THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES and THE GATHERING - A SPACE FOR ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY present:
“Your Liberation Is Our Liberation” Why Black Lives Matter to Asian Pacific American Christians
Saturday September 19, 2020 4 pm – 6 pm, virtually on Zoom
A recording of the event, is available on here.
Today’s Schedule
4 pm – 5:10 pm
Welcome, Introductions, & Panel Conversation: We gather to listen.
5:10 pm – 5:30 pm
Breakout Rooms: We gather to connect.
5:45 pm – 6 pm
Q & A: We gather to share our voices.
Panelists
Dr. Rachel Bundang is a Catholic feminist ethicist. Presently based in the Bay Area, she teaches on the Religious Studies faculty at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Francisco and the Graduate Program for Pastoral Ministries faculty at Santa Clara University. She has written multiple articles and book chapters and additionally serves on the editorial team for Theological Studies. A founding member of the Asian Pacific American Religious Research Initiative (APARRI), her areas of interest lie at the intersections of race, feminisms, technology, inequality, and Catholic social teaching. As a liturgist, she preaches and leads music regularly at her home parish in the Bay Area and also offers retreats and workshops nationally.
Canon Suzanne Edwards-Acton is the Vice President of the H Belfield Hannibal Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians and the Chair of the Program Group on Black Ministry for the Diocese of LA. With a BA from UCSD and Masters from LMU, the greater part of Suzanne’s professional career has been as a teacher, principal and currently as the Field Director for a New Teacher Residency. She served as the Director of Jubilee Consortium Episcopal Urban Intern Program (EUIP/JYLA). Suzanne also holds a Masters degree in Pastoral Ministry from Seminary of the Southwest. She is the founder of MyWorkToDo.com, a virtual reflective affinity space to learn about systems of whiteness and #InCreaseTheFold, folding (origami) as a contemplative practice. Suzanne is passionate about racial equity.
Dr. Ezer Kang is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at Howard University. His research and writing focus on how minority groups thrive…or not in the context of poverty in US cities and low-middle income countries, especially relating to the mental and physical well-being of persons living with HIV. He also is a licensed psychologist who conducts psychological and neuropsychological evaluations for children and adults who recently immigrated to the US. Ezer received his M.A. in Theology and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.
Pastor Diane Ujiiye is an “activist minister” co-founder of Black and API Solidarity, which organizes Black and Asian/Pacific Islander educators, organizers, gang intervention workers, formerly incarcerated, clergy/faith leaders, undocumented immigrants, and American born women and men. She has a background that includes over twenty years of working in the fields of substance abuse, mental health, HIV/AIDS, and gang intervention, early childhood education, race relations, and non-profit strategic planning in multi-ethnic LA County and California. Diane has conducted civil rights and public policy advocacy for Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders in California, resulting in the successful passage of state legislation. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary.
The Gathering
The Gathering is a space for Asian Pacific American (APA) spirituality hosted by the Episcopal Church. It seeks to provide opportunities for conversation among APAs while exploring topics relevant to ministry among and for APAs in Los Angeles, specifically but not limited to Christians who identify themselves as Episcopalians. Some of our monthly gatherings center on panel conversations and discussions while others (local pilgrimages and art & music events) are more experiential. We intend The Gathering to also be a space for our non-APA allies to learn more about issues related to APA spirituality.
www.TheGatheringEDLA.org, www.facebook.com/thegatheringasianamerican/
Asian American Episcopalian Facebook page: www.facebook.com/groups/1963831890539622/
Upcoming Events
Trauma and (Un)Truths: Promises Broken in God’s Name
Webinar series on racism, systems of oppression in church and society, Saturdays, September 26, October 3, October 17 (https://diocesela.org/news/trauma-untruths_webinars_continue/)
At What Co$t?: Asian Pacific Americans, Racial Capitalism, and the Limits of Racial Identity
October 17, 2020 Saturday, 1 pm to 3 pm, Pacific, Virtually on Zoom, The Gathering (Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles) and Episcopal Asian Supper Table (Episcopal Diocese of New York) jointly presents this panel conversation featuring Jonathan Tran, Ph.D. (Baylor University) and Liz Lin, Ph.D. (Progressive Asian American Christians). www.TheGatheringEDLA.org/events, Register here.
