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Heritage is a powerful word that involves race, culture and ethnicity. We have the shared heritage of the human race. In addition, you have the heritage of each race-African American, Asian American, Native American, Irish, Scottish, etc. There is so much we inherit from our ancestors, yet, I fear we are inheriting something else that we didn’t intend, that is the wave of violence that has stretched so far in the past few years in the United States. Unfortunately, when it got started it was never ending.

America, this grand country of ours, always blessed by God, is a melting pot of cultures. Asians have been in this country since the mid 1800s. The Chinese have made a life in the U.S. for their families. Some migrated here and others were born here. These people have contributed to society serving in various occupations. The Asian community has provided jobs for many of us. Why is it then that when a devastating disease called COVID-19 bursts on the scene, our former president, every chance he got, coined phrases “Wuhan flu” and “China flu?”

Attitudes like that signaled open season on Asian Americans. For the past year Asian Americans have been the target of beatings and murder. In March, eight people in Atlanta lost their lives to murder by a lone shooter, six were Korean. A few weeks later an Asian American woman was walking to church when an African American man knocked her down and kicked her in the head. He had the nerve to tell her that she didn’t belong here. People have said that about African Americans in the past. So you would think this guy would have shown empathy and maybe he should have been on the way to church himself.

To top it all off, two individuals standing inside the business nearby, watching this play out, did not intervene. Thank God a brave man was passing by and stopped to help the lady. How much more can we inherit? The Asian American community deserves to have their heritage celebrated and appreciated. 

We have got to stop this violence and it’s coming from all sides. The Blacks are shooting each other. The police are shooting Blacks and the good and hard-working police (those who understand what community means) are getting ambushed.

Furthermore, the level of mass shootings is atrocious and that includes school shootings. Just recently the King Store shooting in Colorado as well as the FedX massacre in Ohio were headline news.  Consequently, on April 16 a church in Missouri was destroyed by arson. Thank God no one was hurt. You have to be depraved to desecrate a house of worship. We can’t forget the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol resulting in the death of five people. Two weeks ago a man from Covington drove into the Capitol barricades striking two Capitol policemen-one survived, one did not.

God is watching and he ain’t pleased.

Laws executed properly could end this bloodshed, but first it’s got to start within us. Our faith must guide us to a more perfect union. We need to do something and fast.

If the laws that are written on the books aren’t working to combat this violence then change them. If the laws aren’t being executed or interpreted so that fair punishment occurs, remove those people in power. President Biden just signed an act that will protect Asian Americans from the brutality they have endured for a year. Let’s put an end to hate. Love wins out every single time.

Judy Moore is a history museum tour guide. She lives in Wylliesburg and can be reached at caesar502021@outlook.com.