(Minghui.org) A quiet but persistent grassroots movement is taking place in the Greater Seattle area. Its goal is to raise awareness of the human rights violations committed by the Chinese Communist regime, and bring an end to the persecution of Falun Gong and the practice of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China.

Practitioners of the spiritual self-cultivation discipline Falun Gong (also know as Falun Dafa) make up the largest group of prisoners of conscience in China. Since 1999, when the regime launched a nationwide persecution, they have been illegally detained in forced labor camps, prisons, and brainwashing centers for their peaceful practice of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance—the tenets of Falun Gong.

This grassroots movement exposing these human rights violations has endured with patient urgency since the beginning of the persecution.

People learn more about the persecution of Falun Gong and sign the petition to stop organ harvesting in China

Practitioners from the Greater Seattle area held an event at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle on September 8, 2013. Almost 1,000 signatures were collected in four hours to support the newly introduced House Resolution 281 (“Expressing concern over persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience, in the People's Republic of China…”). This is a campaign that echoes not only through Washington State, but across the country.

This was the second petition drive held at Westlake Park this summer. Locals learned about the ongoing persecution and forced organ harvesting. A woman visiting from Dallas was very glad to see practitioners sharing this information. She said she didn’t watch the news or read newspapers, but was grateful to find out about this. She was very interested to learn that this grassroots movement explaining the truth about the persecution was a global one.

Several people were deeply moved when they learned of the brutality of the persecution. One gentleman was surprised by his own reaction. He held his hand to his chest and said that just hearing about the persecution almost made him sick. The facts about forced organ harvesting brought tears to his eyes. He thanked the practitioners for their efforts to educate the public.

One eight-year-old boy and his mother were very interested in the Falun Gong exercise demonstrations, and wanted to learn more about the practice. The boy asked practitioners about the exercises and was interested in the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and how cultivation of these principles plays out in everyday activities.

At both of these recent events, many people asked why they had not heard about this before. They were shocked and saddened to hear that people are being persecuted for their faith. Some people had heard about the persecution but didn’t know about the forced organ harvesting. Once they learned the facts, they were eager to sign the petition in support of H.Res.281.

Practitioners in the Greater Seattle area have come together on this project and collected around 15,000 signatures during the past six weeks. The stack of petition forms has been presented at meetings with many U.S. representatives from Washington State. Currently, two Washington State Representatives have agreed to co-sponsor H.Res.281, adding to the over 100 members of Congress who have signed so far.