NEW YORK—The bitter cold wind and occasional rain in Westchester Saturday, reminded Falun Gong practitioner Charles Lee of his time in a Chinese jail cell, where the windows had only metal bars and no glass.
Lee, a U.S. citizen, who spent three years in a Chinese jail for trying to raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong in China, was joined by Westchester Assemblyman George Latimer, local Holocaust survivors, local human rights advocates, and many others who came out despite the weather to support the Human Rights Torch Relay's visit to Westchester.
An international campaign spanning 40 countries, the relay is raising awareness about the Chinese government's human rights violations.
Assemblyman Latimer and others related the persecution of various groups in China to the Holocaust. He told a story about when he learned about the Holocaust in elementary school on its 20th anniversary.
"I was 12 years old at the time… And when we sat in our class and one of my Jewish classmates said 'never again,' you heard it and you thought about it in that context that 'Of course this would never happen again, we would never see this kind of evil again,'" recalled Latimer.
"So here we are again and now we're talking about what's happening inside China. And now the 12-year-old mind didn't get it, but the 54-year-old mind understands. We have economic interests with China, they are the growing economic power of the world, we have to have relationships with them, we have common interests, they own a ton of our debt, what happens if they were to call it in?"
"We are on the verge of making the same mistake… This is the time we have to speak out," said Latimer. "It is really a very special occasion for us to be here."
In the morning four runners from the Westchester Track Club and one representing Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China carried human rights torches while running a four-mile route through White Plains, a city in Westchester County. They started at the city's Holocaust memorial Garden of Remembrance and ended at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Statue at the Westchester County Courthouse plaza, where a rally with speakers and music was held into the afternoon.
Holocaust survivors Jack and Ina Polak also added their voices at the rally. They were Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands, where 103,000 Jews were deported and only 2,000—including the Polak's—came back.
Calling for Justice
At the rally, Carmen Paolercio, founder of Shine A Ray of Hope Campaign for Darfur, detailed the genocide currently taking place in the Darfur region of the Sudan. China has close ties to the Sudanese government.
"We're trying to persuade China that as a major player on the world's stage it is in China's best interest to act responsibility and to stop these crimes against humanity both in its own country and in other countries," said Paolercio.
Speaker Myra Dahgaypaw, from Burma, said she is part of the ethnic Burmese minority Karen. She fled Burma as a child and grew up in a refugee camp. Like in the Sudan, China has close ties to the military government that rules Burma.
"You may remember from last year the killing of the monks in Burma, in reality such atrocities have been going on for decades in ethnic minority areas of Burma. Hidden to the eyes of the world, people of Burma have long been the victims of crimes against humanity committed by the government troops, more than 3,000 villages have been destroyed across Eastern Burma alone in the past ten years," said Dahgaypaw.
Charles Lee recalled other torture techniques used on himself or other Falun Gong practitioner imprisoned in China during his three years in a Chinese jail.
"They make [Falun Gong practitioners stand in the cold weather, they also pour cold water on them, they force feed Falun Gong practitioners human urine and feces… they use electric batons to shock the genitals of practitioners, they put brushes and electric batons in female practitioners' vaginas," he recalled.
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