By Cao Ming, Vision Times
WASHINGTON D.C. — On July 23, nearly 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered in the nation’s capital to mark 27 years of resistance against oppression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At a public rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial, U.S. politicians, NGO representatives, and international human rights figures called for concrete international action against ongoing human rights abuses.
Among them was former NBA player and human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom, who urged the U.S. as well as world governments to move past verbal condemnation and take real steps to defend human rights and freedom of speech in China and beyond.
An outspoken critic of Beijing’s human rights record throughout his NBA career, Kanter Freedom has criticized the CCP’s treatment of marginalized groups, including Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan. He said this activism cost him professional opportunities and effectively ended his NBA career in 2022 after he went unsigned by any team.
But rather than step back, he has since devoted himself full-time to advocacy, using the platform he built as an elite athlete to draw attention to abuses he says the world has been too slow to confront.
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RELATED: US Lawmakers Join Rally Marking 27 Years of Falun Gong Persecution
‘We are tired of condemnation without action’
Speaking to reporters before his address, Kanter Freedom said this was his first time attending the rally in person, though he has long stayed in touch with activists and victims’ families.
“As a human rights activist, and also as an NBA player, my job is to make sure more people understand what’s happening,” said Kanter Freedom during his speech. “We are tired of hearing condemnations. We don’t want to hear condemnation anymore. We want you to take concrete action against the Chinese Communist Party. Because while you are condemning all the atrocities happening over there, thousands of innocent people, maybe millions of innocent people, are losing their loved ones. So we’re going do whatever we can to push our lawmakers to take concrete action against evil regimes like the CCP.”
Asked what the U.S. could do to help, he said Americans needed to push lawmakers toward legislation supporting political prisoners and persecuted communities. “We need to push for laws, for legislation, that will help those political prisoners and all the innocent people who are being persecuted,” he said, adding that he hoped to see the U.S. “lead the agenda” on freeing political prisoners worldwide.
He noted the diversity of the crowd, including elderly participants and a wheelchair user wearing a Falun Gong T-shirt. “That says a lot, and it shows incredible courage,” he said. “Seeing the younger generation stand up bravely for what they believe in gives me hope.”
A young girl’s story
Kanter Freedom said his central message was about Falun Gong’s core values and the courage to uphold one’s beliefs despite risk of persecution. “If world leaders truly listened to Falun Gong practitioners and respected these universal values, our world would be more peaceful, and we wouldn’t have so many wars and conflicts today,” he said.
He recounted meeting a young girl wearing a Falun Gong T-shirt roughly two years ago. “I asked her, ‘Can you tell me what Falun Gong is?’ Young as she was, she explained it to me seriously, and told me how her family had suffered persecution. That story touched me deeply. That little girl is the reason I’m standing here today.”
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice rooted in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Despite being peaceful in nature, the CCP launched a brutal campaign to eradicate the practice in July 1999 after seeing its rapid rise in popularity as a threat to its authoritarian regime. Since then, thousands of practitioners have perished at the hands of Chinese police, with many today still undergoing routine monitoring, arbitrary travel bans, and arrests.
Kanter Freedom said the CCP, despite projecting strength, fears religious freedom and autonomy, even China’s leader Xi Jinping. “Someone like Xi Jinping wants to be the supreme authority in this country. He doesn’t want any religion to exist, doesn’t want people reading religious texts. He’s trying to destroy any belief or value system that conflicts with his ideology.”
Transnational repression is a ‘real threat’
He acknowledged the personal cost of speaking out against Beijing. “You might lose your career, lose millions of dollars, lose everything you’ve spent years building. But this matters more than money, more than business interests, more than anything the CCP can offer.” He said he hopes more athletes, actors, and activists with wide platforms will join the cause despite the risks.
Kanter Freedom warned that transnational repression extends far beyond China’s borders. “The U.S., as a leading force in the free world, should take this more seriously and respond more forcefully,” he said, calling on lawmakers from both parties to do more for persecuted and oppressed people worldwide.
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