Resources
The conversation and the work continues beyond today. Please consider the following next steps:
Continue the conversation in our circles/churches
Email us at thegatheringedla@gmail.com if you’d like to be in an ongoing conversation group
Seek to develop and strengthen relationships and partnerships with Black ministries and leaders
Engage resources (documentaries and films, music and art, theologians and sociologists) to deepen our understanding of Black, theology, history, and culture as well as APA-Black solidarity
As APAs, show up at Black community events, patronize Black-owned businesses
Engage in anti-racism training
My Work to Do:
Black and API Solidarity:
Additional resources:
https://www.churchpublishing.org/preachingblacklivesmatter
Rachel Bundang recommended in Chat:
James Cone, Black Liberation Theology, The Cross and the Lynching Tree
Womanist authors: Katie Cannon, Delores Williams, Emilie Townes, Kelly Brown Douglas
APA authors: Kwok Pui-Lan, Benny Liew, Gale Yee, Rita Brock, Jeffrey Kuan
That was then, this is now (Prayer Poem by Diane Ujiiye)
This is dedicated to front line activists who have offered their bodies
as a living sacrifice...
So here’s a prayer about then and now
Some of the why
Some of the how
On a sweltering evening, 1965
Avalon Blvd, at 7:05
Ronald and Marquette just minutes from home
Who will die?
Who will roam?
LAPD and the CHP
No American Dream
as Marquette’s mama
cries, wails, and screams
That was then
This is now
“Westside” Buddaheads (that’s what Asians were called)
had no beef
From “coloreds” to Blacks
one tree
many leaves
Crenshaw and Jefferson
Most stores unharmed
As sirens sounded doom and alarm
See Blacks and Asians
protected these shops
as gun fire spewed
On civilians by cops
Thirty-five people
died that night
the Watts rebellion
a life long fight
Flames ensued ~
Flesh and blood spewed…
Yellow IS brown
Brown IS Black
Now that you see
There’s no turning back
Thousands of names
too many each day
And right here in LA?
Black bodies gunned down
every city
every town…
Do you ever question
the mugshot on screen?
used to manipulate
degrade and demean
And where is Church amid all of this?
I’ve seen too many
deny
and dismiss
91, 92
Rodney King
Soon Ja Du
Let’s name Latasha
Let’s confront that pain
We have a lot to lose
Much more to gain…
“Where’d you learn THAT?”
We must ask
dismantling racism
A deep purging task
Front line activists
Have given their lives
For benefits we reap
Wrapped in middle-class lies
And where is the Church
the API Church?
For us that are light skinned, straight haired
Good zip code ensnared
Will we stand with our people
our black and brown people?
Or pray to white God
American Church
American steeple
There’s nothing in scripture
far as I can tell
allowing police
to make living hell
So API church
where do we stand?
With blue eyed Jesus
on stolen land?
Or with dark brown Christ
our one true Lord
There’s a train a comin’
let’s climb aboard
When you are tempted to
live into privilege
Name that sin up
come back to THIS village
Look around now
Look at community
It is Christ’s divine love
Justice and unity
Siblings, brothers and sisters
Behold and BE BOLD
May Christ’s brown skin
be named and extolled
Then, and now
Then, and now
Then, and now…
Amen
Let’s take a deep breath together
Photos of APA and Black community leaders working together from Diane Ujiiye
Closing Prayer (Joyce Swaving)
Lord let us be still long enough to listen to one another’s stories.
Yet loud enough to shout out for justice.
Let us be humble enough to own our ignorance, arrogance and shortcomings.
Awaken us where we have fallen asleep and remained silent
and blind to social and wealth disparities.
Embolden us with your courage to break through ceilings and walls and open doors wide to
redistribute power.
Help us to sit with our discomfort when we are faced with struggle,
give us strength to walk, march and stand up and show up for one another.
Lord we have been blessed by our incredible panelists, Rachel, Suzanne, Ezer and Diane.
May what they shared today, guide us now to next steps with action and solidarity.
May we see one another as proud falcons, rising above and through challenging situations
with wings that carry us with wisdom and vision. May we all fly and experience freedom,
equal access to justice, healthcare, and economic opportunities.
Let us declare anew that whom ever is exploited, intimidated, denigrated, and unappreciated stand tall and not alone.
May we all be celebrated for the magnificent people that you dear God have created.
Lord God because you gave us breath, let us remember George Floyd’s last cry for breath.
We pray in Christ’s name. Amen
Acknowledgments
Event Host: The Rt. Rev. Diane J. Bruce
Panelists: Rachel Bundang, Suzanne Edwards-Acton, Ezer Kang, Diane Ujiiye
Moderator: Erika Bertling
Planning Team: Erika Bertling, Sharon Matsushige Crandall, Jenny Goto, Nick Griffith, Peter Huang, Yein E. Kim, Dustin Nguyen, Mel Soriano, Joyce Swaving, Joshua Wong
Zoom Host: Mel Soriano
Donations
Your contribution will be greatly appreciated. Please make a donation via PayPal on www.TheGatheringEDLA.org. Thank you!