Tennessean: Journey supports group in China

Friday, 10/26/01

David Lee Jerke gets funny looks, but he doesn't mind.

He keeps his eye on the road ahead. He's trying to spread the word about his spiritual practice, one step at a time, 3,000 miles across America.

Jerke, a Tacoma, Wash., resident, made his way through Middle Tennessee this week -- on a walk from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles -- to draw attention to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

''When people are being killed and tortured for doing good, I feel strongly that action must be taken,'' he said in a telephone interview yesterday from Highway 70 West near McEwen, Tenn.

''I felt a higher calling to it. My wish was to show the spirit and heart of Falun Dafa and the great drama going on in China.''

Falun Gong, sometimes called Falun Dafa, uses a series of slow-motion exercises and various meditation techniques to improve ''energy circulation'' and ''instinctual powers,'' according to Falun Gong literature.

Falun Gong also relies on [...] books to help practitioners ''improve their health, purify their mind, uplift their spirit and deepen their understanding of life, humanity and the universe.'' [...]

Believers say Falun Gong has no political intentions, no binding memberships or religious rituals.

But the Chinese [party' name omitted] government has been [persecuting] Falun Gong since 1999 and accuses the movement of being an [Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted].

Amnesty International reports that more than 200 Falun Gong practitioners have died in custody in China. Falun Gong defenders think the number is much higher.

Jerke, 33, started his walk Sept. 6, covering 20 to 25 miles a day with his backpack. It's often a solitary trek, but Falun Gong practitioners in some towns come out and walk with him for a few miles.

In Nashville, about 10 people accompanied him through town, carrying signs such as ''China Stop Persecuting Falun Gong.''

''People in their cars stop alongside sometimes,'' he said. ''They're very curious, very open-minded. We talk awhile, I hand out literature. In some places people are suspicious of anything strange, especially after Sept. 11.''

About 50 local people practice Falun Gong, according to Daniel Fang of Nashville.

The group holds exercise sessions at Centennial Park on weekends from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Jerke is a microbrewer by trade but plans to go to graduate school to earn an MBA and study Chinese. He has been a Falun Gong practitioner almost three years.

He credits the practice with improving his emotional and physical health.

His aim now is to meet elected officials across the country and urge them to embrace the Falun Gong cause.

When his walk is complete, expected in February, he plans to fly to Beijing and do Falun Gong exercises in Tiananmen Square with other practitioners.

''I meet elected officials who have fear of standing up to the Chinese,'' he said. ''The reason is economics, money, the huge markets we want to reach in China. No one wants to disrupt that by bringing up human rights. ... But this is not a political issue, not a Chinese issue. This is a human issue, and these are crimes against humanity.''

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/01/08/09956248.shtml?Element_ID=9956248