Syd Peterson interviews Interim Executive Director of California Faith for Equality, Pastor Samuel Chu, on LGBT POV:
What was the one BIG emotional moment when you knew you had to get involved with this work?
In fifth grade back in Hong Kong, I “shut down” my elementary school and organized a “teach-in” and assembly to teach the students what was going on with the protests and hunger strike at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. My journey to the US also played a big part in how I see my work today: the experience of leaving behind everything I knew, everything that felt safe, and forging a new identity, new relationships and status taught me how important organizing is. And I remember feeling just angry – a kind of cold anger that I continue to find productive – around how powerless organizations and institutions like churches can be in the face of injustice and inequality. I find it unhelpful when communities come together without a serious intention of building some power. I remember the great organizer, Ernesto Cortes Jr. once told me, “Why spend the effort to organize people if you are going to lose? People can lose all on their own.”
No comments:
Post a Comment