Shen Yun Dancers at NYC Parade Calling to End 26 Years of Persecution

Today, dozens of SHINee members stepped off the stage and into the streets of New York City. Why? Join us to find out. Hey, welcome back. We're the Two Musketeers. Today, we just joined the parade on July 20th, and we'd like to share some of our feelings after joining the parade and why we think it's really, really significant that SHINee dancers joined this parade today. Yeah, we'll tell you guys behind the scenes on what happened in this parade. Hey, Jisung. What are all these people wearing white shirts doing today? We're doing a parade. Can you tell me a little bit more about why we're doing this parade? What day it is? Maybe, what's important? Why you don't show up in the videos anymore? Oh, there are too many questions. Can you just ask one by one? Okay, why don't you show up in the videos anymore? Are you still alive? I think you're alive. Yeah, I'm alive. There's nothing wrong. All right, tell us a little bit what's going on today. Okay, today, we've joined a parade, and it is for the... Because... Okay, this guy needs some help. I'll come in. Basically, today is July 20th. It's a very important day, because this is 26 years ago when the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong. And us being Falun Gong practitioners are really here to stand in this parade to raise awareness and to stop this persecution. That's why we're here. Oh, good explanation. Yeah, Jisung. You haven't been in videos for a while, so you're not that good at speaking. It's okay. We finished the parade. How did you feel, Jisung? Honestly, I expected it to be longer. Oh, you expected it to be longer. And I feel a little bit sad. I feel like I didn't walk enough. Yeah, it was shorter than I expected too, but it felt great to just do it. Okay, let's get back on the bus. Actually, when I was walking, there was a part where I felt like almost like tearing up. Because I personally experienced this persecution, I feel like I have a duty to participate in this parade and call on the CCP to stop this persecution. And actually, I think I'm pretty lucky, because I can come to the U.S. and practice freely. And a lot of Dalai disciples are actually persecuted very badly in China. Some families are broken, and some people are even killed by persecutors. As long as the CCP does not stop persecuting Falun Gong, we will not stop the persecution. Thank you. Thank you, Jeffrey. That was nice. I think it's really amazing that everyone came together. It was very peaceful. It showed the world that the human spirit cannot be crushed by totalitarianism. I hope that the persecution in China will end as soon as possible. And then we, including myself, all the Dalai disciples, and all the actors of the Shenzhen Art Troupe, will be able to return to China. But I believe it will be very soon. The persecution has been going on for a long time. I don't think an action will have any effect. I think that when everyone is concerned about this matter, I think it will be able to end this persecution as soon as possible. First of all, I think this parade is very, very important because we're really raising awareness of the situation that is still happening in China. People are still being persecuted for their faith, just for their belief. People might think that we're trying to be political, but the truth is, it's just very basic human rights to be able to believe in what you want to believe in. In America here, we can freely practice Falun Gong, and it's an ancient spiritual discipline. Basically, we just follow the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. And that is something that is wonderful. So many people have benefited from it. Actually, a lot of Shenzhen performers, they themselves or their family members were actually victims of the persecution. I believe something around 90 people in Shenzhen have been persecuted themselves or have had family members persecuted. So this thing really touches home for us. In our performance, we share art and culture that the CCP has tried to destroy. 5,000 years of culture, and also in this parade, it's the same thing. So actually, on the way to the parade, I actually checked the weather, and there was not supposed to be rain. But right when we got there, it was pouring rain. It was raining like cats and dogs. The water, it looked like a river, basically. My shoes got completely soaked, and I was completely soaked. I had an umbrella, but it wasn't doing anything. The lucky thing was, after 30 minutes, the rain stopped. Even though there was that setback, everyone was still really happy to be there. It's very powerful because the people that go to these parades, the other practitioners, rain or shine, they're gonna be there. Because we don't have this parade just in Manhattan. We have it in Taiwan. We have it before in Hong Kong. It was extremely hot, but everyone was just, they just toughed it out because they knew it was important, the message they were trying to tell. One other thing that I think is really important is that facing 26 years of persecution, you see how Falun Gong practitioners respond to it. They've never resorted to violence or underhanded tactics. When you actually meet Falun Gong practitioners, you see that they're really genuinely nice people. There's something else that I read in a report that's pretty cool. They were like, these string dancers are going from the stage to the streets. And it made me feel very cool. Like, oh yeah, I'm doing something different. Because usually we don't really talk to the audience members, but now the people are literally right next to us. We can even fist bump or say hi to them and stuff. So it's like you're really seeing the people that are trying to understand what you're saying. And somebody said, Will was so into the parade that he was walking faster than everybody else. So the people in his line were having a hard time catching up with him. Was there someone beside me though? No, I was in my formation, I'm always checking. All right, I'll do better next time. Okay, next year. All right, so here's our final takeaway from joining the parade. The first one is, San Fu's a cool guy. San Fu's a really cool guy. That's the most important message. I'm a cool guy. So our final takeaway for our viewers is, and do some research on what it is if you don't really know what it's all about. Yeah, the more people that know about the truth, the faster I feel like this persecution will end. And I'll keep marching until the persecution ends and we can finally one day go back to China where there's freedom of belief, hopefully. And guys, please help us spread our message by sending this video to your friends and family. And I don't know, like, comment, subscribe. That's it for this time. All right, see you guys. Next time.