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Last Saturday, May 14th, I attended the Walk of Faith event in Chinatown (NYC) sponsored by the God Squad (67th Precinct Clergy Council) and the NYCAAPIC (New York Coalition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Churches). I did this partly out of conviction and partly out of guilt. In the end, it just turned out to be fun. This event was a unity walk of faith and prayer between AAPI and Black churches something which is greatly needed as the two communities are fairly often in conflict with each other. The weather cleared up nicely and I found parking easy enough around Seward Park, the meeting point. I drove in from NJ where I live. I would say some fifty to a hundred people were there including quite a bit of local media. I met a young lady from Voice of America in DC. After some prayer, introductions and speeches, we started the walk stopping at about five different locations for prayer and reflection. As we walked, one pastor led a chant, "Love God … love our neighbor." The first stop was quite emotional as it was near a memorial in honor of Christina Yuna Lee, who was stabbed to death inside her Manhattan Chinatown apartment. A student from NYU led the prayer with tears and moved us all. The next stop was very interesting because it was at a 3-story wall mural painted on the wall of the New York Chinese Alliance Church facing Delancey St. I had not seen nor heard of this before. It is probably the largest AAPI mural in the city. Pastor Steve Ko, whose wedding I attended years ago, came out and gave us some words of encouragement along with other pastors. The third stop was prayer at the Bowery Mission after which I had to leave the walk and retrieve my car to park in another location. So, I missed the fourth and last stop at the AAPI Yarn Mural of Stand, Speak, Shape. Miracle of all miracles, I found a parking spot right on Hester St., half a block from OCM, the final stop for a luncheon fellowship. I started using the ParkNYC parking app on my iPhone recently and although it doesn't always work, it is good and more convenient than feeding the meter with coins you don't have. It was $4 per hour or $10.50 for two. I paid for one. The lunch was a blessing especially after walking around town a lot. There were more introductions and sharing. Some local politicians were there including State Senator John Liu. Not knowing what to expect but doing my part to demonstrate some solidarity and unity with others, this Walk of Faith turned out to be more of a blessing than I thought. Walking around Chinatown like that was a surreal experience (I usually drive around). I met some old friends and made some new ones. I was able to park without much difficulty. I saw things I'd never seen before. The weather was fine. We even got some press because there was a brief mention of the Walk on 1010 Wins Sunday morning. Reminds me of the Scripture: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matt. 6:33 NIV). There will be more Walks of Faith, the next one to be in Brooklyn. Will you join me?
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This blog has been a long time coming but back in September, I was blessed with the honor of a lifetime. My sisters, my good friend Aaron and I traveled to Washington, DC to receive the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of our father's military service as Chinese Americans in World War II. In 2018, Congress passed a law that all Chinese Americans who served in WWII would be recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal. About 20,000 of them served in all branches of the military including Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Army Air Force and Coast Guard including women! Only 40% of them were actual citizens. My father enlisted in the US Army, PFC in the 749th Tank Battalion and served in France, Belgium and Germany including the D-Day invasion. My only regret is that he did not live to know about and receive the medal himself. The event in DC was the National Recognition Ceremony but there will be a Regional Gold Medal Presentation Ceremony for NY and NJ on Saturday, December 18th at the Sun Yat-Sen MIddle School, 100 Hester St. NYC. Details and register here. I registered for Session 3 at 4:30 pm. The National Event included a tour of the Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday which was amazing. I had never been there and got to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Here's a link to a Youtube video about the tomb and why you never mess with the guard. It was also a blessing meeting other families like a couple whose husband is an epidemiologist from California also named "Milton."
 Of course, the big day was Thursday which was the Awards Ceremony, dinner and gala held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington. It was the honor of a lifetime to be part of this historic event in Chinese American history. Our story is part of the American story. Here's a picture of me with the Ed Gor, the National Director of the Chinese American WWII Recognition Project. Many thanks to him. He gave a quite emotional testimony on a previous occasion of why he led this project as a civilian! Here's the link. To God be the glory.
For more information and details, go the the website of the Chinese American WWII Veterans Recognition Project at www.caww2.org .   As you know, I attended the National Rally for AAPI Lives last Sunday at Union Square Park, Manhattan sponsored by the Asian American Christian Collaborative. It turned out to be a great event and blessing. I was glad I went. I wouldn't mind doing it again. Frankly, I was a little concerned attending the event not myself being vaccinated yet. But everyone was masked and social distancing and it was all outdoors. Driving in from Jersey was easy and traffic light; I found parking right at the event. This was the first time I had driven to the city since the pandemic began over a year ago. Another issue was the weather. Forecasts predicted thunderstorms and rain. But on the day of, a three-hour window of only light rain developed right during the time of the rally! There must be a God! Several hundred people gathered at the north plaza and listened to speeches, exhortations, prayers and music. Nothing dramatic happened and there were no news or media crews around. I even bumped into some old friends behind their masks. Here's a link to the AACC recap with some news reporting and here's a link to the program with names and churches/organizations you might know. All in all, I was glad to be out and about and standing up for AAPI lives.
 Last Sunday evening (Dec. 6th), we had a great time with our Encore Private Screening of the new documentary Far East Deep South. With this and the one in July we shared this wonderful film with over 250 viewers and we had about 40 during the Q&A Zoom session. Larissa and Baldwin did a great job answering questions and sharing and we learned of their continuing success including (1) additional awards like at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (2) signing with New Day, a major distributor of educational films, (3) breaking into the higher ed market for cultural and ethnic studies like the film libraries at Stanford and Duke and (4) coming soon on PBS?
The best part is the praise we heard from viewers:
If you enjoyed the film or have some special insight please comment here on this blog. We'd love to hear it. |
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March 2024
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