SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco Falun Gong practitioners held their local remembrance of the persecution that started exactly 20 years ago on July 20.
The parade made its way from City Hall to Chinatown. It concluded with a peaceful rally at Portsmouth Square, where people spoke to raise more awareness of the issue.
Paul Taylor, former candidate for the U.S. Senate in California, said he was honored to speak at the rally, and praised the attendees for their perseverance in exposing human rights issues in China.
“If you don’t go out and petition or do things like this, they won’t know there’s a problem, that you’re ok with it. So you got to stay with it, keep doing it, keep doing it. Peacefully, show them that you’re a peaceful group,” said Taylor.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a peaceful meditation practice that was first introduced to the public in China in 1992. Its popularity grew as more and more people benefited from it.
“It really makes a difference in life, because it makes you a better person. And it teaches you truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance,” said Monica Chen, a 12-year-old Falun Gong practitioner.
Fearing its large numbers, the Chinese Communist Party started a crack down on Falun Gong. To this day, people are still being persecuted and tortured for their belief in the practice.
A truck showcases a reenactment of the torture happening in China today. There is live organ harvesting, a tiger bench, and the water dungeon. These are only a few forms of torture happening on Falun Gong practitioners in China today.
“Imagine, you are meditating, you get hauled off sometime in the middle of the night, and while you are still awake, they’re literally ripping the organs out of your body, ripping your eyeballs out of your eyes—while you can still see, while you are still conscious. It’s really horrific,” said Chris Kitze, a Falun Gong practitioner.
Recently, an Independent People’s Tribunal concluded that for years, Falun Gong practitioners and Uighur Muslims have been murdered for their organs to be sold.
“When you do something like this, you think you’re getting a great benefit, but you’re doing it at a terrible cost to someone else’s life,” said Kitze.
For this reason, Falun Gong practitioners try to let more people outside of China know about these atrocities.
“I believe that the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, and the freedom to practice what you believe in is very important. And the fact that people are being tortured and even killed to death is just not right. It’s like a human violation,” said Joshua Potgieter, a San Francisco resident.
“The more awareness, the more people talk about it, the more people know what’s going on,” said Remi Ekah, a business employee.
At the rally, Taylor let everyone know what he has planned ahead. “As a statesman, I promise, as I get further up the line and work with Donald Trump, that I will help see an end to that persecution of religion against the Falun Gong people, and any religion, I don’t care where you are.”
In the meantime, Falun Gong practitioners say they will not back down, and will continue working to put an end to the persecution.