoHNA -- or the Coalition of Hindus in North America. “Anti-India hate or laws, if they came to be, would be used as a cover for anti-Hindu hate,” says CoHNA’s Pushpita Prasad.

After proposing the bill, Bains says she received death threats and other messages accusing her of protecting terrorists. She says the TNR bill was killed in committee after a flurry of opposition letters from Hindu advocacy organizations. They claimed that naming India in a list of countries engaged in TNR, would put a target on the backs of Hindu Americans. One of the opposing groups is CoHNA -- or the Coalition of Hindus in North America. “Anti-India hate or laws, if they came to be, would be used as a cover for anti-Hindu hate,” says CoHNA’s Pushpita Prasad.

Prasad points to a spate of vandalism incidents at Hindu temples across the Bay Area last year, including graffiti that called the Indian prime minister a terrorist, and said “Khalistan Zinzabad” -- which means “long live Khalistan.”

Prasad says hate towards Hindus has been largely ignored by the media and law enforcement. She worries that naming India as a country engaged in TNR could be used against her and groups like CoHNA.

Kamaljit Kaur, a volunteer of the Jakara Movement, poses for a portrait in front of a moral of the victims of the 1984 Sikh Genocide at the California State Capital.

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“We know that they won't go after people who attack Hindus, but they might start coming after Hindus who are advocating for equal treatment and human rights for Hindus, because whatever I say could be twisted into saying, ‘oh, I'm an agent of this and that.’”

Bains says that is not how the bill would work.

“This bill didn't call out any religion or dialect, it called out a country,” she says. “India belongs to a lot of different religions and dialects and ethnicities, not just one.”

Bains plans to reintroduce the TNR bill next session. In September, Congressman Adam Schiff introduced the federal Stop Transnational Repression Reporting Act, after the 2023 attempted assassination of Pannun.

Members of the Sikh community pray at the closing event at the California State Capital.

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A meeting and an accusation

Naindeep Singh, who helped organize the Fearless for Justice march, says the fight against TNR and other kinds of suppression of Sikh activism has become deeply personal in the last year. Singh says neither Jakara Movement nor he advocate for Khalistan, an independent Sikh state -- although he supports the right of others to speak out for that cause.

Singh was born and raised in Fresno, where he’s an elected school board member. He recalls learning about a meeting that happened last fall – a meeting he wasn’t at, but where his name was mentioned.

The meeting was between a group of Hindu residents, the Fresno mayor and then-police chief, Paco Balderama.

“I do recall meeting with a group in the fall of 2023,” Balderrama tells NPR.

Balderrama says during his tenure as police chief it was common to meet with representatives from Fresno’s diverse communities. What was uncommon were the accusations being made in this meeting -- that Singh and two other prominent local Sikh community members were somehow involved in criminal activity, even potentially violent. He says he felt like he was being pushed to investigate them.

“There’s no smoking gun,” Balderrama says. “I'm not going to go out there and go after these three people that they named because simply -- I don't have enough information to say that they've committed any crime.”

He says back then he didn’t understand the tensions between some in the Hindu and Sikh communities.

“Now, understanding the political impact that it has, you know, I maybe see a reason for them coming forward and saying, hey, ‘they did this’ when maybe they didn't,” Balderrama says.

Earlier this year another Hindu advocacy group, the Hindu American Foundation or HAF held a training on Hinduphobia for some California police chiefs and DA’s. According to HAF’s LinkedIn, some representatives from the Justice Department and Homeland Security were also there. HAF’s training material calls Sikhs for Justice a hate group, and suggests law enforcement “monitor the social media platforms for US-based groups and individuals with ties to Khalistan terror groups who advocate violence and fundraise in furtherance of Khalistan." They also ask law enforcement to "investigate Khalistan attacks against Hindu temples and devotees as hate crimes." In a public statement, leading Sikh advocates say the trainings push potential misinformation, adding that there is "no evidence that pro-Khalistan or Sikh individuals are responsible" for the vandalization of Hindu temples in California. HAF declined to comment for this story, and has strongly denied they have any connection to the Indian government.

Marchers pray at Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple before finishing the last 3 miles of their 300 mile march to California State Capital all the way from Bakersfield.

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Mike Kai Chen

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NPR

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Marchers walk the last 3 miles from Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple to the California State Capital after a 300 mile journey starting all the way from Bakersfield.

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At heart is who gets to define who is a terrorist, Singh says. He says training around Transnational Repression, is best left in the hands of the Justice Department.

Most Southern California renters continue to struggle to find housing they can afford. An important — and for some, possibly life-changing — option opened up on Monday for low-income residents.

The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) began accepting applicants for its waitlist for public housing for a limited time.

Tracie Mann, the chief of programs for LACDA, said the waitlist was last open in April 2024.

“We need to refresh the list, get new families who are interested in applying, not only to our family sites, but also to our senior sites,” she said.

Mann said she expects more people to apply now because of the sharp rise in the cost of living.

“We know that housing is a serious need here within the region of Los Angeles County, and having LACDA in a position to be able to offer public housing units to those most in need is just so… critical,” she said.

The rent in these county-owned and managed units is generally capped at 30% of a household’s gross income. That limit helps families build savings, said  Justin Fitzsimmons, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

“It is a really valuable resource and can be a great opportunity for people to be able to build wealth in this economy and set up their generations in the future,” he said.

