WASHINGTON—Thousands of people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial on July 23 to commemorate the lives lost under communist persecution and call for an end to abuses still happening to fellow Falun Gong practitioners.
With the azure sky as the backdrop, they joined human rights advocates and a congressman for a rally, holding up banners at a site that has witnessed monumental changes in U.S. history.
Many of them have either experienced persecution in China for practicing Falun Gong or know someone who has. Some have lost families and friends to the ongoing campaign that has reached U.S. shores.
On this day, they commemorated the 27th anniversary of the broadening suppression by the Chinese regime and called for change.
“Lincoln Memorial was really a turning point in American history for civil rights,” Falun Gong practitioner Erik Meltzer, an entrepreneur, told The Epoch Times. “And likewise, I really hope that our rally today will be a turning point in exposing and bringing to an end the transnational repression that we are facing here in the United States.”
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), who represents a district with a sizable Falun Gong population, noted the large rally turnout.
For years, he has witnessed the practitioners’ unwavering commitment to Falun Gong’s principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, he said.
“[They are] an inspiration and a call to action for every American,” he said in a speech.
“Seeing this commitment and action, it gives me additional energy and pride to continue to fight another round, to not only pass this legislation, but to make sure that we ultimately win this victory,” he said.
At the rally was Wang Chunyan, once a business owner in China. She lost her husband to the Chinese regime’s persecution, while her company closed.
During seven years of jail, she said, the police beat her with metal sticks until her back was bloodied. For months, they forbade her from having a shower for fear that other inmates would see the wounds.
Tong Shuzhen and Alisa Zhou said they are both worried about their relatives in China’s Wuhan city.
In June, the police arrested another Wuhan local, Hu Shangxiu, over Falun Gong. She died in the early hours the next morning after hours of interrogation.
Zhou, a U.S. citizen from Maryland, said her family in China has not been allowed to visit her mother since May, nor could their lawyer access her mother’s case file.
“Living in a free country, it’s just so important to speak up for those being persecuted in China, who don’t have a voice,” Zhou told NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.
The suppression of their practice has not stopped at the Chinese border.
Lydia Dong, from New York City, was recently manning a Falun Gong information booth in the Flushing neighborhood of the borough of Queens to raise awareness about the regime’s abuses.
“The persecution is ever-present,” she told The Epoch Times.
“The Chinese Communist Party has extended its claws to every part of the world,” she said, noting that the incident only motivates her even more to “unmask its true nature.”
“I’m not seeking a peaceful life in America. Wherever I am, I need to do my part.”
Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom is one of the supporters.
At the rally, he spoke while wearing a yellow shirt emblazoned with the words “Stop Persecuting Falun Gong.”
“While we are comfortably playing basketball in this country, on the other side of the world, people are losing their loved ones, losing their lives, and losing their homes,” Freedom said. His message to lawmakers is: “We are tired of hearing condemnation.”
“We want you to take concrete action against [the] Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
Seeing the crowd—“people of all different ages coming here to stand for what’s right”—gave him “so much hope,” he said.
Bianey Marquez, a biochemical engineer, expressed shock when learning about forced organ harvesting in China.
“To think that an entire country made it normal—that’s horrible,” she told The Epoch Times.
Andres Mancpecce, from Colombia, said he appreciates the rally for allowing one to put himself “in another man’s shoes.”
The persecution is a reminder of “what not to become,” he told The Epoch Times.
