"Practicing Falun Gong is a Right"

In the evening of September 8, 2000, we heard that Chinese officials would attend a Chinese national concert at Lincoln Center in New York City. We thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce Falun Gong to people. Several hundred practitioners went there one after another. Many practitioners were demonstrating the exercises at locations nearby where there were many tourists. There were also practitioners standing near the intersections in groups of two to three and handing out Falun Gong brochures to pedestrians. There were practitioners wearing yellow T-shirts (with the words "China: Stop Persecuting Falun Gong") everywhere. In fact, practitioners in yellow T-shirts could be seen everywhere in New York City, over the last several days. I felt really happy and gratified.

The concert started at 8pm and was to finish at about 10pm. At around 9pm, I saw there were many practitioners near me, so I decided to walk around and search for another convenient spot. I walked towards the back of the concert hall and saw only four practitioners handing out Falun Gong brochures there, so I stopped to give them a hand. There weren't many people on the street then. A short while later, four Chinese reporters, three male and one female, arrived; two of them were photographers. They were all busy preparing for something. The lady was brushing her hair and applying her make-up in a hurry. It looked like they were preparing to do some spot coverage. A practitioner asked them where they were from. They said that they were from the Xinhua News Agency (Chinese government's official news agency) and the China Central Television (CCTV, state-run television). When we tried to give them some Falun Gong brochures, they hastily shook their heads and didn't dare to accept them. By then we realized that they were waiting to photograph the Chinese President leaving the concert hall. A practitioner immediately informed other practitioners. Shortly, sixty to seventy practitioners came over. At the beginning, these reporters didn't pay much attention to us, but as more and more practitioners came, one of them made a call on his cellular phone and then along with the other reporters, they sneaked off.

The practitioners stood at the intersection facing the entrance of the motorcade, but almost at 10pm, dozens of policemen came over and told us that we couldn't stand so close to the motorcade and that we had to move to the next intersection. The practitioners were very cooperative, just when we prepared to move, a policeman suggested that we could go to the intersection across the street. In that way, it would abide by their rule and at the same time, we would be easily seen by the motorcade. Hence, the majority of us went across the street while the rest went to the next intersection. At that time, no practitioner had any banners with them, except for a few small signs, however, a practitioner rushed over with a huge banner just in time. We quickly opened up the banner, but a team of policemen came from across the street and formed a human wall in front of us. They completely blocked our banner.

What could we do? It was already past 10pm by then. The siren on the motorcycle leading the motorcade began to wail. The motorcade was about to depart. I turned my head and saw that there was a school next to the street, with a stair of over ten steps, in front of their building. A practitioner suggested that we climb up the stairs to open up the banner. We rushed towards the top of the stairs and discovered that there was a row of high benches facing the street. So we quickly climbed up the benches and opened up the banner. A policeman shouted to us from down below, "move a little towards this side, a bit more, it can't be seen on that side." The banner was huge, it took eight practitioners to hold it up. The banner read, "Practicing Falun Gong is a Right" in English. Right after we opened it up, the motorcade transporting the Chinese leaders came.

We stood high as if we were standing on top of a natural over-bridge. Enveloped in the shiny lights of the evening, the banner was clear and attractive. At that moment, all my thoughts seemed to have gone, my heart was filled with a feeling of solemnity and sacredness. We held the banner in front of our chest; I felt that being with the principle of the universe, it made us so tall and dignified.

After the motorcade passed, we continued to hold the banner for another ten minutes. Luxury cars carrying delegations from different countries filled the street. Along with other vehicles passing by, they all stopped to take a look at our banner. An African-American lady walked by and said happily to us after she saw our banner, "Oh, you are Falun Gong, I've heard about you long before!" We were all very happy to hear that. After coming down from the stairs, we saw that many practitioners were still handing out brochures on the streets. A German practitioner said that he could clearly see the Chinese President from where he stood. He also saw someone inside the car glanced at our banner then lowered his head right away as if he had done something bad. This reminded me of some sayings being passed around lately, "upon hearing the words Falun Gong, the Chinese leader's face would change and tremble", "he would run away immediately whenever he saw Falun Gong practitioners or the words Falun Gong." Today, I gained an understanding of it perceptually.

Opening up the banner tonight made us all very uplifted. I couldn't help thinking of the practitioners inside China. They could only open Falun Gong banners for a few brief seconds on Tiananmen Square before they would be beaten down, yet we could demonstrate Falun Gong in front of the Chinese leaders, the delegations of various countries and the entire world. We became more aware of the heavy responsibility that the practitioners outside China bear. A practitioner voiced what we all felt, "what happened today touched me deeply. Whenever we didn't know what to do, Dafa (the principle of the universe) would give us wisdom so that we could do better! We must continue to exert ourselves, and "validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and offer people salvation with benevolence".

A practitioner from the United States

(September 9, 2000)