United States: Falun Gong Practitioners Participate in Martin Luther King Day Parade

On January 19 2004, Falun Gong practitioners from Houston and Dallas participated in the 10th annual parade on Martin Luther King Day, which attracted five hundred organizations and forty thousand people.

The Falun Gong parade procession was composed of a dance team, a float and an exercise demonstration team. Three Falun Gong practitioners holding a banner saying "Falun Dafa ¨Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" led the procession. Following them were six female practitioners performing a dance entitled "Falun Dafa Is Great." The float was well-decorated with lotus flowers and banners. Two practitioners demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises on the float. The last group of practitioners held banners reading "SOS: Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong" and displaying pictures of persecution victims in China. Some other practitioners distributed flyers to parade viewers.

The Falun Gong procession was received with waves of warm applause throughout the parade. Many people copied the exercise movements and pressed their palms together to practitioners (a Chinese expression of respect known as 'Heshi'). Their applause and bright eyes showed how much they enjoyed the procession.

Banners and flyers introduced the goodness and popularity of Falun Dafa, exposed the cruel persecution by Jiang's regime and revealed the practitioners' peaceful and rational spirit. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, who devoted his life to freedom and human rights, Falun Gong practitioners, facing atrocities in the past four years, have been openly calling for basic rights from the Chinese government and for help from the international community in a peaceful, rational and non-violent manner.