On the recordMarch 15, 2023
I rise today to reflect on a dark day in Georgia. It was 2 years ago today that a hateful act of violence shook metropolitan Atlanta and reverberated across our State, our Nation, and the world. In the span of a few hours, our sense of safety and sanctuary was ripped apart by bullets born out of hate and fear--an issue, Mr. President, you know very well and have engaged on many sad occasions. Two years ago, in Georgia, eight people lost their lives--eight people loved by their families, their friends, by their children. They should never become numbers or statistics--eight souls, eight people, with their own successes and struggles, their hopes and dreams. We speak their names: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun Gonzalez, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng. My heart aches for these Georgians and for their families, for whom these wounds still fester. The comfort provided by a family is still not enough to fill the empty seat at the dinner table or those times when a family member, out of routine, picks up the phone to dial and remembers in the moment that there is nobody on the other end of that call. As a pastor, I believe in the sacred worth of every human being. I believe that we are a mixture of dust and divinity, of sod and sky, beauty and possibility. That is why I ask now that everyone who is here will join me in a moment of silence.…
