By Young-Sam Won
L
ike so many, the news of the Atlanta massacre hit hard. I saw the names and faces of victims that felt so familiar to me. Combined with the ongoing news of violence against Asian victims, I felt a deep sense of lament and anger. But as the days passed, I became aware of silence. Silence is not always obvious to us because we are inundated by noise in today’s world, and yet, the silence became loud. Many Asian American voices were mourning, lamenting, and expressing anger, but not all. As I grieved, I became acutely aware of who had reached out, who had spoken out, and who said nothing.
I was heartened to see that the Asian American Christian Collaborative was actively addressing the tragedy. I was not surprised to see plans for an event in Atlanta. Then I started to see that other cities would be joining the AACC event and I sensed something different, something new happening. It was around that time that Raymond Chang, the President of AACC, reached out to see if I could organize a similar event in Dallas. My immediate reaction was, “Yes! Let’s do something here and show our solidarity, our participation in a growing wave of public action.”
I began to look for a site since this was an essential first step. I contacted the city offices, and I reached out to the leadership of the church where we rent our worship space. I was met with indifference from city officials, but I was most hurt by the response from the church that hosts our majority Asian American multi-ethnic church. They informed me that they were not comfortable with the idea of hosting a “political” event on their grounds. This did not surprise me, but it was the additional note that was like a gut punch. The representative then added that the Atlanta tragedy was not a racist incident since the police had already said so. In fact, he added that it was the media that was making this a racialized incident. I sat with this and grieved. For context, this church is a conservative Evangelical church that has been quite generous and welcoming to our church. However, this response felt like more than a “no.” It felt like a gratuitous shot across the bow warning us that we should stick to the gospel and not get involved in matters of racism or injustice. I felt broken and even contacted Raymond to let him know that Dallas probably wouldn’t happen.
A few days later, Rich Lee reached out and told me that Houston and Austin were on board and with tongue-partly-in-cheek, asked where Dallas was. I was discouraged and related to him what had happened as I looked for a site. Rich was gracious in acknowledging that we were up against some challenging factors here. Spurred on, I reached out to my boss and a colleague at Dallas Seminary who are both Asian American to see if they had any ideas. This was Thursday evening, two days before the event. It was a Hail Mary.
I got a text from my director Dipa Hart at 1am, Friday. She apologized for missing my earlier text but wanted me to reach out to a pastor she knew at Chase Oaks Church, a large Evangelical church in the north suburbs. Friday morning, while juggling student appointments, I made the cold call and heard back with an encouraging response. I was contacted by Stanley Wang, who helps consult with the church leadership on matters of diversity and cross-cultural outreach. Stanley immediately understood what AACC was seeking to do, and we realized we were like-minded collaborators. Stanley got it and he quickly sought to get Chase Oaks on board with hosting. By Friday afternoon, Stanley not only secured us a wonderful site, but brought Peter Park, one of the campus pastors, on board. We were in business, but now I had to try and put together a group to help lead this event from the front. It was in this process that I could sense God’s favor and his movement.
I reached out to Judy Dominick who had moved to Dallas a little over a year ago and was so excited when she agreed to take part. I knew Judy would be the perfect person to help us remember the victims and reflect on this tragedy. Dipa Hart agreed to take part and speak on lament. As an Indian American woman in leadership at a large seminary, Dipa understood the pain and challenges of racism and misogyny. Stanley then suggested having his wife, Jenny Wang, a licensed therapist, speak on trauma. I was amazed at this group of Asian American women who would be leading us. Then on Sunday afternoon, I found out that Garland Dunlap, an African American pastor and respected leader, would be able to participate. We were able to put together a simple but meaningful event plan over the course of two days due to the participation of outstanding individuals speaking with expertise and insight.
As I stood in the afternoon Sunday sun, I marveled at the turnout and the way people responded to our speakers. God was moving. We had about 150-200 people, which was remarkable considering we only had 48 hours to announce our event and get the word out. People from Chase Oaks church, from my own church, The Bridge, joined in to take care of the logistics ranging from setting up to taking photos and video. It was beautiful to see so many people, who did not even know each other, joining together to make this event happen. God was moving. Despite having only met to go over our program fifteen minutes before the event, Judy, Dipa, and Jenny led us in remembrance, lament, and reflection on trauma in such a powerful and moving way. God was moving. As we shared the AACC call to action, voices in the crowd called out in affirmation. God was moving. As we closed with a time of prayer, I was moved by the way Garland Dunlap, Voltaire Cacal, Peter Park, Judy, and Dipa led us to the Lord. God was moving.
Afterwards, we all basked in God’s presence. People came up to tell us how much this event meant to them. Asian American people shared how this was a time of healing because they had been surrounded by so much silence in the wake of Atlanta. God was moving. I then saw the news coming in from around the country and saw how the various other events had gone and I knew that we were seeing a new work, a new movement rising. God is moving.
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
Young-Sam (Sam) Won is currently the Associate Director of Ministry Formation at Dallas Theological Seminary and an adjunct professor in the Old Testament department (Ph.D. OT Studies, Dallas Seminary, '17). Sam currently serves as an elder at The Bridge Church in Dallas. After finishing his Th.M. at Dallas Seminary, Sam and his family served in Russia doing student ministry for three years. Sam also has a background in pharmacy (PharmD, UofM '94) and has most recently worked as a coverage pharmacist for Texas Oncology. You can follow him on Twitter: @SamObiWon