Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 35:1 (Winter 2021)
Article: Racism, Revolution, And Redemption: Let’s Not Do 2020 Again
Author: Daniel Fan

PP 35:1 (Winter 2021) p. 29

Racism, Revolution, And Redemption: Let’s Not Do 2020 Again

Daniel Fan

Daniel Fan is the son of Chinese immigrants who hoped he would become a doctor, but were willing to settle for a lawyer. He speaks Mandarin Chinese well enough to cuss, order food, ask someone out on a date, and impress a Justice of the Chinese People’s Supreme Court. Daniel grew up in multi-cultural Southern California before moving to the very white Chicago ’burb of Wheaton Illinois to pursue an undergraduate degree. He spent 20 years in the small arms industry and earned a master’s degree from George Fox Seminary before graduating from Lewis and Clark Law School and becoming a practicing attorney in Portland, Oregon. Daniel is thus perfectly equipped to supply humanity with everything it needs more of: guns & ammunition, organized religion, and lawsuits. In contrast with the wry tone incorporated into this biography, Daniel truly believes that the racial divide within this nation must be addressed by a primarily redemptive rather than revolutionary approach. As a former arms dealer and current criminal defense lawyer, Daniel is intimately familiar with the limits of violence and legislation in addressing matters of the heart. Daniel enjoys spending time hiking, portrait and landscape photography, wood crafting, cooking, eating, sewing, traveling, and writing creatively.

Dear non-POC1 friends of CBE International,

If you are reading this message, congratulations. You’ve survived a year of global pandemic, economic recession, social distancing, wildfires, floods, an ammonium nitrate explosion, murder hornets, and likely the most acrimonious US presidential election in living memory. If you’re looking at this list thinking, “feels like something’s missing,” it’s because some of us didn’t survive the racial disharmony that was also a hallmark of 2020.

Almost thirty years ago, I watched Rodney King, the riots, the protests, and the blame shifting. I watched people march and politicians pledge. And this year, I watched it all happen again. I have been angry, sad, and everything in between. I have not been hopeless, because I know that change is possible, but doing what we did thirty years ago is only going to produce the same result it did then. If we seek a different result, we require a different solution.

So here is my big ask: I want you to be friends with your local racist.

There are two ways to fight racism: revolution and redemption.

Revolution works on the outside. It removes leaders, writes legislation, and starts wars. Revolution works through compulsion: laws, shame, ridicule, ostracization, and even violence. Legislation ...