As the coastal community of Half Moon Bay continues to reel from the recent mass shooting of Chinese and Latinx farm workers, the members of the New (National) Federation of Asian American United Methodists (NFAAUM) and Asian American Language Ministry (AALM) share their pain and loss of precious lives. We grieve over the senseless loss of precious lives from mass shootings just days earlier in Monterrey Park, Yakima, Oakland, and Des Moines, Iowa, and neighborhoods across our country do not appear in the national news.
And with people who have been watching from across the world, we are outraged at Mr. Tyre Nichols’s vicious murder by active duty police officers and believe this is indicative of a chronic culture of violence that too many people of color are still asked to endure-more than 1,000 people have died at the hands of police in 2022 and wide racial disparities existed among those deaths.
And so we lift up our voices with the Psalmist, “I cry out to you from the depths, Lord—Let your ears pay close attention to my request for mercy!” (Psalm 130:1). We must lift our voices up to God when forty mass shootings have been recorded in the US since the beginning of 2023 – a record number in such a short time. We raise our voices in prayer for increasingly vulnerable members of our communities who are immigrants and people of color, as they are tragically targeted by this national epidemic of gun violence.
Gun violence is a public health emergency. While some states have enacted stricter gun violence prevention laws, guns continue to be trafficked across states that tragically, continue to enact lax gun policies. We echo the voice of the Council of Bishops which condemned the idolatry of gun violence as posted in https://www.umnews.org/-/media/UMC-Media/2022/09/01/20/35/council-of-bishops-letter-on-gun-violence-2022.
The NFAAUM and AALM urge every United Methodist to lift their cry and raise their voices to end this national epidemic. We urge all United Methodists to contact their Senators to demand meaningful legislation to end this national scourge. As a matter of conscience, we advocate for a national ban on the sale of assault weapons and ask the 118 Congressional sessions to make this an urgent priority.
Rev. Scort Christy, President NFAAUM and AALM pastorscort@gmail.com
Legislative Contact: Rev. Neal Christie, Nchristie@bwcumc.org