The following statement was issued by Young Lee Hertig, the founder of AAWOL (Asian American Women On Leadership) as well as the current executive director of ISAAC (The Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity):

“Our only hope for our collective liberation is a politics of
deep solidarity rooted in love. In recent days, we’ve seen
what it looks like when people of all races, ethnicities,
genders and backgrounds rise up together, standing in
solidarity for justice, protesting, marching and singing
together, even as SWAT teams and tanks roll in.”

–Michelle Alexander

2020 has confronted us with compounding pandemics that includes not only COVID19, but the systemic racism evidenced by police officer Derek Chauvin’s brutal murder of George Floyd. Haunting many Asian Americans was the fact that an Asian American officer callously overlooked his colleague’s murder of George Floyd who pleaded for life. It was a 17-year-old girl’s bravery that caught the horrifying video. The video sent out entire shock waves to the world and protesters decided systemic racism was more dangerous than COVID-19.

Many young Asian Americans walked in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, yet they often find themselves at odds with their God-loving parents and family members who parrot White rhetoric. Unaware of the history of persistent structural racism Black people fought for decades (which helped lift the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1965), Asian Americans caught up in the pursuit of the American dream, readily recite an anti-Black narrative: “We came with nothing and achieved the dream, so can Blacks.” They simply believe Black people are killed because they resist the law, but do not consider the possibility of the police abusing the law.

Amidst the worst of humanity, the best of humanity also unleashes. For example, Chinese Christian Union Church shines light for us with their powerful confession and action where a former ISAAC East Director, Reverend Dr Andrew Lee, served as Lead Pastor. Church members went out to the streets and began cleaning up looted areas, offering helping hands, open ears, and closed mouths. In return, the members shared, “We received harsh backlash from the people we were serving.” The reporter who covered this story insightfully stated: “If the Christian walk is like sports, the majority of our church members haven’t missed a single practice in years, but haven’t shown up to a single game” (Chris Javier, https://sola.network/article). Late or not, it is time for Asian Americans to ‘show up for the game’ and walk in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement as members of the Body of Christ (I Cor 12).

Rev. Dr. Young Lee Hertig is executive director and a founding member of ISAAC (The Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity) and AAWOL (Asian American Women On Leadership). She teaches in the Global Studies and Sociology Department at Azusa Pacific University and is an ordained Presbyterian clergy as well as a commissioner of the Presbyterian Church USA to the National Council of Churches Faith and Order.