When Racial Violence and Hate Seem to Reign
In Response to the Atlanta-area Shootings of March 16, 2021.
This week’s news of the Atlanta-area shootings deeply grieves us at MERCYhouse. The mission of Jesus looked nothing like what the terrorizing shooter enacted on Tuesday.
Sent by God the Father in love, Jesus’ mission was, and still is, one of proclaiming forgiveness, freedom and healing in the power of the Spirit. It is a mission marked by characteristics such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:19-24). Jesus is the humble God-man shining light in dark places and bringing about redemption, reconciliation, restoration, and wholeness to all peoples, everywhere. THIS is the mission and the life into which Jesus invites us as his followers. Let us rightly reject and denounce any other way, and remember that darkness cannot and will not overcome the true Light (John 1:5). No matter how dark and confusing our days may be, we can cling to this promise.
We also acknowledge that, regardless of the killer’s claims about his motives, the events of Tuesday have highlighted the increased violence this year against Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander populations, especially women, in the United States. We grieve with the AAPI community, lamenting the lives lost in Tuesday’s events but also the long history of anti-Asian racism, hate, discrimination, and violence in our country. We see this reality not only as an offense against these peoples, but also an offense against God himself who made all humans in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27), including those of the AAPI community.
As our hearts break with the wider AAPI community and with our own AAPI brothers and sisters of MERCYhouse, we maintain a commitment as Christ’s disciples, who are now his ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21), to root out racism wherever we find it: in our own hearts, in the relationships we share, in the campuses and communities where we reside, in the local, national, and global expressions of the church, and in the systems which govern our lives. This commitment begins with prayer and is followed by Spirit-led action in an ongoing way.
PRAY
Today, let us pray for the kingdom of light to come, standing in stark contrast to the world of hate. Pray especially for comfort for the victims’ families, justice for the victims, and comfort for the AAPI community in the midst of increased fear due to the killings. Pray also for salvation for many as they wrestle with the depravity of the human heart clearly revealed in circumstances like these. Wearied as we may be in this dark world, let us hope in God and his ultimate restoration and work for temporal justice until that day of perfect justice.
ACT
The following information and resources for actively standing against anti-Asian violence and racism was published by Be The Bridge, a Christian racial-reconciliation organization (view their reconciliation philosophy here).
• Follow the hashtag #StopAAPIHate to continue raising awareness.
• Listen to and learn from Asian voices. Begin with the Asian American Christian Collaborative.
• Report hate incidents and learn more at stopaapihate.org.
And finally, be personal. If you are a non-AAPI person, reach out to your friends in the AAPI community to let them know you see them, love them, and are available to listen as they need. If you are a person of the AAPI community, know that we see you, we value you, we love you, and we mourn with you in these days.