(Clearwisdom.net)

On September 14, San Francisco Bay Area Dafa practitioners held a family-style Chinese Moon Festival fellowship luncheon. Most participants were Dafa practitioners who had family members currently detained in prisons and forced labor camps in China. San Jose City Council member Forrest Williams and his wife were also invited to this gathering.

Councilman Williams asked Dafa practitioners in detail about the current situations of their family members in China. Lu Zhonghua, a practitioner working in a computer firm was very appreciative to Councilman Williams. She said that there were tens of thousands of Falun Gong families like hers who could not reunite with loved ones in order to celebrate the Moon Festival. Businessman Fu Fucheng mentioned that his wedding anniversary was on the Moon Festival 31 years ago. Yet on this day, 31 years later, his wife is being held at the Pi County Detention Center in Sichuan Province, only because she refuses to give up practicing Falun Gong. He could only wish his wife well on their anniversary today. He longed for the day when he could reunite with his wife. Hu Zhihua has worked very hard for the release of his two brothers being detained in jail. He hopes Congressional members and the United States government will show even more concern about the persecution and human rights violations taking place in China right now and will help end this great calamity soon.

Mr. Bian Xuzhuang and Ms. Shen Shumin are a Falun Gong couple that has just arrived in the United States with the help of U.S. Congressional members. They talked about their own experiences of being persecuted in China. When they described their horrible experience of being barricaded in their home by the police for seven days and nights in the winter, and how the police smashed their windows with bricks, Councilman Williams was shocked and puzzled as to why the police treated such kind citizens brutally.

After he heard the stories from practitioners, Councilman Williams expressed his shock at the atrocities levied against Falun Gong practitioners. He indicated that he would personally visit Congressional members and ask them to show more concern about the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners' human rights and their conscience. He encouraged them not to give up, but to continue to carry out their struggle. He used examples of how some Americans had to struggle for their human rights and how it was also a continuing process. As long as you are clear about your direction, you must follow that path with perseverance. He inquired further about the detention of American citizen Dr. Charles Lee in China. He indicated that he would do everything in his power to secure the release of Dr. Lee, so that he could return to the United States and be reunited with his relatives.

Councilman Williams also listened to the Falun Gong practitioners tell the story of the Moon Festival. He also enjoyed the sumptuous lunch and the moon cake.

2003-9-15