I wrote this litany in response to the massacre of eight people, includes six Asian American women in Atlanta on March 16, 2021. I come out of the Christian tradition and I wrote this especially for my AAPI siblings for whom this spirituality is part of their journey.
ONE:
The history of racism in the United States is long: exclusion, Internment, burnings, murders, and countless other aggressions towards us — yet too many are seeing this for the first time.
ALL:
We are not invisible.
I am seen.
I see you.
We are visible.
ONE:
Too many have heard our cries only to intellectualize our anger, wanting us to slip into silent, well-behaved, model-minority tropes that have lead to being the target of abuse and violence.
ALL:
We are raging.
I am angry.
You are angry.
Our rage is real.
ONE:
Our elders are being targeted, not because they are weak, but because they have been deemed vulnerable and unworthy of human dignity.
ALL:
Our elders are under attack.
