Diversity

Let’s Start With Honesty and Add Some History

Written by
Tasha Burgoyne

I’m going to be honest with you: I have a love/hate relationship with this month. Like most important things, it’s layered and complicated. It can feel like a kid’s tiny Band-Aid haphazardly slapped onto an adult scar. It can also be a wonderful time to celebrate who God has made me as a biracial Korean American, and celebrate the Asian American community I’ve come to cherish and belong to.

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month!

I’m going to be honest with you: I have a love/hate relationship with this month.

Like most important things, it’s layered and complicated. It can feel like a kid’s tiny Band-Aid haphazardly slapped onto an adult scar. It can also be a wonderful time to celebrate who God has made me as a biracial Korean American, and celebrate the Asian American community I’ve come to cherish and belong to.

Layered on top of that love/hate relationship is the pressure that comes from having been misunderstood or maligned in my efforts to be honest about what it means to be an Asian American Christian, and worry that I’ll be met with shallow calls for unity, in response.

In my own experience, save but a few, these calls for unity haven’t been an encouragement to the deep work towards unity that I think we were all made for. This kind of unity, as I write about in my book (Tell Me the Dream Again: Reflections on family, ethnicity, and the Sacred Work of Belonging),  “requires whole people, full of their color, and hard, holy work.” Instead, it’s often been something thrown in my direction to silence me or others who want to bring our whole selves into the work of deep unity and transformative community.

Without a doubt, the Church, which is you and me, should be where diversity and the flourishing of all individuals in their unique ethnic and cultural reflections of the imago Dei, is championed the most.

So, with hope for that Kingdom-come dream still-unfolding in us and among us,  and the arrival of this month that’s been nationally carved out for honoring and celebrating Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, I want to leave you with a question, a few important historical facts and statistics, and some recommended resources.

One Question for Digging Deeper this Month

What is one next step you can take in learning more and leaning into honoring and celebrating Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders?

A Few Important Facts & History to Know and Consider

Recommended Resources

Podcasts that highlight, honor, and celebrate Asian American Christian perspectives, voices, and stories (this month and beyond):

PBS Film series Asian Americans for a deeper dive into Asian American history.

Books by Asian American Christians:

(I have a much longer list – feel free to reach out if you are interested in more.)

About the Author

Tasha is a Korean American melancholy dreamer, wife, and mom, who grew up in a multicultural and biracial home. She's spent her life navigating liminal space. Writing has always been the way God has led her through the ache and towards the hope of shalom. Here debut book, Tell Me the Dream Again: Reflections on Family, and the Sacred Work of Belonging is available now, wherever books are sold. Find her at https://www.tashajun.com or sign up for her monthly notes at https://shalomsick.substack.com.

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