DEI hosted a town hall on Asian Awareness

On April 5, the Oklahoma Christian University Office of Diversity presented a town hall on Asian Awareness in Judd Theater. Assistant Dean of Students, Gary Jones, led the discussion along with three other faculty members. 

Student Affairs Graduate Assistant, Elise Miller; Assistant Director of International Programs, Kelsey Herndon; and Theological Librarian, Chris Rosser, were part of the panel.

The town hall started with the video, “Why there’s an ‘impulse’ to erase the experience of Asian Americans” by PBS NewsHour.

Jones said when inviting students for the panel, there were some concerns. 

“When reaching out to some of our Asian students, there was some apprehension in regard to sharing, and I totally get it,” Jones said. “We got to figure out how to treat people. It is not on their ends; it is on ours.”

Jones asked the faculty members what they thought when they first heard about the shooting targeting several Asian victims in Atlanta March. Herndon said he felt sorrow, sadness and anger. 

“That is on us, it is on me,” Herndon said. “The lack of us stepping in, standing up, speaking up, not interrupting the hate and violence. The silence, the inaction, we must stop being afraid, stop this sense of protecting our status and our privilege, supremacy and superiority. We got to do better.”

Miller said she was disappointed but not surprised. 

“This act of violence was taking place because of over-sexualization of Asian women,” Miller said. “Disappointed but not surprised at all, especially considering the environment we created this entire year, about the ‘Chinese virus’ that comes through, all that, all those words.” 

Rosser said the police report on the Atlanta shooting was changed after the media repercussion. 

“Initially the police report had actually check-marked the box that this was a hate crime against gender, and that gender was female,” Rosser said. “Then later that police report unchecked that box and said ‘motive unknown’ … there is a reason why hate against Asian women has been covered up in America for so long.” 

Herndon said it is important to be self-critical of how we treat other people. 

“What a lot of us need to do is to look in the mirror, and to think about how (we) see others,” Herndon said. “We don’t always have all the answers ready, but at least we are willing to ask the questions, willing to listen and to get to know those who are different than we are.”

Miller said it is important to not compare all the different Asian countries as if they were one. 

“I think also it is important in this conversation to remember not to generalize,” Miller said. “There are so many different Asian countries, so many different cultures. There are even differences between Asian Americans versus Asians who have immigrated to this country.” 

Rosser said the statistics on reported hate crimes against the Asian population in America have increased tremendously. 

“I heard a statistic that said between 2019 and 2020 there was a 145% increase in reported hate crimes against Asian and Asian American people,” Rosser said. “90% of the perpetrators were white, which is a really interesting statistic.” 

Jones said there are plans of hosting another meeting in the upcoming weeks, and students will be informed if that is the case. 

“I think this is just the beginning,” Jones said. “People around this room need to understand the size of our student body, and that is the reason you will have to be a leader in this conversation … If nothing else, every Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander student on this campus should be able to depend on everybody on this room.”

The town hall was not the first effort from the university to condemn Asian hate on campus. On March 30, President John deSteiguer sent an email to the Oklahoma Christian community condemning the violence and hate towards Asian and Asian American individuals. 

“Remember, the Title VI reporting and resolution process is in place to investigate any violation of the university’s policy against discrimination based on race, color or national origin,” deSteiguer said. “You can read more about the process here. As a Christian university, we believe in love over hate, peace over violence. Hate has no place here.”