FLUSHING, New York City—Many non-Chinese speaking residents in Flushing have felt cheated after purchasing Chinese shirts that slander Falun Gong, while being told that the shirts are about the Olympics.
Since August 2, a table set up in Flushing has been spreading hate propaganda against Falun Gong as well as distributing pamphlets to promote City Council Member John Liu and Assemblywoman Ellen Young. At least two people who work at the table have been arrested in recent months for allegedly attacking Falun Gong practitioners.
Recently, workers at the table have been selling T-shirts that have hateful words against Falun Gong scrawled across them in Chinese. Some local residents who don’t speak Chinese have been seen wearing the shirts, yet when asked, many say that they were lied to about their meaning and have quickly taken them off or thrown the shirts in the trash after being told what the shirts actually say.
According to some who purchased the slanderous shirts, workers at the table told them that the shirts were about the Olympics. Others have said that the workers at the table lied to them about what Falun Gong is.
“I think that it’s very negative,” said Marcus Green, a Falun Gong practitioner in Flushing. “They say that it supports China and the Olympics, but the [Chinese Communist Party] is really just brainwashing Americans without them even knowing what the T-shirt is about.”
The spreading of the tee-shirts is recognized by many Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing as a change of tactics by groups who had recently physically attacked them, spat on them, and threatened them with death. “Wearing the T-shirt can cause harm to another person,” sad Green. “It contributes to anger and violence, and wearing the T-shirt can stifle someone’s freedom of belief.”
“It’s anti-democratic,” said Green. “I hope the people who wear these T-shirts will learn the truth and that they’ll eventually throw them away.”
When told what the shirt said, one woman who chose to not be named quickly removed it and threw it in the trash, saying, “I don’t want to do anything evil. I believe in God.”
Background
On May 17, while at a booth along Main Street in Flushing, near the Queens Library, to help Chinese quit from the CCP, groups of pro-communist Chinese numbering in the hundreds surrounded Falun Gong practitioners who were present and physically attacked, cursed at, spat on, and threatened them with death.
Shortly after the initial attacks, an investigative call was made to the Chinese Consul General Peng Keyu who he was recorded admitting to have met with and encouraged members of the group that had attacked the Falun Gong practitioners.
