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Poetry

Australia’s Got Talent
And It Discovers It In Sukhjit Kaur’s Slam Poem

AASHMITA NAYAR

 

 

 





Australia is perhaps not the easiest country in the world to be an immigrant in, and people perceived as outsiders have been targeted by bigots in the past.

So when a first generation Sikh-Aussie woman captured the daily injustices people of her community faced in the country in an incredible spoken-word poem, she left some of the audience in tears.

On 8 February, 2016, Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa appeared at ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ and decided to recite a spoken-word poem (“SWP”) that painted a hard-hitting picture of what the Sikh-Australian community faced in the country.

Sukhjit, a 21-year-old feminist activist, used dark humour in her poetry to leave the judges spellbound. She started off by asking the audience what makes them Australian, and then painted a heart-breaking picture of the bigotry faced by Australia’s minorities, including its Sikh citizenry.

“When you’ve been given such a loud voice, and when you have the confidence, you need to speak up for the voiceless,” she explained in a recent interview, adding that she wasn’t always an outgoing personality. “Humour and satire; that’s the thing Australia uses to get the messages across.”

The video was quick to go viral with 388,087 views on Facebook. However this is not the first time that she has spoken up on social issues in the country. She delivered a longer version of the poem last year in June at the Slamalamadingdong, a poetry slam.

Sukhjit also took to Twitter to thank the country for listening to her.

Before delivering her speech Sukhjit, who has been hooked onto spoken-word poetry for a few years now, asked people to click along if any of her words appealed to them. What started off as a trickle of clicks quickly gave way to a standing ovation. The judges were overcome with her unique style of combing “anger with heart and humour” and all of them were touched by her words.

Later, judge Kelly Osbourne even reached out to her on Twitter: “I bow down to you and your braveness.”

Needless to say, she got a unanimous vote to the next round.

Here’s her presentation:

“If you’re not in Australia, ‘where the bloody hell are ya?’ Remember the Bingle jingle, inviting the world to mix and mingle?

Where a fair go was your welcome mat, unless you’re of caramel descent and then ain’t nobody got time for that.

You see, rocking up for my first job at Coles, was like a scene from Border Patrol.

What makes
you Australian?

Is it a Southern Cross Tattoo or wombat stew crumbled with a Dunkaroo?

Do you think of a time when Australia’s learnt to share and care and dare to wear its heart on its face, fully aware that most of us in this place are far from fair, but brown and black and slow to attack?

But quick to embrace a warm Australia.

I’m confused as to why, on Australia Day, when the night sky spews bigot bile, I’m left traumatised.

When a teen rips off my uncle’s turban, I’m an enraged flame of pain and shame and sorrow, for tomorrow when a hooning ute throws a rotten peach at my dad and screams ‘go home, ya bloody terrorist.’

I plead to you Lara, where the bloody hell are we?

My people, the Sikhs, came here in 1860 with camels and carts and courageous hearts and look at the maxi Taxi, we’re still driving and steering this country in offices and hospitals and even on stage.

So when people tell me and my family to go home to where we came from, I reply with a smile, tongue-in-cheek, ‘mate, we’ve been right at home for the past 150 years!’

I’m not the one that’s a freak, I’m fully Sikh.”



[Courtesy: The Huffington Post. Edited for sikhchic.com]
February 10, 2016
 

Conversation about this article

1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), February 10, 2016, 8:10 PM.

I got this video sent via WhatsApp platform and it was difficult to watch but Sukhjit Kaur has done something only Sikhs can do and that is educate people who are deficient in morality, ethics and decency.

2: Manbir Singh Banwait  (Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada ), February 11, 2016, 11:13 AM.

She did a wonderful job in spreading the message in such a meaningful way. Bravo!

3: Pardeep Singh Nagra (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), February 11, 2016, 11:19 AM.

The comments and responses from the Judges say it all (not to mention leaving one of them in tears)! 1) "... That journey, it's like a movie in your head, you make everyone feel comfortable, felt like we knew you ..." 2) "... There was anger there but I think with heart and humour, just blew me away ..." 3) "... Found myself getting quite emotional, the voices of bigotry and hatred in this country are so loud and noisy, and yah, it is going to piss people probably, but stuff them because this is something that needs to be heard and I am really glad you have prime time to say it ..." 4) "... You may call it spoken word poetry, I would go so far as to say it is nation building myself ..." 5) "... I love for you to keep spreading that message ..." 6) "... There needs to be more people like you in this world ..." 7) "... Come back, say it again, say it louder ...!"

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And It Discovers It In Sukhjit Kaur’s Slam Poem"









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