It was not long ago, that a crazed man entered the inner sanctum of a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and killed everyone in sight.
That massacre resonated with those who are anti-guns, but it did not enjoy the same relevance in the news or in people's conversations as other like massacres.
And that might be because in some incredible, abstruse way, the American public still associates Sikhs with the terrorist acts of Muslim extremists.
But the horrible legacy of that event might have just generated a bright ray of hope.
The son of the slain Sikh temple leader, Amardeep Kaleka, is running against incumbent Paul Ryan for a seat in the Congress. And he might just have the right stuff to do so.
Paul Ryan is now pitted in that corner where all tea party candidates have been painted. With the shutdown, a backlash has begun against those members of the congress who seem to want to subvert the very order on which the country was founded, all in the name of a party which does not even have official standing, the Tea Party.
Kaleka, who is running as a Democrat, is running on a platform that highlights the need for transparency and accountability in a Congress run amok by lobbyists and special interest.
The killing of the Sikh temple was at the hand of a white supremacist, who opened fire and killed six people. He also took his own life. But the investigation by the FBI failed to publish a motive for the killing, something that should in itself disturb the more inquisitive citizens of this land.
Kaleka knows why the gunman opened fire on his father. It's the growing polarization by the news, and the climate of intolerance preached by the right wing politicians and the special interests who finance them.
Kaleka is a filmmaker, among other things. He makes documentaries that detail the human condition. One of them won an Emmy. It was called Jacob's turn, and had as its subject a Down syndrome boy.
Ryan is a Tea Party powerhouse. He has so much political power, that he can raise millions for his campaign at the drop of a hat. But Kaleka has an ace in his sleeve: he has the support and hopefully the financial backing of the Indian and Sikh community.
He also has the wind at his back. Ryan's supernova is quickly going dark following the shutdown debacle.
But Ryan is still a formidable character. He has won eight times, with an overwhelming majority. And he might have what Kaleka does not: the support of a majority that is white, insular and right leaning, although Milwaukee is a democrat leaning city.
Partial Source : Al Jazeera/ 10.15.13
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