This Sunday will be the first Sunday of May and the beginning of Asian Heritage Month. Asia is a huge continent with many countries and cultures- reflecting also in the 22 million people that identify as Asian American in the United States. According to pew research, the people identified as Asian Americans in the US come from more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, each with unique histories, cultures, languages and other characteristics. A few facts about Asian Americans:
There are 48 countries in Asia where over 2,300 different languages are spoken. Each country has a unique and rich culture, diverse religious backgrounds and cuisine.
The term ‘Asian American’ was first used in 1968 at the University of California in Berkley, to unite the students of Asian heritage.
Asian Americans are labeled as the ‘model minority’ to further discrimination among people of color.
Hate crimes against Asian Americans increased by 150% in 2020 alone.
To read further details on these and more facts about Asian Americans, offered to us by the UM Commission on religion and Race, you can click here.
And even though more than 17% (second largest group) of all active physicians in the US are Asian American and Pacific Islanders, access to health care for Asians is not the same, resulting in almost 21% of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders living without health insurance.
With that in mind, we prepared our May sermon series on “Wellness” focusing on the physical, relational, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of a person. We hope you will join us for all of these Sundays, and join us as we learn more of the disparities and together move to action. Keeping with that focus our Mission focus for this month is Apna Ghar, a not-for-profit human rights organization, in our neighborhood, working towards ending gender violence, We invite your generous support for the organization. You can donate electronically through Broadway, by clicking here.
Beloveds, let us continue to seek ways to promote acceptance of other human beings, love for the earth we live on, and care in all we say and do. Each voice is important - so I also invite us to continue to learn of all the ways that God calls us to join in God’s work of bringing justice to those marginalized and share love with all creatures of this earth. I know we will fail, but let us then give one another a hand to get up and try again - building our communities stronger. Remember God loves you - so do I, and I look forward to seeing you in worship.
