I’ve been making my way through Korean-American author Soong-Chan Rah’s recent new work The Next Evangelicalism. Now careful here, reading it is like gargling with salt – it stings on the way down but clears the sinuses of quaint tokenisms and so-called “color-blindnesses” that perpetuate faulty systems. Basic premise: while the de facto representation of American evangelicalism is predominantly a Caucasian playing field, the fact of the matter is, “American evangelicalism” is fast becoming non-white. I think this is no mystery, and just today heard this sentiment expressed, by a Caucasian brother for that matter. What’s the big stink then? Why the ranting against the establishment, when folks recognize the nation over this phenomenon of “the browning of America”? Read more…
Do any of you relate to the experience? The names, taunts, bullying based on race (and recently, sexual orientation)… regardless of where you stand on the (political) issue I can say as an Asian-American, it sucks when you get the egregious slur, slanty-eyes, kowtow bow or whatever. It hurts. It belittles. So the gratification I received when I read this story of the Korean-American student who got suspended for defending himself when called a “f***ing Chinese” by a white classmate, was suspended, and then was pardoned with a community moving towards reconciliation. It’s that last word that gave me so much gratification: reconciliation. This is one way – the best way to respond to schoolyard racism. Get involved parents. Don’t let your kids get stupid, don’t exemplify it. And when there is the inevitable slip-up – as there was in this case – move quickly to correct it. It can do more than right a wrong – it can bring a community together.
There are two major, formative events happening in my life right now. I became a father 16 mos ago (and going for a repeat this upcoming May) and my parents are getting old (dad turns 70 this yr). And so understandably so, family has been forefront in my mind as of late, particularly, what is the so-called Christian vision of family? A few tantalizing thoughts from Read more…
As per a past post I re-raise this issue where angels fear to tread; well, thank goodness no one reads my blog anyway. Professor of New Testament, Rikk Watts, here @ Regent College has given a chapel lecture titled: “Up Zion’s Hill: Imagining a New Jerusalem” – and I walk away feeling like I missed the punchline – kinda half-full / half-empty – but here’s the synopsis: Read more…
Atif Irfan and his wife, Sobia Ijaz, were among nine passengers removed from a flight Thursday after commenting on the safest place to sit. (By Phelan M. Ebenhack For The Washington Post)
I’m all for deconstructing prejudices but there’s an oft-missed dimension of prejudice that is not adequately addressed, namely, fear.
As much as we can wax progressive in cross-cultural ideals let’s face it; we’re really terrified of the ‘other’ are we not? For example, what happens when this xenophobia is mixed with, say, fear of flying? All of our progressive ideals get tossed out the window. In light of 9 Muslims getting booted off a plane – sure it’s discrimination – but it reflects a national sentiment and deeply-rooted fear since 9/11. What we need is dialogue – more voices from the Muslim community – and more talking to address this issue of fear. I’ll be the first to admit; ever since 9/11 I’ve hated flying more than ever. Anybody else echo that sentiment?
My prediction – and I hope I’m wrong – is this latest round is going to be the longest, most acute, persistent case of xenophobia ever.
Intrigued that Clint Eastwood has chosen to tackle the subject matter of Asian-American racism; while it’s not his first venture into the Asian genre (Letters From Iwo Jima) I think this one will take a unique twist. I’m looking forward to watching Gran Torino. Above all, don’t visit the wikipedia page, the person who put it up completely spoils the film. At any rate, any body see it yet? What’d u think? And pls, – no spoilers… for those who might be interested, here’s the synopsis (sans spoiler): Read more…
Thoughts galvanized by David Park re: Rev. Jeremiah Wright
Granted, the need for liberation amongst Asian-Americans is not really a pressing concern – after all, what do we need liberating from? But I think David is spot-on with his assessment of the future of Asian-American religion. Do we remain the strong, silent, passive types or do we have it in us to be aggressively assertive when it comes to relevance in American society today? I quote: Read more…
like ours, Western Washington University still feel the impact of this weeks’ events. At least we do. Tech was Ash’s home for 4 years from ’94 – ’98. Moving to Bellingham was all too similar to living in Blacksburg. For these reasons and still some indescribable ones, we’ve been profoundly affected, even tho we are 3K miles away. Just can’t shake this feeling of sadness and everything seems grey this whole week. We’re gonna have a little mini-vigil of our own with Catalyst. That’s the best we can do.
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While I don’t want to be too quick to join the claim to fame, Ash and I watched The Apprentice last night for the first time in a while – we used to watch it religiously (remember James and Jae?) – well I know James Sun who is one of the contenders (although not very well, honestly we were more like acquaintances at the church we both attended in Seattle a few years back). It was a pleasure to see how well he is doing in the show but something intrigued me about his place in the cast as an Asian-American.
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One night every week I have a hard time falling asleep and end up staying awake for several hours. This has become somewhat common on a weekly basis. The funny thing is, it’s not chronic in a daily sense; but it is in a weekly sense. It never happens on a weekend. It almost always happens mid-week, when I am most busy.
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