Orchard Arms is a public housing property with 183 units in Valencia. It's reserved for seniors.

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It’s common, Fitzsimmons said, to see clients come to his office for legal help after a life event, such as an accident or major illness that has depleted their savings.

"Public housing is a really wonderful opportunity for a person to help to weather those events that life throws your way," he said.

The waitlist application window opened at 8 a.m. Monday and is set to close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16.

Here’s who qualifies and how to apply

To qualify, families must be earning significantly less than the median income in L.A. County. There are different tiers, Mann said, including 30% and 50% of that median income.

People in L.A. County will fall below the 50% threshold if they earn up to $58,300 per year. Families of four will meet the cutoff if they earn no more than $83,300 per year.

Follow this link for more information about how to apply. If you’ve already registered with LACDA, you can apply at this link.

South Bay Gardens is a public housing property with 100 units in South Los Angeles.

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You can seek help with your application by calling LACDA at (626) 586-1522 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

LACDA staff also helps people complete their online applications in person at their offices in Alhambra. Their address is 700 W. Main St., Alhambra.

Location, location, location

LACDA oversees public housing on 68 properties for more than 6,600 residents. The agency is opening up wait list registration at only 16 of those sites. Thinking about which location to apply to is important because if you apply to a location and you don’t accept the unit that you’re offered, you will be removed from the waiting list until it opens back up.

People leave public housing units for various reasons, Mann said, such as moving outside the county, finding another apartment or facing eviction. She said LACDA’s public housing program averages 300 vacancies per year. Wait times can be months or longer, depending on vacancies at each property.

Applications for the smaller properties will be capped at 1,000 applications, and their waitlists will close early if that threshold is reached before Sept. 16.

You can find more information about the 16 sites opening their waitlists at this link.

Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is legally contesting her siblings’ plan to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% minority ownership stake in the team to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, according to a letter obtained Monday by the Associated Press.

ESPN and The Athletic first reported that the siblings had voted to sell the family trust’s remaining interest in the 17-time NBA champion team purchased by their father, Jerry Buss, in 1979. The decision would end Jeanie Buss’ tenure as the Lakers’ governor because that job requires at least 15% ownership of the team.

Jeannie Buss’ attorney, Adam Streisand, wrote to representatives for her five siblings to state that any decision to sell the family trust’s ownership stake could not be “effectuated without approval of the current co-trustees, Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.”

The letter further states that the co-trustees “are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner. Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

Jeanie Buss has been the Lakers’ governor since Jerry Buss’ death in 2013, and she led the family’s decision to sell a controlling stake in the Lakers to Dodgers owner Mark Walter last year at a valuation of $10 billion. Walter, who is under federal investigation for tax issues, abruptly reached a deal earlier this month to flip the Lakers to Kushner and Iger at a valuation of $12.5 billion, another record for a pro sports team.

Venture capitalist Kushner and former Disney CEO Iger are reportedly buying about 65% of the team from Walter. They would own about 83% if they reach a deal with the Buss siblings — and Jeanie Buss would lose the governor role that she had been slated to keep at least through 2030 under the deal with Walter.

Sibling rivalry

The siblings have been in frequent conflict since their father’s death, with Jeanie firing Jim from his job as the Lakers’ head of basketball operations in 2017, followed a week later with a lawsuit against her brothers amid an attempt by Jim and Johnny to oust Jeanie from her role as the Lakers’ controlling owner.

Not all of the six Buss siblings — Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — were in favor of the deal despite retaining their family trust’s minority ownership stake, and Joey and Jesse were fired from their front-office jobs with the team last November.

The siblings say they voted this month to sell their family’s remaining interest in the Lakers, but Jeanie Buss claims any vote is void. ESPN reported that Jeanie Buss was the only sibling who didn’t support the final sale.

“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction,” the Buss family said in a statement. “We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles, but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

In his letter, Streisand said Joey and Jesse Buss have leaked information to ESPN for many years “for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”

Jerry Buss was a chemist and real estate investor who bought the Lakers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the Forum arena from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million. The Lakers quickly entered a renaissance in which they became known for their flashy “Showtime” style of play while winning five NBA titles between 1980 and 1988 behind Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

While the NBA and professional sports became increasingly more corporate, the Lakers remained essentially a family business despite their massive profile and steady success. Jerry Buss and the Lakers have employed many of the basketball world’s greatest players and coaches of the past five decades, and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to five additional championships between 2000 and 2010 before LeBron James added the 17th in 2020.

The sale agreement with Kushner and Iger still must be approved by the NBA’s board of governors, and the process could take months.

Topline:

Cost-of-living: Latinos favored Democrats by 34% when it came to the question about who's better handling cost-of-living. “ It is the economy, cost of living and affordability that is, by a far measure, the issue driving Latino voters and Latino sentiments,” said Mike Madrid, Republican political consultant and founder of the Latino Working Class Project.

More support for Dems? No. This does not mean Latino voters are completely satisfied with how Democrats are running things in California.  "They are just as unhappy with Democrats,” said David Binder, founder of David Binder Research, which helped conduct the poll.

What this means for the gubernatorial race: An overwhelming amount of Latino voters are supporting Xavier Becerra over Steve Hilton, 72% to 24%.  ”If Xavier Becerra wins the election in November, it'll be incumbent upon him to prove that he is also working on behalf of Latino voters and all working class voters to help bring down costs and make things more affordable,” Binder said.