Remembering the Atlanta Spa Shootings
To Fuller and the broader Christian community,
One year has passed since eight people, six of whom were Asian American women, were murdered in the Atlanta spa shootings. However, the bigger picture shows that from the beginning of the pandemic to the end of last year, nearly 11,000 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have been reported to the organization Stop AAPI Hate.
In recent months in New York City, there have been many horrific attacks against Asian American women, including the murders of Michelle Go and Christina Yuna Lee. Last Friday, an older woman was hit in the head 125 times because she was of Asian descent.
Our hope is in Jesus Christ, our rock and refuge. We mourn and offer our prayers of deep frustration and cries for justice, and pray for healing and protection. We reiterate our solidarity with the broader Asian American community and our commitment toward the Asian American members––students, alums, staff, and faculty––of the Fuller community. (See our statement from March 17, 2021.) Working together with our Center for Asian American Theology and Ministry, we continue to provide training to understand better the Asian American context and its experience of erasure, marginalization, and racism.
The Asian American Center, Asian American Student Fellowship, Fuller Chaplains, and Diversity Council have organized a Vigil Against AAPI Violence for Thursday, March 31, 6–6:30 pm in front of Payton Hall, also to be live streamed.
Seeking God’s Kingdom,
Daniel D. Lee, PhD
Academic Dean of the Center for Asian American Theology and Ministry
and Assistant Professor of Theology and Asian American Studies