Hey everybody, 

We must be able to hold joy and grief, celebration and lament in beautiful tension to be fully present to all that’s around us. But for our Asian American readers and those affected by the shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, the joy of the Lunar New Year and the pain of mass violence may feel overwhelming. We sit with you, our AAPI family, and invite you to receive grace and be gentle with yourself. We mourn with you, long for healing and justice, and seek to partner with you in courageous action to prevent further tragedies like these.  

For those of you looking for more wisdom on how to respond to the particular suffering of our AAPI neighbors, especially as allies, we recommend following these leaders on social media: Erna Kim Hackett, Kathy Khang, Irene Cho, and Sandra Maria Van Opstal.  

And now, on to our resources for this week. 

Suzie’s recommendations: 

• In 2021, Human Rights Watch published a groundbreaking report that highlighted and clearly labeled crimes of apartheid perpetrated by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people. Last year, the Harvard Kennedy School denied Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and one of the editors of that report, a fellowship due to allegations that his criticism of the State of Israel was tantamount to antisemitism. Harvard eventually reversed its decision after an exposé published by The Nation further suggested undue donor influence as the primary cause of Roth’s rejection. This New York Time’s piece provides an insightful overview of the whole debacle and one of the central questions that it hinges on: to what extent is criticism of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinian people inherently antisemitic? The Bible warns us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. As followers of Christ, we must be able to identify and not shy away from the tension that exists in an epoch witnessing both a rise in antisemitism and an increasingly far-right, oppressive Israeli government. It takes wisdom and innocence to discern how to stand against both.