The first Sikh American woman judge in the United States was sworn in on Friday. According to ABC 7, Manpreet Monica Singh is officially a Harris County Judge in Texas.
The Hindustan Times reports that Singh’s father immigrated to the US in the early 1970s. She was born and raised in Houston and now lives in Bellaire.
Singh earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from the South Texas College of Law. Before running for judge, she worked as a trial lawyer for 20 years and belonged to several civil rights organizations.
“As a child, I found history, particularly the civil rights movement, extremely interesting,” she told The Hindustan Times. “It was a big deal for me to see people bring a change. So, rather than pursuing engineering or medicine like children from most Sikh families in the US did at the time, I chose to become a lawyer.”
According to ABC 7, there are an estimated 500,000 Sikhs in the United States, with 20,000 living in Houston alone. Singh is excited to represent the Sikh community.
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“I am excited about the community getting the spotlight, and people asking who are the Sikhs and why does it matter,” she told The Hindustan Times.
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