ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
In Oak Creek, Wis., a suburb just outside of Milwaukee, it's a Sunday morning at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Hundreds of worshippers are showing up for prayers, which will be followed by lunch. And as you walk into the main hall where people are praying, there's a bullet hole in the door frame. It's a reminder of what happened on a Sunday morning just like this 12 years ago, when a gunman who is affiliated with white supremacist groups came here and opened fire on the people who were praying.
KULWANT DHALIWAL: We were on our way to gurdwara when one of our family members called, said, don't go there. There have been a shooting.
SHAPIRO: Dr. Kulwant Dhaliwal is chairman of the board here at the gurdwara, or Sikh temple. He immigrated to the United States from India in 1968 and worked as a doctor here in Wisconsin for decades until he retired.
DHALIWAL: I couldn't believe it. It is hard to believe that somebody will come and shoot people at the place of worship. We don't bother anybody. We haven't done anything wrong.
SHAPIRO: Six people were killed that day. Four others were wounded, one of whom died of his injuries years later.
DHALIWAL: Since this tragedy happened, we're very careful where we go. So we have lost this freedom because of that shooting.
SHAPIRO: We're spending all week reporting from Wisconsin as part of an NPR series focusing on swing states called We, The Voters. And there are a few reasons we wanted to come to this gurdwara. It sits at the intersection of several election season topics. Immigration is one. Most of the people at this temple are immigrants. Identity is another. Sikhism originated in India, and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is half-Indian. Also, this community experienced a deadly white supremacist attack years before mass shootings at a Black church in Charleston, a synagogue in Pittsburgh and many other places. Gun violence and extremism have also come up for both candidates this year.
On the morning the shooter arrived here, women were in the kitchen, stirring big pots of curry and lentils. Sundays are when the temple opens its doors to feed anyone who's hungry to give back to the community at a free meal called langar. It's the same scene now more than a decade later.
PRABHJOT SINGH: I would say a rough number at our temple is 700 to 800 people.
SHAPIRO: Wow - on a Sunday.
SINGH: On a Sunday.
SHAPIRO: Prabhjot Singh is our escort and host.
SINGH: Everything from scratch prepared here every Sunday.
SHAPIRO: It smells incredible.
SINGH: Yes.
SHAPIRO: There's, like, cumin and cilantro and...
SINGH: Every spices - you can smell it, you know? Of course, ladies are expert in making rotis, you know? They're so fast. And if I will try it, it will take me a few minutes to make one. They can do many in minutes, you know?
SHAPIRO: By day, Singh is a banker raising two young kids with his wife. He's also secretary here at the gurdwara. This temple is a sacred place where they discourage public talk of politics. So while worshippers sit on the floor praying in the main hall, Singh leads us into the basement, where kids in Sunday school are learning Punjabi.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Speaking Punjabi).
SHAPIRO: Singh came to the U.S. to get his MBA when he was 23. And he says one big reason he stayed in Wisconsin was this temple.
SINGH: And I felt this was my second home.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
SINGH: And that was home away from home for me.
SHAPIRO: So what was it like, three years after you arrived in this country, for someone to show up in your home away from home and just start shooting people?
SINGH: That was one unbelievable thing. We knew, I mean, shootings were normal in U.S., but we never thought someone can target a religious place. That was one thing which took a long time to forget about and be - we felt safe again to come back.
SHAPIRO: And up until that point, did you ever feel discrimination?
SINGH: Not at that level where I would ever think that that person could hurt me. Even at the school, I went with turban. Whenever I saw that pushback - hey. Where are you from? Go back to Middle East. Go back to your country. That was a normal thing, but that gave me an opportunity. I took it positive. I was like, do you know about me, who I am? And I shared who I am. And I felt that after that, they respected me.
SHAPIRO: So we're now in this incredibly intense election season, and Wisconsin is one of the states at the center of it. So much of the debate has been about immigration. And you said about 80% of the members of this congregation are immigrants themselves.
SINGH: Exactly.
SHAPIRO: Does that make the debate more personal? How does that land with the people who come to this temple?
SINGH: There are a lot of things which is important to them. They care about family. That's important, whether income tax - hope it's not too much where they cannot achieve their American dream, you know?
SHAPIRO: So you're saying just because somebody may themselves be an immigrant does not mean immigration is the most important issue to them.
SINGH: I would say correct. And, again, reason is because they're already here, you know? They're part of the country now. Now they are trying to achieve the American dream, which is getting best education for their children, getting food at the table every day, making sure everyone is healthy and safe.
SHAPIRO: At the moment when Biden stepped down and endorsed Harris, was there an excitement about having a candidate of South Asian descent suddenly at the top of the ticket?
SINGH: I think it did not mean too much. It was just another candidate.
SHAPIRO: And is that because she's not Punjabi, she's not Sikh, or is it just because identity doesn't matter; issues matter? What is the reason for that?
SINGH: I knew people who came and were excited. Oh, we have someone from Indian descent, you know? But there were other people, you know, who said, I mean, we want to see what she does for us. That was the biggest thing, you know? It's just not, OK, you're Indian, now you're going to favor Indian.
SHAPIRO: I know this is a place of worship. It is not a place of politics. Generally speaking...
SINGH: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: ...Do you think the congregation is pretty mixed in who they support?
SINGH: We don't let people talk politics at the temple.
SHAPIRO: OK.
SINGH: But yeah. People do talk outside of the temple. They might have private conversation. You know, what do you think? And when Trump won last time, what I realized when I talked to a lot of business owners - they were the one who voted them. But personally, I don't like Trump. The reason for that is the word he uses are very, like, aggressive, harassing words for others, you know, whether it's for immigrants. I think lately he gave a speech about eating cat and dogs by immigrants. Maybe if that happened at one incident, it doesn't mean all of the 25 million people - immigrants are eating cats and dogs, you know?
SHAPIRO: It's interesting to me. That was a rumor that was debunked, and the police have said, we have no credible reports of it. But the accusation was in Ohio, and you, as somebody who came from India many years ago in Wisconsin, feel like it is being used to disparage immigrants of any...
SINGH: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: ...Descent anywhere in the country.
SINGH: Exactly.
SHAPIRO: This community knows how easily fear of immigrants can turn into violence against immigrants, but they refuse to barricade themselves and hide. The day before we met Prabhjot Singh, he joined other Sikhs at a citywide cultural event with the mayor of Oak Creek. They taught people how to tie the turbans that so many Sikh people wear as a sign of their faith. Singh told me one of the most important principles of his religion is sharing what you have with others. So on this Sunday, just past the security cameras and the hired guard at the door, anyone is invited to sit and eat for free as volunteers circle with seemingly endless ladles of curry, rice, lentils and more. All are still welcome here.
Tomorrow in our series We, The Voters, we end the week with a classic Wisconsin experience - the Friday fish fry at a supper club that's been owned by the same family for 50 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF LADY SONG, "GET READY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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