Dean Pak Statement Against Asian-American Violence
Dear Beloved BUSTH Community,
I write to you today with a grieving heart. In the past few weeks there have been over twenty attacks against Asian persons in the United States, including an 84-year old Thai man named Vicha Ratanpakdee killed in San Francisco, a 91-year old Chinese man in Oakland rammed to the ground, a 61-year old Filipino man named Noel Quintana slashed in the face, and a 70-year old Asian woman robbed and assaulted. News sources report that there have been more than 2800 violent incidents against Asians in the US between March and December 2020. These incidents and those of just the past few weeks cry out that we cannot remain silent in the face of such violence and injustice.
And yet there is a long and complicated history of remaining silent concerning painful and unjust experiences of Asians in the United States. Why is that?
In an article in the New York Times, Anne Anlin Ching helpfully describes the predicament of Asians in the United States: “They are always caught in a no-win position between whites and Black Americans. They are thought to be ‘white adjacent,’ but of course they can never belong to the club. They are persistently racialized, yet they often don’t count in the American racial equation. The central, though often unspoken, question underlying all of this is: Are Asian-Americans injured, or injured enough, to deserve our national attention?” Ching goes on to lament the fact that this is too often the way the question is asked, revealing “how this country thinks about a racial calculus based on damage and hierarchy.”
As people of faith, we are called to a different way of thinking and being. Jesus once said to his disciples, “It is not so among you” (Matthew 20:26), calling them to an alternative, radical, other embodiment. Such a calling entails being called away from a competitive mindset that assumes that if another’s needs are elevated, it must automatically mean that my own needs will be ignored. It entails being called to a profound understanding of our interconnectedness. If another hurts, I hurt; it does not negate my own history of harm. Rather, it calls me to solidarity. It calls me to advocacy. It calls me to compassion and empathy. It calls me to action. It calls me to envision and take concrete steps toward Beloved Community. So, then, be not deceived by certain forms of dominant white culture that wants various minority groups to pit themselves against one another!
Please reach out to the Asian, Asian American members of our community and let them know you stand with them.
Please embrace solidarity rather than competition, advocacy rather than silence, interconnectedness rather than isolation.
In tears and in hope,
G. Sujin Pak