In the suburbs and quiet lanes and busy streets of New York, hordes of people walk to their respective destinations. Mexicans, Indians, Africans, Chinese; New York is chock full of culture from around the world. Your eyes rove over everyone, but they are all so common here, that you don’t actually take notice…
Until your eyes fall on Vishavjit Singh. What’s so special about him, you ask? Picture this…
He is a Sikh man wearing a Captain America outfit complete with shield and a modified helmet turned into a turban.
Vishavjit Singh is a cartoonist. Political satire is his job. But apart from earning money by drawing funny things, he sometimes transforms into his alter ego – a Sikh Captain America. Upholding the ideologies of the real (not really) Captain America from the comics, Singh says he is very much against Donald Trump, and that he is “Making America hate again.”
Singh grew up in Washington, but now lives in New York full time, to actively campaign against Donald Trump winning the election for President.
“Captain America as a character would stand in complete opposition to Donald Trump and his candidacy. Today, besides ISIS, the festering of extreme right-wing and supremacist forces at home will be targets for Captain America’s wrath.”
Singh is very much against the social injustice and bigotry that Donald Trump promotes so ruthlessly and he actively talks to people, dressed in his Sikh Captain America avatar, to ask them their views on all of it. Speaking about his experience out in the streets of New York, he says, “Suddenly, I am like the ultimate patriot for fellow Americans – someone to be embraced, saluted, captured in pictures. Someone who represents America; someone who is one of ‘us.’”
Vishavjit also runs a postcard service called Send Sikh Note To Trump, which is like the “Get well soon” cards from Lage Raho Munnabhai.
He says it’s his own way of focusing his anger, along with many others, towards the madness that Donald Trump is causing. By sending him these messages, he aims to bring out the good side in Trump, which he firmly believes exists. Finishing off, he says, “I wish him well; I wish him compassion; I wish him to realize the violence of his words; I wish him a landslide loss in the elections for his own good.”
Vishavjit Singh, the Sikh Captain America, is a local hero to many, a harbinger of change in political outlook and one of the few people who support the right cause.
Vishavjit says he won’t rest until he sees Trump through his defeat in the elections and even then he will continue being the Sikh Captain America, speaking out against political and social injustice and intolerance. He says Captain America was the natural and obvious choice for him, given his history and the ideals he upheld, and no other superhero would’ve fit the bill.
You can watch Vishavjit’s journey below:
He’s the not-so-silent guardian who has the guts to speak for what’s right. He might not be the Sikh America needs, but the Sikh America deserves.
News source: The Washington Post
Cover image source