The March 4 shooting and deaths of Surinder Singh, 65, and Gurmej Atwal, 78, brought a region together with the coalition’s involvement. The elderly Sikhs were shot while taking their routine afternoon stroll in their Elk Grove neighborhood. Police have not arrested any suspects in the shooting, which was believed by many to be a hate crime, as local leaders offer rewards exceeding $42,000 for information on the incident. Here is an excerpt from Susie Wong’s remarks, chair of the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Tolerance and an OCA Sacramento boardmember, at Gurmej Atwal’s funeral, one of two Sikh American grandfathers who was shot to death.

“Our deepest condolences to the Atwal family. The tragic loss of both Mr. Atwal and Mr. Singh is a stark reminder of the challenge that lies ahead in our work to promote understanding and acceptance of different cultures, backgrounds and faiths. As a community we were tested during this time, to bring a sense of understanding during this difficult time. Our grief has turned to resolution, and coalition members have all joined together with the Sikh Community to work either directly or behind the scenes to help with this senseless loss. Community leaders, legislators - both democrats and republicans - lawmakers - namely the Elk Grove Police Department, FBI, U.S. Attorney, and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department - all have led with their compassion, sense of humanity and what is morally right. Since this tragedy, your Sikh leadership has become a member of our coalition and of coarse we will continue to help and support the Sikh community. Mr. Atwal’s and Mr. Singh’s human spirit will serve as an inspiration in the days ahead and give deeper meaning to our coalition’s role of creating safe and healthy communities for our families and children to live - places where we can live with tolerance and acceptance of different cultures, faiths and backgrounds.”

Following the Sikh shooting, the Indus Valley Chamber of Commerce approached OCA Sacramento with concerns of potentially being singled out for similar crimes. The group’s fears stem from incidents following 9-11, where there were crimes instigated against Sikhs who were mistaken for Muslims. Through the help of the coalition, a town hall meeting was held led by Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones, FBI Supervising Special Agent Lee Witkowski of the Civil Rights Unit, and Executive Assistant to U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, Laurel White.

At another meeting, Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park) spoke to the coalition about bullying bills both introduced in the state legislature. Coalition members provided suggestions on a workable framework on Ammiano’s AB 9, also known as Seth’s bill, and Eng’s AB 1156, both anti-bullying bills signed in October 2011 by Governor Jerry Brown into law.

The coalition is designed to empower members to direct activities. Besides meeting quarterly, the coalition chair, as administrator of the program, emails relevant news articles to coalition members, mainly from the local region on hate crimes and bullying. The non-political, non-partisan coalition also serves as the clearinghouse for coalition members to share information on the issues from their individual organizations.

In research for TIME by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, Sacramento was identified as America's most integrated city. In Sacramento everyone's a minorityundefinedincluding whites. Of the city's inhabitants, 41% are non-Hispanic white, 15.5% are black, 22% are Hispanic and 17.5% are Asian/Pacific Islander.