I report to various communities of accountability. “Report”
is too strong a word for some of these communities, but right on target for
communities that certify me [i.e. the Presbyterian Church (USA)]. I could
operate all by myself as an individual, but that would be a lie. I am who I am
because of the communities that form(ed) me and support(ed) me.
One of my communities of accountability is a group of Asian
Pacific American Presbyterians.
For those of you who don’t know, last week the Presbyterians
had a big conference that is actually 10 smaller conferences in one gathering. In
addition to the smaller conferences were multiple gatherings of various
constituencies. One of these, the National Asian Presbyterian Council (NAPC),
invited me to serve on a panel about the future of NAPC with three other Asian
American leaders in the Presbyterian Church (USA). This is a community of Asian
Americans and immigrants of Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Taiwanese,
Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian descent. I used to serve on the Steering
Committee of NAPC, and am proud to claim and be claimed by this community.
Here is a paraphrase of my remarks from last week’s event.
Thank you for inviting me. I am honored to be here.
I’m here to talk a bit about us.
Asian Pacific Americans are the fastest-growing racial
demographic in the U.S. We are the fastest growing immigrant population in the
U.S. Almost half of all immigrants in the U.S. are from Asia. We are also largely
invisible in most significant discourse in society and church.
The Pew research center recently did a study of Asian
Pacific Americans and religion, and it was done so poorly, with a cultural lens
not meant for our communities’ unique characteristics, that a group of Asian
Pacific American scholars of religion stepped in, protested, and helped Pew
re-write the report.
Yes, the best research group in the U.S. couldn’t study us
without their own cultural imperialism getting in the way.
Whether it be in state or national politics, we are
underrepresented. Our group is the most underrepresented racial minority in
corporate boardrooms when compared to the representation in the corporate
world, and is largely absent as a community from significant policy-shaping
work at the presbytery and national levels of the church.
NAPC is important because we can speak in Asian humor, and
understand one another. I am always worried, out there, that someone will make
fun of someone’s accent, and I’m going to have to tell that person they’re
ignorant. But in here, it is a safe place to mispronounce, to apologize, to
have awesome cross-cultural moments, because this is what it means to be us.
NAPC is important because it gives us a vehicle to organize.
It gives us a vehicle to work with other communities of color in order to make
change.
And it gives us a home to come back to after going out into
the church and being misunderstood, dismissed, or patronized for being so
exotic, or having such good English, or being fetishized for our food and our
languages.
NAPC sees what’s coming down the road. We know about
generational struggles and strengths. We know about ministry with multiracial
families. We are experts in what it means to do new church starts and handle
immigration challenges and leadership shortages.
And the real truth:
God made us. God didn’t make any mistakes. We are meant to
be who we are, because God loves us, too.
I think that means God doesn’t want us to be made invisible,
or be the church’s cute exotic tokens.
Racism is real.
Racism makes us invisible.
We can fight invisibility by being in solidarity with other
groups of people of color. We can fight invisibility by working to develop the
leadership of young people, not just for NAPC leadership, but for leadership in
the wider church, and in society.
We can demand the church do more for comprehensive
immigration reform. Not just church offices – they are all working really hard
already, but church people.
Current proposed immigration reform would eliminate the
family reunification policy covering siblings, and would put a cap on the age
of adult married children of citizens. Family reunification is particularly
important to our community.
My comments are not meant to put all the emphasis on us. Our
actions are on not the only problem here. But since racism is still around, we
will have to go ahead and do what we do.
Thank you for reminding all of us that we do not, should not, remain invisible.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading this, and for your response. My favorite part of this gathering was being recruited to lead Siyahamba in Indonesian. With no practice time. It worked out. :-)
DeleteThanks for sharing this more publicly. I did not know the stats, thinking Hispanics were the faster growing population. All of your report was challenging and insightful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHispanics/Latinos are the largest minority group in the U.S., so this is a common error. Of course, ideally we would all work together on issues that concern each community! Thanks for reading.
DeleteI am happy to read this, Laura, since I could not hear you in person (Big Tent being as it is -- big and spread out). I appreciate your word very much.
ReplyDelete