Since her rocking performance on primetime television at ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ on Monday, Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa has had a very busy time receiving phone calls, replying to facebook messages and attending interviews.
The video of her performance has gone viral and has been shared thousands of times on social media .
Ask her if she feels like a star. “Star is a very big word. But as long as the message is the star and I am happy to be the vehicle for that,” says Sukhjit.
Sukhjit delivered a very strong message about discrimination against Sikhs in Australia, performing the spoken word poetry.
Sukhjit in SBS studios Source: SBS Punjabi
She says she feels lucky to have had an opportunity to perform at that stage and get her message across.
Sukhjit’s poem that drove Eddie Perfect, one of the judges, to tears was based on her own experiences. She says she first experienced discrimination when she was in year ten, and went for a job interview at a supermarket.
“I was asked if I was legal in this country. No one had ever said that to me. I was used to (about it) my parents because my mum wears Punjabi suits, my papa’s got his beard and turban, brother’s got his beard and turban. So, I am very used to receiving second hand discrimination. But, first hand discrimination was very hard to swallow.“
Sukhjit is now going to perform at the semi-finals of the show , and from there the competition enters the voting stage wherein the viewers will vote for the performers.
Sukhjit says she will be very lucky if she reaches the final stage of the show.
“Initially, I didn’t know what to expect form the show. All I wanted was just two minutes of airtime to share my message of anti-discrimination. It was a bonus that I got through to the semi-final.”
Sukhjit took to spoken word poetry when, during a study abroad program in Czech Republic, she was introduced to it by her two friends.
According to Sukhjit, she , then, blended her both passions, politics and performing arts. And, we can safely say that the result isn’t bad at all.
