Amardeep Kaleka

Amardeep Singh Kaleka (born 12 July 1978) is an Indian-American film director who won a regional Emmy Award for his direction of the short film Jacob's Turn in 2010 and another one for Esperanza (2014). Following his father's death in the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting in 2012, Kaleka became involved in politics, supporting gun control, progressive economic reform, and the peace agenda. During the summer of 2014, he ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for the United States House of Representatives in Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, losing to Rob Zerban. Kaleka was born in Patiala, Punjab. His family came to the United States when he was a child. In 1982, as dangerous tension began to mount in the area over the Khalistan movement, Amar's father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, decided to leave the country with his wife, Satpal, and their two young sons, Pardeep and Amardeep.In 1982, at age 4, Kaleka and his family moved to Germantown, Wisconsin, to live with their paternal uncle, Dr. J.S. Kaleka. When the family realised their ability to survive in America was largely dictated by two people working, mother and father, they made a plan. Satpal, the mother, who was a simple farmer like her husband Satwant, was asked to learn English quickly despite her eighth grade education. In order to go to school full-time in the states, Satpal and Satwant made one of the largest sacrifices: their two sons. Amardeep aged 4 and Pardeep aged 6, returned to India by themselves to live at the Kaleka family household in the old city of Patiala with their maternal aunt, Dr. Jaswinder Kaur Kaleka, Ph.D.After a year, Satpal passed her TOEFL Exam and found a union job at Eagle Knitting. Satwant also found a job, at a family run independent gas station, whereby he manned the register and filled the coolers. He did this for more than 12 hours a day to make sure there was enough money to build a life in America. When Satpal was done during each day at her factory union job, she would take the bus to Satwant to help out and give him a break.When Amardeep and Pardeep came back to the United States for school, their family moved to the North West side of Milwaukee. This area had been termed "Little Beirut" by locals, and came complete with drive-by shootings, armed robberies, and a severe economic depression. Amar grew up very poor, having to accept food from "free lunch programs" while his parents rented apartments from government subsidized housing.