me a lot about his history, why he got in to and out of white supremacy. Now, I don’t concentrate as much on why. I focus on let’s do something about it.”
STANDING TOGETHER FOR SOMETHING BETTER
P
ardeep, Amardeep and Michaelis want to build a better world. They founded Serve 2 Unite, an interfaith nonprofit organization committed to changing the narrative of violence perpetuated by hate groups. Serve 2 Unite sponsors events and opportunities for non-Sikhs to learn about Sikhism. It also sponsors a speaking tour, which is what brought Pardeep and Michaelis to the Cudahy High School auditorium to talk with students about the destructive force of hatred. “Arno is a very compassionate person,” Pardeep says. “All the damage that he’s done, he wants to erase through good deeds. We go out to schools to tell our stories.” Through a collaboration with Arts @ Large, a Milwaukee organization that works with public school administrators to blend art with academics, they are establishing Serve 2 Unite chapters at local schools. They hope that through the chapters, school communities of administrators and students can respond to topics that excite or disturb them, ranging from racism to bullying to care
team-building experience taught by Michaelis and Pardeep. The class, Pardeep explains, helps students learn to work together to reach a common goal. The lesson struck home. Student Akyia, age 14, says she got over her fear of rapelling with help from classmates. “I had to take a leap of faith,” she says. Classmate Desmond, age 14, nods in agreement. Serve 2 Unite also launched an online magazine to provide a forum where students publish original poems, narratives, music and artistic commentary alongside commentary from local and global activists. Providing a forum for publication resonates with Michaelis, who says the act of writing his book, Life After Hate, helped him find inner peace. “Writing my book was an act of self-preservation,” Michaelis says. “It helped me get to the place to feel and transform the hurt I caused into something that could help people. The transforming power of writing will help students work through their own struggles, which will help others.” Although initially planned to be a quarterly publication, Pardeep says early activity convinces him Serve 2 Unite the Magazine will become a monthly publication. Currently, according to Pardeep, seven Milwaukee schools are connected to the magazine with students posting
work in each online issue. Stories and interviews written by several Westside Academy students are posted in the mix. Today, as the Sikh community approaches the first anniversary of Aug. 5, 2012, Pardeep says, the work of Serve 2 Unite helps ease the pain. He wants people to also remember the good brought about through the tragedy. “Moms and dads, sons and daughters miss their loved ones, so we’ll mark the one-year anniversary with the respect due to the sobriety of the situation,” he says. “But we’ll also celebrate what we’re doing with it today.” m
THE INTERFAITH NONPROFIT SERVE 2 UNITE FOCUSES ON CHANGING THE NARRATIVE OF VIOLENCE PERPETUATED BY HATE GROUPS.
for the environment through writing or music or art or any creative activity. Pardeep and Michaelis are convinced it will be young people who turn this tide. The Serve 2 Unite chapter at Westside Academy II recently participated in a rockclimbing class funded with a grant from Arts @ Large at Milwaukee’s Turner Hall. Teacher Jennifer Koss brought her 7th- and 8th-graders to participate in a fun — and, maybe — scary
Pardeep Kaleka and Arno Michaelis say a rock-climbing class offers a perfect metaphor for teaching young people that they have to work hard to reach worthwhile goals.
Marquette Magazine
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