AACC Minneapolis Prayer Rally Recap

By Khanh Nguyễn and Rev. Mary Chung March

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n March 28th, 2021, Minneapolis joined with thirteen other cities from Los Angeles to New York to Atlanta to lament and protest anti-AAPI violence and racism. As the movement started by the Asian American Christian Collaborative gained traction across the nation, the AAPI community in Minneapolis could not sit this one out. Within 24 hours Rev. Mary Chung March, Covenant Asian Pastors Association President and the Mosaic Commission Chair of the ECC, banned together twelve diverse speakers and more volunteers to participate in this first-ever nationwide rally to “Stand for AAPI Lives and Dignity.” Between 70- 100 people came out to show their support and solidarity for the event and the AAPI community.

Rev. Mary Chung March spoke of the rise in Anti-Asian hate incidents and declared, “We are resolved to be silent no longer and we will stand up and speak for AAPI lives and dignity. We will raise our voices because oppression, racism, and hate crimes will not have the final say.”

Rev. Cecilia Williams, CEO and President of the CCDA (Christian Community Development Association), followed with a passionate prayer of unity. Then we held a moment of silence for the eight victims of the Atlanta shootings.

Carla Vernón, Amazon.com VP, and Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen, Ph.D. Associate Professor at St. Catherine University, read a Litany of Lament provided by Dr. Russell Jeung (StopAAPIHate.org) and used it with permission. They alternated reading the hate incidents that Asian elders had experienced in the past year. It was a somber moment hearing the suffering and racism that AAPI people have been facing.

Rev. Hollis Kim, Director of Pastoral Care & Development for the Northwest Conference, then spoke on behalf of Asian Elders: “I’m here because God has been ambushing me, as an older half-Korean, half-Okinawan man. I formerly would keep my head down and be silent. But God has brought me to sobs and tears, unexpectedly sometimes uncontrollably... So I’m here because these are MY people, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and I stand with my people.”

Rev. Luke Swanson of Community Covenant Church led the crowd in a time of communal call and response lament and confession. He confessed that “The sin of racism must be named and actively dismantled. Justice begins in confession. As a white leader, I confess my sin that has blinded me to the trauma of my brothers and sisters... Lord Jesus, as you wept over Jerusalem, so we weep and mourn today over our cities and our land. We weep for our sin of silence in the face of injustice and violence and blood-shed…”

Rev. Paul Robinson, Executive Minister of Love Mercy Do Justice of the ECC, acknowledged that we are guests on indigenous and native lands and that native and indigenous people know well the oppression, genocide, and marginalization. He said, “I’m here today because I am a brother to my brothers and sisters in the AAPI community and I’m also here because the blood of my ancestors called me to stand for justice, for freedom, and to fight oppression.” He also reiterated that the current incidents of anti-Asian racism are not new and recounted the history of US anti-Asian racism such as the concept of Yellow Peril, the Page Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese American Mass Incarceration during WWII, the murder of Vincent Chin, and many other government-sanctioned laws and policy that “othered” Asian Americans. He proclaimed, “Enough is enough! Enough is enough! We can’t be silent when members of our family are attacked, murdered, and afraid, and made to feel unwelcome. I’m here to invite people of the African American community and Asian communities to seize this moment. This is yet another opportunity for us to stand together against systemic racism, against xenophobia, against anti-Asian sentiment, and violence against women in general that continues to plague this nation. I ought to get an ‘Amen.’ We’ve been fighting hundreds of years...and I want you to know, I’m not tired yet!”

Rev. Osheta Moore, Pastor, Author, Speaker, and Everyday Peacemaker, lamented that “anti-Asian racism has been minimized, even with the Atlanta mass shooting, the first flood of articles centered on the humanity of the murderer, not the Asian women who were murdered. Asian American Sisters, we are heartbroken with you.”

Khanh Nguyễn, Founder and President of C3: Cultural Competency Consulting, was grateful as a Vietnamese boat person/refugee that their sponsoring church introduced her family to Jesus. But she also called out the history of the American Empire that has led to the lies painting Asians as either the model minority or the perpetual foreigner.

Nguyễn said, “I am thankful for the good in America, but the American dream has become the American Idolatry... I for one did not escape one empire to come worship at the footstool of another, for our kingdom is not of any nation on Earth but our kingdom is one where Jesus’ love, mercy, and justice reign. To my Asian Family. I believe this is our George Floyd moment. We can no longer remain silent. It’s time to rock the boat!”

Pastor Der Lor of Roseville Covenant Church explained how for Asian Pacific Islander women, racism hits in multiple ways along with misogyny and sexism. He condemned a culture that objectifies and sexualizes them and declared, “They are not your comfort women or submissive co-workers. They are sisters, daughters, mothers, aunties, pastors, teachers, CEOs, doctors...people, not objects. They are human...They are the embodied Imago Dei...They belong.”

