Photo by Daniel Zimmermann

By Casey Iwanaga

What power do we have?
Are we the captains of our fate?
Or are we at the mercy of a God?
This Nation has a new sound; a new beat we march to
not the forgotten glorious proud beat but
the cries of agony, the tears of hurt and the loss of people mean nothing
The next 24 hours is all the time allotted for the hurt to be known
This hurt is pushed away, swept into the dark corner, swallowed by the unimportant happenings
What happens next? Continue Reading »

Photo by woodleywonderworks

By Sarah D. Park

I’ve been rewatching The West Wing, a political TV series based off of the day-to-day of a president and his staff. In our times that not even a writer could’ve invented, the show has proven to be a comforting balm to my cynical soul because it casts the American government at its idealistic and hope-filled best. The West Wing is a beautiful white liberal lie where more often than not, the Oval Office is bathed in golden afternoon light, and everyone is exceptionally competent whilst witty. Continue Reading »

Photo by David Geitgey Sierralupe

By Diana Kim

George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbury, Elijah McClain, Eric Garner, Philando Castile

I have found myself sick to my stomach, seeing the list of the victims of unnecessary violence — through racial profiling, police brutality, systemic racism, injustice towards people of color — continue to grow. Add to that the spurring by racist vocabulary and phrases that ultimately permit violence, and we have America as it is today: a land that perpetuates violence against people of color. Continue Reading »

Photo by Jason Jacobs

Madame Secretary (the TV show) – A hacker got hold of some sensitive pictures of Stevie (Madame Secretary’s daughter) and her boyfriend (who happened to be the President’s son). Good ending – The hacker got caught, the White House did damage control, Madame Secretary and the family were sympathetic towards Stevie. The last scene – Stevie met the hacker, told him that she wanted to spend a few minutes getting to know him, because she did not want to hate him for the thing that he did, but to try to forgive him for the person he was. Continue Reading »

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. Continue Reading »

By Lauri Heikkinen

I wrote the bulk of this piece on April 14th, almost 2 months before both the violence and the peaceful protesting that have recently arisen on account of George Floyd’s brutal death. At the time, I didn’t think I’d have much to say about violence; we were all just trying to cope with Sheltering in Place on account of the Coronavirus. Continue Reading »

Photo by Anthony Crider

By Emi Iwanaga

 This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith.  This is what the Scripture means when it says:

“We are right with God through life-giving faith!”

Romans 1:17 (TPT)

JUSTICE TODAY

Today the world is just not getting what it wants.
It doesn’t seem fair, doesn’t seem right.
A loved one passes without my hand to hold
A grandson graduates without my watching him walk.
A husband of 50 years denied that trip to celebrate our union. Continue Reading »

By oatsy40

By Joy Wong

For most of my life, anger was something I wanted to avoid — whether in others, or in myself. I loathed angry outbursts, hurtful words or threats, slamming doors, etc. It all seemed scary and destructive to me, so I never wanted the same things to happen in myself. If ever I did get angry, I’d do my best to keep it inside; at most, I would cry.

As a hospital chaplaincy intern, seeing anger in patients or my fellow chaplains instinctually made me want to run and hide. Continue Reading »

Photo by Caleb Roenigk

By Jerrica KF Ching

I believe that it goes without saying that many of us are experiencing anger, and have been processing our feelings towards the current state of the world in the midst of this global pandemic. As a mental health professional, I am finding it hard at times to manage my own emotions, as it is very difficult to feel that I am being effective for clients via telehealth services versus face-to-face interaction. Continue Reading »

Photo by Rawpixel Ltd

It is a proven fact that opposites attract. It’s also proven that when opposites marry, life can be challenging. Staying safe at home” as a married couple can be oxymoronic. Work and life under quarantine have tested my marital safety the past six weeks. Continue Reading »