Encouraged by a series of Master's new articles and all kinds of activities by fellow practitioners all over the world, Falun Dafa practitioners in San Diego have become much more active than ever before.
The greatest change is in how we work together as a team to reap the most
benefit from our common efforts. All of our efforts are approached with a sense of good humor and good will. Everyone does whatever he can to help. We are also accumulating experiences to compile and use to streamline future events.
First, practitioners got a booth at the Del Mar Fair, the largest Fair in the entire County. This was already reported at:
http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/7/9/13145.html
Some pictures appear at:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/7/10/12101.html
Next, practitioners made the decision to have a weekly pictorial exhibit at the entrance to the 99 Ranch Market, the largest Chinese market in San Diego. Master pointed out that it's a very crucial time to clarify the truth to the Chinese community. We want more people to join us and support us. The first day of this exhibit, 8 practitioners joined the activity, staying from early morning until 1 P.M.
During the exhibit, one of the practitioners injured his hip. He had been standing
under the hot sun for almost three hours. When another practitioner tried to give him a seat, he refused, saying, "Why do I need to sit down? All I am losing is karma." The first practitioner almost cried over his deep understanding of the Fa!
More recently, practitioners decided to have a large pictorial exhibit focusing on the persecution of Chinese practitioners after our Sunday practice on July 15, 2001. We wanted to invite the press. We spent a lot of time preparing. Everyone participated fully in gathering posters, pictures and materials to hand out and in all of the necessary preparations, including a "dry run" on Saturday to remove any snags in the whole operation. Momentum built as Sunday approached, each doing his or her best to clarify the truth and get the best press coverage we could muster.
We knew we would want to do this again. So we used Winfax Pro to create a folder with the fax numbers for all of the media in the County. We wrote a press release and were able to send it to all of the media using just a few mouse clicks. Then we created another folder with the fax numbers of all of the radio stations that do public service announcements (PSA). We sent out a 30 second PSA to all of them. We set up email groups in a popular internet email service for all of the e-mail addresses we had for anyone who ever came to a Nine Day Seminar or ever practiced with us at one of our sites. Then we e-mailed an announcement to all of these people. We set up another email group for every radio station that had an e-mail address and we e-mailed our PSA to all of them also with just a few mouse clicks. It took two people an entire day to set all of this up. We made a how-to file using our Media Alert, PSA, Press Release and procedures to be used for future events. It was a lot of work. However, the next time we want to hold an event, just a few mouse clicks will take care of all of our communication.
The response was immediate. The day after we sent out the press release we got a call from a news channel that wanted us to give our opinion about China getting the Olympics. Three practitioners were interviewed. They aired something one practitioner said and quoted the opinion of another practitioner.
We had the pictorial exhibit at the La Jolla Cove, one of our practice sites, renowned for its beauty. We set up a tent and on its sides were the prominent words "SOS! URGENT: RESCUE FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS PERSECUTED IN CHINA." Inside was a table for selling or giving away T-shirts, books, tapes and flyers. On the back wall was a beautiful memorial to the practitioners who had been murdered by the police in China. Everyone contributed to making pictures that draped the walls of the tent inside and out. One practitioner also put together PVC pipe creating a large freestanding frame for some of the pictures.
We invited the press to come at 11:00 A.M. A reporter from the Union Tribune, the largest newspaper in San Diego, came with a photographer. People came from two of the major networks, Fox News and CBS News. One practitioner had written a speech which several practitioners polished. The cameramen filmed him delivering his speech, first with the backdrop of the canopy draped with pictures and then with the backdrop of the beautiful Pacific Ocean. He mentioned how much the evil torture and death of practitioners in China is like a new Holocaust and that no one can afford to be complacent. He also described how the atheist government in China fears anything spiritual. Altogether, he was interviewed for well over 10 minutes. Then the press interviewed an eleven-year-old practitioner to get her point of view as well.
The park was crowded with people and a stage was being set up close to the display for a later concert. Many sympathetic and interested people came to look at the pictures and take flyers. Reporters stayed on after the interviews just to talk and learn more. They all seemed very interested and friendly. A number of people expressed interest in learning Falun Gong.
That evening CBS news reported on a similar event in New Orleans and then showed us practicing at the Cove, followed by a vignette from the speech. Fox news aired a 2- minute segment about Falun Gong amply quoting both adult and young practitioners. We had given them copies of "Human Rights Violations and Immolation" and "The True Story of Falun Gong 1 and 2." They showed explicit film of people being beaten and horrifying pictures of the bodies of murdered practitioners interspersed with comments from the anchorman and both the adult and young practitioners. Then they cut to film that they had of Lili Feng as she arrived at the airport after 13 days in a Chinese prison. Lili's deep sobs from the trauma of the event and her tearful remarks, "I am so innocent! So are the millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China!" surely moved every feeling person who saw her.
The next day an article appeared in the Union Tribune. This can be read at
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/mon/metro/news_1m16falun.html
All in all, the event was a success. As San Diego practitioners, we are very happy for everyone's participation. We know we have much more work to do, but as we sit back and look at the people who are committed to this Fa, we can cry great tears of gratitude because everyone is doing such a wonderful job. We thank Master from the bottom of our hearts for giving us this Fa.
Category: Parades & Other Community Events
