Valarie Kaur (born February 14, 1981) is an American civil rights activist, documentary filmmaker, lawyer, educator and faith leader.[1] She was born and raised in Clovis, California, where her family settled as Sikh farmers in 1913.[2] When a family friend was the first person killed in a hate crime after September 11, 2001, she began to document hate crimes against Sikh and Muslim Americans, which resulted in the award-winning documentary film Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath.[3] Since then, she has made films and led story-based campaigns on hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, marriage equality, and Internet freedom.[4] She is the founder of Groundswell Movement,[5] considered "America's largest multifaith online organizing network,"[6] recognized for "dynamically strengthening faith-based organizing in the 21st century."[7] She is also co-founder of Faithful Internet which organizes people of faith to protect net neutrality.[8] She is currently the founder and director of the Revolutionary Love Project,[3] which produces stories, tools, and thought leadership to equip people to practice love as a public ethic and wellspring for social action.[9]
Kaur's filmmaking and activism have focused on gun violence prevention, racial profiling, immigration detention and prison practices, and Internet neutrality. Her activism has also included education work to combat hate crimes against Muslim and Sikh Americans. She founded the Groundswell Movement, a multifaith online organizing community,[18] and the Yale Visual Law Project.[19]
Divided We Fall (2008) was Kaur's first film, created with director Sharat Raju. It was shown in 200 U.S. cities.[26] They have made other documentary films together, including Stigma (2011) about the impact of New York City police's Stop and Frisk policy,[27]Alienation (2011) about immigration raids,[28]The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax (2012) about solitary confinement in prison,[29] and Oak Creek: In Memorium (2012) about the 2012 mass shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin.[30]
^"Stigma". yalevisuallawproject.org. Archived from the original on 2016-06-27. Retrieved 2016-06-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Alienation". yalevisuallawproject.org. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2016-06-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"The Worst of the Worst". yalevisuallawproject.org. Archived from the original on 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-06-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)