A Person for Others Award

Pardeep S. Kaleka, Arts ’00
Milwaukee, Wis.

On Sunday morning, August 5, 2012, a white supremacist entered the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., and opened fire, killing seven people and wounding four others. Pardeep Kaleka’s father was one of the people killed that day. In the aftermath of this traumatic loss, Pardeep responded with uncommon forgiveness and a sense of purpose.

He formed a relationship with Arno Michaelis, a former white supremacist, and they coauthored a 2018 book, The Gift of Our Wounds, about their friendship and path to forgiveness and healing. Pardeep is currently a de-radicalization interventionist with Parents4Peace and the co-director of Not in Our Town, an organization formed to stop hate and build safe, inclusive communities for all. “Some of my recent work has been to de-radicalize extremists and help them divert from hate,” he explains. He previously served as the executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.

Pardeep says that his time at Marquette strengthened his faith and provided him with a “foundation of empathy.” He arrived on campus at an especially difficult period in his life. “I had an experience where people loved and cared for me, sometimes when I didn’t care for myself,” he says. “Marquette was the healing that I needed.”

For Pardeep, success is “a society that listens to pain with the wisdom to transform that pain into love,” he says. This award feels like “a lifetime achievement award that came a bit early. It is a blessing because of what it represents and because of the reverence that our family holds for Marquette.”

Fun Facts :

Name a Marquette faculty or staff member who had an impact on you, and how.
I think of all the folks in the Educational Opportunity Program who gave me a chance to come to Marquette. They saw potential in me, and that made me see it in myself.

Name someone (past or present) with whom you’d like to have dinner.
My father, Satwant Singh Kaleka. I would want him to know that his sacrifice and his fight for a little part of the “American Dream” was not in vain.

Leave a congratulatory message for Pardeep!