SAN DIEGO−A contingent of the Global Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) participated last Saturday in the 28th Martin Luther King Parade. They carried posters and banners to raise awareness of human rights abuses by the Chinese communist regime.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination. Thousands of spectators lined the streets around Petco Park in downtown San Diego to honor the memory of the venerated civil rights leader and watch the annual parade.
The theme for this year's parade was "Let Freedom Ring," and over a hundred bands, floats, and marching groups participated, keeping alive King's dream of equality among the races and universal human rights.
Local supporters of HRTR also participated and were greeted with applause and thumbs-up as they passed by with posters depicting torture and banners reading, "The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist in China!"
"The Human Rights Torch Relay is an international grassroots campaign that seeks to bring an end to all human rights abuses against people of China while highlighting the persecution of Falun Gong, which is the most severely persecuted group in China today," said Jane Yang, a Ph.D. fellow at UCSD and one of the local HRTR organizers. She also grew up and lived in China for most of her life.
"We are not boycotting the Olympics," Yang said. "Our demand is that the Chinese leadership keeps their promise to improve human rights, and we are saying that the Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China."
Yang explained that China was granted the right to host the Olympics on the condition of improving human rights, but instead human rights abuses have worsened in China.
According to Yang, "The CCP continues its repression against people of faith – Tibetan Buddhists, Uigurs, Christians, and Falun Gong, and also represses human rights lawyers and reporters. In addition, the CCP supports other totalitarian regimes which commit atrocities against their citizens."
The HRTR was initiated by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), an international organization made up of government officials, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and members of the clergy who are dedicated to investigating and ending the eight-year-long persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and the forced harvesting of their organs.
Mark Mathews, a finance technician for the Navy who walked in the HRTR contingent said, "I'm here to speak out on behalf of my fellow Falun Gong practitioners who are being persecuted in China by the Chinese Communist Party."
"I know a lot about the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP," Mathews said. "I have volunteered many thousands of hours, 'polishing' reports for publication sent to us by Falun Gong practitioners from China sharing their personal experiences of being savagely tortured by CCP officials. These stories are brutal and detailed. Sometimes I have to stop and recover emotionally from doing the polishing work. It's much more frightening than any movie from Hollywood because it's real. I hope the Human Rights Torch will achieve its goal to bring awareness, and put pressure on the CCP to end the persecution of Falun Gong and improve human rights in China."
Another participant in the HRTR contingent was Raymond Lee, a retired associate professor from SDSU whose son Wayne Lee was the chief engineer of the EDL (Entering, Descending, and Landing) Project for the "Opportunity" and "Sprit" Rovers on the surface of Mars in 2004. Prof. Lee, who is originally from Taiwan and now lives in San Diego said, "The Chinese communist regime is worse than the Nazis were. Citizens of the world need to stand up and speak out for human rights in China. It's a problem that affects the whole world. The Olympic Games are a window of opportunity for change. We should make use of it."
According to their website, www.HumanRightsTorch.org, the HRTR was launched on August 9, 2007, one year before the official opening of the Beijing Olympics, and is scheduled to sponsor events in 37 countries. Many government officials, Olympic medalists, individuals, and organizations are participating in the HRTR to express their support for human rights improvement in China. The HRTR has already covered many European countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, and will arrive in North America in March and San Diego in the middle of April.
San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre was among the well wishers. Walking about and greeting parade participants in their line-up positions, he read the HRTR posters depicting torture methods inflicted on Falun Gong practitioners in China and said, "You're doing the right thing, I support you!"
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