Ambedkar in New York: Memory, Relationship, and the Work Ahead
Hindus for Human Rights was honored to be present at the Shri Guru Ravidass Gurudwara in Queens for the installation of a new statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The moment carried a quiet gravity. In a world where Ambedkar’s image is so often vandalized, erased, or literally caged to protect it from dominant-caste violence, witnessing his likeness installed with care, pride, and permanence in New York felt both moving and instructive.
This was not our first encounter with the Ravidassia tradition, nor with this community’s long struggle for dignity. At the very beginning of Hindus for Human Rights, one of our foundational journeys took us to Varanasi — to the birthplace of Guru Ravidas himself. That visit shaped our understanding of caste not as an abstract injustice, but as a living system contested through devotion, poetry, resistance, and community-building. To stand now with the Ravidas community in New York felt like a continuation of that relationship across time, geography, and diaspora.
The event itself was rich with meaning. The Shri Guru Ravidass Gurudwara is the only Dalit Sikh place of worship in New York, and the installation of Ambedkar’s statue there makes visible a lineage of anti-caste thought and practice that refuses to be marginalized. In India, Ambedkar statues are routinely defaced precisely because they challenge who is allowed to be honored in public space. Here, in a city already dense with monuments to power, placing Ambedkar openly and unapologetically is a statement about whose histories matter.
But this moment is not only about commemoration. It is about continuity and commitment. Our presence at the Gurudwara reflects a longer arc of relationship-building with Dalit and Bahujan communities, and it also points toward the work ahead. Hindus for Human Rights looks forward to working closely with the Shri Guru Ravidass Gurudwara and the Ravidas community in New York as we support and advocate around forthcoming anti-caste legislation. Statues matter — and so do policies, protections, and sustained organizing.
Ambedkar’s legacy has never been static. It lives where communities gather, where faith and politics intersect, and where people insist on dignity despite systems designed to deny it. To witness that legacy taking shape in New York — grounded in devotion, diaspora memory, and shared struggle — was an honor. The task now is to ensure that this visibility translates into lasting solidarity and concrete change.
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