In May, many Asian and Pacific Islander communities across the country celebrated and shared their history, culture and traditions, as part of Asian- Pacific American Heritage Month.
As a Chinese-American, that month was extra meaningful for me because the Minnesota State Senate unanimously passed Senate File 2090 on May 20, 2016. My gratitude goes out to Senator Thomas Bakk (DFL-Cook), for his support.
SF2090 is a resolution, authored by Sen. Johnson of Blaine, that exposes the Chinese Communist Party’s forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, mainly from practitioners of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice that consists of four gentle exercises and a meditation, with a focus on the principles of truth, compassion and tolerance. It was one of the fastest growing “qigong” practices in China during the early ’90s, attracting 70–100 million followers with its positive health effects and focus on spirituality.
By 1999, Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, acting against popular opinion, banned the practice and persecuted anyone who continued to believe in truth, compassion and tolerance. Today, Falun Gong practitioners are still being arrested, imprisoned, tortured and killed.
Shortly after the persecution of Falun Gong began, China became a global leader in the number of organ transplant surgeries performed annually, second only to the U.S. Major Chinese hospitals were even internationally advertising vital organs for sale with unbelievably short waiting periods.
Forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners first came to light in 2006. According to the NGO Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH)—a 2016 Nobel Peace Prize nominee—up to 200,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed for their organs since the year 2000. DAFOH.org hosts an online petition to the United Nations that readers can sign to help end this crime against humanity.
Meiling Lee
Savage, Minnesota
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