- Pardeep Singh Kaleka has been a valued member of the Milwaukee community and has served in the public arenas of education, law enforcement, and social services.

Pardeep is also the son of the late Satwant Singh Kaleka, the founder of the Oak Creek Sikh Temple of Wisconsin where on August 5th, 2012, a mass shooting took place that took the a life of Pardeep's father, along with five others.

Pardeep sits down with 1036 producer Emmy Fink to share his thoughts on the American dream.

(inspirational music) - [Emmy] When you think of the term "The American Dream," do you look at what your dad did by coming over here with his family and wanting better?

- Yeah, I do think about my father and immigrants like him, and I think those people that have been here and paved the way, those people that have have essentially been the leaders on civil rights movements have, you know, there's been so many people who embody the American dream.

And I think it's such a, you know, when I think about it, I think about a promise.

And I think about this country, and again, the life that my father led was one where he'd left the homeland.

He'd left everything that was comfortable to him to come and make it here.

And he was a small business owner.

He was a valued community member.

He essentially built this gurdwara, and built a sanctuary for other people to come to when he didn't have one when he first came here.

So I think about all of that, just courage that is embodied in the human spirit for everyone that does come.

And I think about, when we think about the American dream, of this promise of what we want to do as we go forward.

How do we make this country much more loving, much more inclusive, welcoming?

How do we welcome in the refugees and the people who are looking for refuge?

How do we do that in a way that also respects the people that are here?

When we think about a history of America, I think about all of the pain that has been felt, and we have communities (crowd chanting) that continue to feel this pain.

We have been facing, you know, two and a half, so many years of a pandemic that has revealed pandemics within the pandemic, you know, inequalities and injustices that continue to plague us.

And when I think about the American dream, I think about how we as a country, as a collective, need to get better at listening to pain.

And when we think about listening to pain, you know, not, again, traditional sort of mental health coping mechanisms of when we listen to somebody's pain.

Understanding and appreciating, and then doing something about it.

Not denial, not guilt around it, not the sense of rationalization or minimizing that we traditionally kind of go towards, but this genuine acceptance of, here is what is going on.

And here's what that looks like in our adults, in our children.

Here's what it does to our neighborhoods.

Here's what it does to communities.

One time, we called Milwaukee and Wisconsin, we used to call this a small village and a family.

And now we've gotten to a place where we don't redirect another person's child.

We don't really live as a community.

We live as individuals living in different houses and different neighborhoods and different zip codes.

And I think that at some point, this pandemic would've taught us one thing, is that we are all in this together.

(congregation singing) - [Emmy] Pardeep shared with me that the American dream and its need for equality is even found as a main pillar in the Sikh religion.

Equality among all races and religions, showing true compassion and love to all people.

(leader singing in foreign language) A tradition following a Sikh gathering is a free communal meal called langar.

And this represents selfless service to all, a promise that the American dream is still alive and well.

- And America still is very much, and I know over the years we have suffered a bit from what we thought America was, but outside of this country, a lot of people still do look at us as the beacon, as a place that you can say, "You know what?

There's goodness."

And if there is injustices that exist in the world, then we can count on Americans and people in this country to be the ambassadors of goodwill.

But I think that we need to mean it internally, and we need to heal from the inside out.

And that means that we look at, you know, the past 500 years, the past 1,000 years and say, "You know what?

I hear your pain.

And now, since I've heard your pain and understood it, I'm gonna do something about it."

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Milwaukee PBS.

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