Rev. Jennifer Ikoma-Motzko and her five-year-old daughter stepped up to pray for the AAPI community. Jennifer first shared that Kazuko Kay Ige (her grandmother and an American citizen), was a teenager sent to a US WWII internment camp and that she spoke out against the xenophobia, racism, and trauma that her family and 120,000 Japanese Americans experienced behind those barbed wires. Her grandma helped organize the Redress Movement to obtain restitution of civil rights, an apology, and/or monetary compensation from the U.S. government during the six decades that followed the Japanese American Mass Incarceration during WWII. Her grandmother even testified before the US congress against those atrocities.

Jennifer concluded her prayer with, “We pray for strength, courage, and unwavering companionship on the journey. イエス, Iesu-sama – may your light and love guide us.” 

Then in a “scene-stealing” moment, her five-year-old daughter prayed powerfully out of the “mouth of babes:”

Dear God, I have no idea why people have ideas and make rules based on the color of people’s skin... It’s silly to hurt someone because you are afraid of them. I hope one day there will be none of these silly rules and ideas. I don’t just want them to end in the United States, I want them to end all over. I want there to be peace in all planets. Even the ones that aren’t earth, like Mars. I pray that Asian American people, especially girls, do not get hurt anymore. I pray that you will protect them... that you give them courage when they are scared to walk down the street. Why do people hurt people? I think this should not happen anymore! I think non-Asian people and Asian people should speak up and stand up to the people who are hurting them. Kind of like Martin Luther King Jr. He stood up so that his children wouldn’t be judged by the color of their skin. If anyone treats me ... by the color of my skin or because I am a girl, I’m going to stand up and say that’s not right. Thank you, God, for spreading peace and love. Amen.”

Rev. Stephanie O’Brien Williams, lead pastor at Mill City Church, and Rev. T.C. Moore, lead pastor at Roots Covenant Church, stood in solidarity with our AAPI community as white pastors, and they spoke of their resolve to stand, speak, and fight for the AAPI community as they read out the Call to Actions from the AACC Statement on the Atlanta Massacre. 

Rev. Stephanie O’Brien Williams said, “My family is hurting. When I see my Asian American Pacific Islander brothers and sisters hurting, I say they are a part of my family. And when some of our family is hurting, all of our family is hurting. I want to stand with them but I also want to fight for them and honor them as leaders. I want to follow [them].... You are leaders absolutely worth following and your courage is an inspiration to us all.”  

Rev. Mary Chung March finished the Minneapolis rally, thanking everyone for coming and standing in 40-degree MN weather to stand with the AAPI community. She invited people to visit local Asian restaurants and businesses, to join the prayer vigil at the Capitol later that evening, and to continue to raise their voices together. We closed the rally acknowledging we belong to each other and prayed together by raising our voices as the family of God, praying the Lord’s prayer as Jesus taught us in one voice. 

Even though this gathering was pieced together in a 48-hour period the Minneapolis AACC hour-long rally flowed so smoothly, so powerfully and so full of the Holy Spirit. We are so grateful that Minneapolis Christian faith leaders did not sit this one out, showed up, and stood together for AAPI lives and dignity. It will be a day we will remember. Praise God!

The Minneapolis AACC Rally on March 28, 2021 link: https://youtu.be/nPy1n8vIfC0

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Mary, a New Jersey native, grew up in a Korean immigrant church plant in NJ where her parents were the founding pastors. As a pastor’s kid, she grew up in the church and lived the highs and lows of church planting and pastoral ministry through my parents. From that experience, she is passionate about soul care for pastors and leaders. She graduated from University of Michigan with a B.A. in History and Psychology and from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with a M. Div. and a Masters in Counseling specializing in Marriage and Family Therapy. She has worked as a youth pastor (Staten Island, NY), a children’s pastor (Manchester, CT), a co-college pastor at Highrock Church (Boston, MA), and a family and youth counselor at the Bridge for Youth (Minneapolis, MN). She is the co-founding and co-lead pastor at New City Covenant Church, was ordained in the ECC, the daughter of two ordained senior pastors, the wife to her co-lead pastor and husband, John, and the mother to four beloved children between the ages of 6 and 15. She serves as the Chair of the Mosaic (Ethnic) Commission of the ECC and President of the Covenant Asian Pastors Association of the ECC.

Khanh Nguyễn's family escaped as refugees from the war in Vietnam and was sponsored by a church that introduced them to the gospel of Jesus. She is married to David and has 2 delightful children, My Linh and Khoa. They go to a Chinese immersion school and like to speak behind their parents back in Chinese Her experiences as a missionary, multi-ethnic church leader, walking alongside African refugees, and instructor in a Christian university teaching courses on race, culture and ministry has led her to start her own consulting ministry, C3: Cultural Competency Consulting. She trains churches and organizations in areas of cultural competency, Anti-racism education, immigration & refugee advocacy and Asian American topics.