Pardeep Singh Kaleka: Putting on a brave face for everybody was basically the protocol. We knew that day that it was a white supremacist that had done it. The Sikh community is about resiliency through struggle. We take pride in what we call shaheedi, in martyrdom. We knew we had to present that resilient spirit. That was what it looked like: figuring out funeral arrangements, fundraising, doing media interviews—but really doing it with a spirit of resiliency, whether we felt it or not.

That process exists within every community that’s affected by violence. I think that’s what Parkland represents now. I remember myself saying, “Okay, we need to do something about this.” The urgency to act is definitely where they’re at right now. Inspiration is great, but dedication and commitment are even better. That’s what the next couple years look like: to go through our own healing process, so that we can be dedicated and committed for longer than a few weeks.

Johnson: What do you feel when news breaks of another mass shooting?

Kaleka: Every time something like this happens, unfortunately, being a brown man in America—I do genuinely say, “I hope it’s not a brown person.” Our community has been feeling that stigma, really, since 9/11.

You get triggered, and your mind goes completely numb, back to that situation that happened that day. The first day, I just spend processing. It’s really tough to formulate any response, because your feelings are fluctuating so much. You’re like, I feel pissed—I feel guilty that I couldn’t do more. I feel fortunate that I have my life, and my daughter forgot that notebook.

But eventually, you’re energized to keep building that message that we need to get to a safer society. Gun legislation is definitely on the table. But we also need to demilitarize our society, and change the violent narrative that exists, as a collective.

Johnson: And what are your feelings now, after Parkland? Do you feel like the climate has shifted?

Kaleka: I do. I feel like a lot of that has to do with the spirit of the youth. They’re not so inundated with the way that things were. That’s why I think the collective consciousness is changing.

After the temple shooting, the youth were not the establishment, or the people with most of the power within the temple structure. The youth really said we’ve got to do something about this. So we formed Serve2Unite, not simply as a way for people to know who we were, but for us to get out into the broader community. We realized very quickly that we were—not purposefully, but coincidentally, like every immigrant group—self-segregated. Serve2Unite was a vehicle to get out into the broader community.

That’s been who has been the most committed to it. It’s been the youth. People that are younger than me—the 17-year-olds, the 19-year-olds, the 21-year-olds—They all get it.

Johnson: You’ve been a police officer, a teacher, and a trauma therapist. How have those backgrounds informed how you think about gun violence?