Statement on Violence and Hate Crimes Against Asian People

For months now, I have been triggered by the escalating hate crimes against Asians and Asian-Americans. The killings this week are symptomatic of historical and ongoing perpetuation of America’s White supremacist culture. In the last year, anti-Asian hate crimes have more than doubled, with women and the elderly being targeted disproportionately. In fact, according to Stop AAPI Hate, there have been nearly 3,800 accounts of racism and discrimination against Asians and Pacific Islanders reported in the last twelve months, and I am confident that is only a fraction of the incidents. The gun violence this week in Atlanta was not, I can assure you, about sex trafficking. It was about racism, xenophobia, and sexism. 

As an Asian-American man, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a clergyperson, and a scholar, I live with increasing fear for the safety of my students, my family, my friends, and people of Asian descent. I, like so many others, have repeatedly faced discrimination and been made invisible by our White supremacist culture and society. Make no mistake, the hate crimes and the violence are but extensions of the discrimination rooted in White supremacism and White Christian nationalism. 

I condemn this violence and offer you a threefold invitation: 

  1. Join The United Methodist Church (Asian American Language Ministry Plan and the New Federation of Asian American United Methodists) by endorsing this statement with your signature.
  2. Join the Asian American Journalists Association in working to understand anti-Asian racism and invisibility. They write, “Racism against AAPIs is highly nuanced, complex, and has remained historically invisible, and includes a long history of hypersexualization of Asian women that is rooted in Westernized and colonial perceptions of Asia.” 
  3. Check in on your Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander classmates, friends, and colleagues. Listen to them, even if and when they have no words. The ministry of accompaniment is both empowering and sustaining.

Together, through prayer and action, we can do our part to end the rising violence toward AAPI peoples. We can shed a light on this despicable bigotry. And we can push back against those who would detract us from the true source of this violence: White supremacist culture.

#WeAreCST #StopAsianHate #AtlantaShootings