Rally at the U.S. Capitol: “A Future Free of Religious Persecution” - Speech by Bob Balthazar, Former White House Senior Advisor

(Minghui.org) Editor's note: Below is Mr. Bob Balthazar's speech delivered in person at the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 17, 2014, at the rally marking 15 years of persecution of Falun Gong.

Mr. Balthazar is a former senior advisor to the President of the United States.

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Good afternoon, everyone.

I am here with you all again today to mark another year of persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Fifteen years of persecution! Fifteen years too long!

So once again I stand in solidarity with practitioners of the peaceful meditation practice known as Falun Gong.

I can say that I am really experiencing the effect of practicing Falun Gong since now I live it very closely, because of a few personal friends of mine who are Falun Gong practitioners.

I am proud to stand with you today.

What we do here today is no trivial thing. What we do today shapes the future. It will be the history that, years from now, our children and grandchildren will look back on and learn from, just as the actions of our forefathers gave us lessons to look back on and learn from.

When I look back in history, I see that it is often those who have acted out of conscience, rather than convenience, who have made this world a better place.

Falun Gong practitioners who bravely stood on Tiananmen Square, and who with great courage refuse to renounce their faith, will be counted among them. I refuse to join those who, out of convenience, would let slip the very freedoms and beliefs upon which this nation was founded, because I am myself from Haiti, were some of my ancestors and family members endure persecution from dictators.

We are now paving the road for our children and grandchildren so they can enjoy a future free of religious persecution, a future free of forced labor camps, a future free of forced organ harvesting.

I want to deliver them a world in which Truth, Compassion, Tolerance, and Democracy are upheld.

I want to let the world know that I did my part to give them a better future.

So I am here today proudly joining my voice as a Haitian American with those from China who want to end this senseless persecution of Falun Gong.

Thank you.