The impact of the May 14, 2022 racially motivated targeted shootings of Black shoppers in Buffalo, NY was deeply felt in Shining Waters Regional Council. As a community, we grieve for the families of those killed and wounded in Buffalo. We hold in prayer all in God’s family who cannot shop, walk the street or live their lives without fear or hypervigilance.
As this year’s Asian Heritage Month comes to a close we acknowledge that anti-Asian racism and hate in North America are intrinsic to Asian heritage, past and present. We grieve for the Taiwanese church community in Laguna Woods, California reeling from the anti-Taiwanese targeted shooting of May 15. We hold in prayer all in God’s family who continue to be racially targeted with violence and hate.
Shining Waters Regional Council and the Intercultural Diversity Commission have released a regional statement on Anti-Black and Anti-Asian Hate, Racism, and Violence.
Since the writing of this statement, anti-Asian shooting deaths have taken place in Edmonton and an elder in Vancouver was attacked in an anti-Asian hate incident.
May we re-commit ourselves and Shining Waters Regional Council to actively participate in becoming an anti-racist Church by bravely speaking out against hate of all kinds.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Black Lives Matter. Stop Asian Hate.
In Christ’s love,
(Rev.) Betty Lou McNabb
President,
Shining Waters Regional Council
and
(Rev.) Amy Lee
Interim Chair,
Intercultural Diversity Commission
On behalf of the Intercultural Diversity Commission members of Shining Waters Regional Council