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Saturday, March 20, 2021

An anti-racism Creator : Why heaven is a place of diversity

 


When I think of Diversity I can't but to look closely at where I came from: my own parents.  

My paternal Opa married my half-Dutch Oma (sadly, she died at a very young age in a car accident), after he migrated to Java (Indonesia's most populated island) when he was much younger, from the Moluccas.  That made practically all of their children knew very little of the Moluccas; like my own dad who was born in Semarang (Central Java). My mom is traditionally Javanese, but her father had Chinese roots -- my mom and her siblings are fair-skinned, but I think my mom looks most oriental. My parents had totally different racial backgrounds, but also social economic; my dad came from a rich business family, while my mom's parents were humble small town's attorney and teacher.

Growing up as mixed kids, my brother and I had never been strong in a particular tradition of any of our parents, although at home we ate more of Javanese/Chinese food, and my mom speaks in Javanese with her family. Living in Jakarta my brother and I didn't grow up alongside our cousins from both sides of our parents, making us even naturally loosely attached to our parents' families and racial influences.


Black haired, brown skinned, western name

By now I have lived in four different countries (with 20 million inhabitants Jakarta is by far the largest city I've ever lived in).  Believe me when I say, I know Racism does exist. 

Being a minority in the world's fourth most populous country (that also easily makes it the world's largest Moslem population), even while I spent most of my life in a bubble (attending Christian private schools my whole life) I did experience discrimination on the basis of my religion/faith in my home-country.

In November 2020 I had been newly arrived in Munich for a couple of weeks when I was verbally attacked by a random woman in a supermarket. When she said "Southeast Asia" or "Southeast Asian" in her rants, we would know how such comments are made based on physical attributes -- in this case, my black hair and brown skin, still distinctively noticeable behind my mouth mask and puffer jacket.

I had to go back and analyzed the incident, how it went down, why it made me feel how I felt (shocked, blaming myself, the 'I'm not wanted here' narrative), what would I do differently if anything was changed in the situation.  But even with diversity running in my vein and life experiences in four different countries, with the many diverse environments I had been in, I still couldn't find answers to most of those questions I asked myself. 

So, probably Racism is a topic I never really had to wrestle with my whole life. 


Counter-intuitive and an intentional decision

I had to move into a student dorm by December 1st. Just days later I made a conscious decision to go back to the same supermarket, for the first time since the attack. Only then it dawned on me, the attack may have affected me more than I realized, and probably more than I wanted to admit (because it tells me that I was actually avoiding that supermarket the past weeks, and that I was still looking around with worry that the perpetrator might be there lurking to attack me again). With that, I thought, I need to share this experience with someone else, so I'm not isolated as I began to realize that I need to be counter-intuitive.

Being able to share this bad experience to someone was perhaps the first intentional decision I made to deal with the racial attack. 

The second intentional decision was to report the incident to relevant organization(s) that could take the story farther than my own reach of influence, to other victims and other people in the society. 

In this word "intentional" I find the basis of my course of actions in fighting Racism:

in·ten·tion·al | \ in-ˈtench-nəl : done by intention or design.
(Merriam Webster Dictionary)

In my scripture reading around the second week of January 2021 I was astounded by the  evidences how our Creator is a God of unity and of diversity.  Not only that, He actually dreams of a place of people from all skin colors, all hair colors, all eye colors and languages and races and nations. It's called heaven.

  • For God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:11)
  • ... My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations... (Mark 11:17)


But as much as we need to be intentional in speaking God's truth into ourselves, I think we also need to be intentional when it comes to speaking up, fighting against what we believe are against God's values.

So, if we know from scriptures, heaven will be a diverse place, or that God's grace is made available to all people of all tribes/languages -- it's obvious how Diversity is God's plan and dream. Then we also need to and can be intentional in fighting for these values.

How diverse is our pool of friends? Do we pursue friendships with people from different generation, of different age groups, come from other countries, who speak different language? Do we invite diverse people into our home?

And I think... the fact that we can't ever eradicate Racism completely, only emphasizes more on the need for us, God's people, to speak up against it.


" ... and with your blood you purchased for God, persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. ... " (Revelation 5)

By reporting the incident to organization(s) that have the avenues and access, I hoped to make the incident recorded for far-reaching purposes of raising awareness, educating the public, and challenging minds and status quo.


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Entries published on the racial attack I experienced in November 2020:

Some entries written were initiated by Before München about my racial attack incident: 

 

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