(Clearwisdom.net)
August 7, 2003
President George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re: Hate Incident in Chinatown on June 23, 2003
Dear Mr. President:
It has been brought to my attention that on the evening of June 23, 2003 in New
York City Chinatown, several individuals who practice Falun Gong were physically assaulted,
harassed, and cursed at-all because they were practitioners of Falun Gong. I understand that these
Falun Gong practitioners were there to make a peaceful appeal to the Chinese diplomats attending a
function at a local restaurant, for them to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in
China.
Considering the nature and reason for the attack on June 23rd--the
violence was committed against the individuals solely because they practice Falun Gong--I believe it
amounted to a hate crime.
I was pleased to learn that you had reached out to Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman in a
March 13, 2002 letter, which expressed your administration's commitment to the defense of human
rights around the world. We both know that violence against Falun Gong practitioners is straight out
wrong.
In this society, no group should be subject to hate and violence because of their
beliefs. We both agree that Falun Gong practitioners should be able to exercise their freedom of
belief, freedom to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech without fear of their safety. I was
appalled by Da Li's heinous crime that night in Chinatown, and I ask that this individual be brought
to justice.
I firmly belief that effective actions should be taken immediately to disallow
the outrageous hate crimes towards Falun Gong in New Your City and in elsewhere on U.S. soil.
Respectfully yours,
John W. Lavelle
Member of Assembly
Cc: James B. Comey, Jr., U.S. Attorney
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