Early on the evening of February 14, 2001, practitioners from Houston were again invited to speak about Falun Gong to graduate students from the College of Business Administration, University of Houston, Clear Lake. After we were introduced by Professor Downer, we provided each student with a package of materials explaining more about Falun Dafa.
First we showed an 8-minute introduction tape on Falun Gong, followed by instruction on the 5 sets of exercises. Everyone was very attentive and shortly after starting the exercises they all felt the energy flowing in their bodies.
Afterwards we all discussed the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Most of the students were not surprised by the Chinese government's authoritarian practices; in fact, they were sickened by its record on human rights. We talked about the crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989, as well as the recent brutal persecution of Falun Gong. Professor Downer was impressed by the peaceful demonstration of Falun Gong practitioners and he compared it to Gandhi's non-violent, peaceful movement and Martin Luther King's civil rights movement. Some students compared us to early Christian martyrs.
We were able to answer all of the many questions. In addition, we showed the videotape of the Mayor of Santee, California, recounting how he refused to be intimidated by the Chinese consulate. We also told the group stories of how officials from the Chinese consulate came to University of Houston and tried to harass practitioners when they were trying to organize activities promoting Falun Dafa. We would like to warn the officials from Chinese consulate not to continue to work for Jiang Zemin and tell lies around the campus. In fact, since they came to the University, more professors have been in touch with us to find out more about Falun Gong and invite us to teach the exercises to their students. Some professors and students even decided to choose Falun Gong as their research subjects.
As one of the professors put it, they tended to ignore the attacks launched by the Chinese government. In fact, they believed that it must be something good and remarkable if the Chinese government cracked down on it. Another professor called us to say that the introduction of Falun Gong in his class had made his course very exciting.
We are happy for these sincere, kind-hearted people. We feel sorry for those who participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. "Please cherish it. The law of the universe is right in front of you."
Practitioners in Houston
