Ethnicity, Reconciliation, and Justice

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was, without a doubt, a great leader.

But he was a great follower first.

I realized that I was still operating on a level of loneliness and confusion about my place and purpose as a biracial Latina in classrooms, at work, in my family, and now in my Asian American InterVarsity chapter. The truth was that I was feeling more displaced than ever.

Reasons for our lack of lived-out unity are many. I offer four themes I’ve observed and questions to consider.

I was in sixth grade and living in Saudi Arabia when terrorists bombed the Al Khobar Tower there. I felt the blast shake the neighborhood where I was babysitting at the time. When the smoke cleared from the building, where many kids from my elementary school lived, 19 Americans were dead, and nearly 500 people from many countries were injured.

I can’t tell you how many years I’ve waited to have the conversation.

Crossing cultures doesn’t simply happen when you board a plane or go overseas. 

I know—nobody enjoys confessing their sins. But I tend to think it’s even worse for perfectionists like me. 

A gas station near our house offers a carwash which I’d never used—until a sunny spring Saturday’s errand to gas up our van inspired me to rinse off its layers of Midwestern road crud. 

So you’re heading off to Romania/Burundi/Ecuador for a mission trip/study abroad/backpacking adventure. 

I want to tell you about one of my most painful experiences with racism.