Why My Chinese-American Church is Cleaning Up in the Streets of Chicago by chris javier
If you’re trying to get quality sleep before a big day, a word of advice: Don’t listen to a police scanner. For full effect, read the following lines as if they are being shouted at you and in the span of 5 seconds. “Shots fired on 43rd and Wallace. Send wagons.” “Slow down on 47th, 2 in custody.” “Dollar Tree is on fire, send fire.” “You guys are all talking over each other again.” “Cleaning out All-star Liquor.” “Wait for more cars. Anyone in that area? Do we have wagons on Ashland and Archer?” I finally fell asleep at 4:30am. But in what felt like a blink, I woke up an hour later and headed to church. It was time.
Helping Hands, Open Ears, Closed Mouths
Morning and curfew’s end found us praying in front of our church. Our mourning was first and foremost centered on the murder of George Floyd. A white officer had kneeled on his neck. An Asian officer had stood by and enabled the murder. If you cannot see this parable of
the Asian church standing by and enabling the murder of blacks, please pray and rewatch the video. For the rest of the day, we moved around the city, finding the next damaged area to help clean. Our efforts took us further and further from the comfort of our church and deeper and deeper into the city. The damage to businesses was extensive. So as we mourned and served, we offered prayers for everyone we crossed paths with. We prayed with firefighters, police officers, business owners, activists, and community members. We received harsh backlash from the people we were serving. A Korean storeowner lashed out upon seeing his business utterly destroyed. “Free money, free merchandise! Oh my goodness! THIS IS YOU GUYS! Young guys! White, black, oriental. I really don’t understand this! You ruined my heart.” He was talking to all of us: Chinese church members, black and white activists, and other community members who had come out to help. Out of the overflow of his mouth, we could see a broken, angry heart.
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