Valarie Kaur

Valarie Kaur is an American lawyer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur.

Originally from Clovis, California, Kaur was raised in the Sikh faith. She documented hate crimes against Sikh and Muslim Americans following the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi in a hate crime immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001. This led to the film Divided We Fall (2008).

Kaur holds bachelor's degrees in international relations and religion from Stanford University, a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, and a JD from Yale Law School.

Kaur’s filmmaking and activism have focused on gun violence prevention, racial profiling, immigration detention and prison practices, and Internet neutrality. Her activism has also included education work to combat hate crimes against Muslim and Sikh Americans. She founded the Groundswell Movement, a multifaith online organizing community, and the Yale Visual Law Project.

Kaur served as the Media and Justice Fellow at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, and co-founded Faithful Internet, a campaign to inform faith leaders on Internet neutrality issues. She is the Scholar-in-Residence at Middle Collegiate Church and Senior Fellow at Auburn Theological Seminary. Kaur has given speeches at the White House, the Pentagon, and the Parliament of the World's Religions.

Divided We Fall (2008) was Kaur’s first film, created with director Sharat Raju. It was shown in 200 U.S. cities. They have made other documentary films together including: Stigma (2011), about the impact of New York City police’s “Stop and Frisk” policy; Alienation (2011), about immigration raids; The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax (2012), a documentary on the use of solitary confinement in prison; and Oak Creek: In Memorium (2012), a short film about the 2012 mass shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin.

Kaur lives with her husband and filmmaking partner Sharat Raju in Los Angeles, CA.