By this time next year Manteca will have a new street.
And the name will reflect a growing part of Manteca’s community fabric — Sikh Americans.
The street is a new connector between East Atherton Drive and Austin Road.
It is being built as part of the first phase of the Highway 99/ 120 Bypass connector project that starts next month.
San Joaquin Council of Governments asked Manteca Mayor Gary Singh — who serves on the board — for possible name suggestions.
He suggested Singh.
At first glance, the mayor might seem to be promoting himself.
That is not the case.
Singh made the suggestion because it honors part of Manteca’s community — Sikh Americans — who make up a large potion of a nearby neighborhoods as well as others south of the 120 Bypass.
Manteca’s Sikh temple is also south of the 120 Bypass.
Sikh Guru Gobind Singh Ji — who lived from 1666 to 1708 — asked all Sikhs to adopt the name "Singh," which means "lion" in Punjabi.
He viewed the name as a way to demonstrate their courage, strength, and fearlessness.
By giving a common name to all male Sikhs, he sought to emphasize the principle of equality among his followers, regardless of their social status. Sikh males typically take Singh as a middle or surname.
Sikh women, by the same token, typically adopt Kaur as a middle name or surname.
Kaur means prince or princess in Punjabi.
It is meant to symbolize gender equality in the religion.
The first immigrants from Punjab started arriving in the United States in the late 19th century. And most were Sikhs.
Punjab is a state in India.
There is not one religion in Punjab or India for that matter
The major religions of India include Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, and Buddhism.
Others include Baha’i Faith, Jainism, Judaism, and Zoroastrian to name a few.
In the initial “wave” in the last 19th century, some 3,000 people from India came into the United States via Angel Island, the West Coast’s answer in the Northern San Francisco Bay to New York’s Ellis Island.
Most initially ended up in the Central Valley, providing they manpower to build California’s fledging agricultural industry.
But it wasn’t until 1965 immigration reform when significant growth in immigration occurred. By the end of 2021, those arriving from India were the second largest group of immigrants to the United States, behind Mexicans and ahead of Chinese and Filipinos.
Unlike late 19th century immigrants from India, most today arrive via employment of family-sponsored avenues under United States immigration laws.
Roughly four-fifths of adult Indian immigrants have a college education.
That has led to Indian migrant households to have median household incomes more than double of other immigrants and native born Americans.
As for Punjabi Americans, they now number almost 320,000 according to the Census Bureau. Many of them are Sikhs, who are descendants of those who first settled in California almost 130 years ago.
Roughly half of all Punjabi Americans (156,700) live in California and account for 0.42 percent of the state’s population. New York is a distant second with 30,341 Punjabi Americans.
Most Punjabis in California are in the Central Valley and Bay Area.
Numerically, Yuba City has the highest number of Indians at 11,000 with the vast majority being Punjabi Americans.
Punjabi Americans account for 12.9 percent of the population of Sutter County.
That makes it the most proportionately Punjabi American county in the United States.
Livingston, in Merced County, has 2,798 Indian Americans residing within its city limits or 19.9 percent. Again, most are Punjabi. As such, Livingston is proportionally the most Punjabi American municipality in the United States.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
