Diplomat James Patterson at Falun Gong Art Exhibition in California

Diplomat James Patterson and The Art of Zhen Shan Ren at Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont California.

 

The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners impact me on many levels. Senior members of the Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco told me in the early 1970s police photographed them as they entered the church to worship. My friends told me the photos were to be sent to the FBI. I have heard the voices and looked into the eyes of senior gay men who experienced this religious persecution for their faith and their sexuality in the United States and in LGBT-tolerant San Francisco.

 

I am also sensitive to the plight of Falun Gong children who witness the persecution and beatings of their parents. As a youth in segregation-era Alabama, I saw racial violence and the pain on the faces of those beaten due to their race and their children. These painful memories bother me still and wake me at night.

 

My late daughter, Alexandra Baker Patterson, was born with cardiac disability. She needed a heart transplant. She  never got it. She lived to ne 17. In China, a heart transplant can be done within days. According to Falun Gong practitioners I have spoken  with in California and independent documented cases presented to me by Israeli and Japanese physicians, organs are sourced from Falun Gong prisoners and, in some cases, from Falun Gong children.

 

In order to enter the Foreign Service, I had to take a loyalty oath to never criticize US government policy. It was US government policies that placed Japanese Americans in "prison camps" during World War II. It was US government policy, segregation, that led to the arrest of Nobel Prize winning religious leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. near my childhood home in Alabama.

 

 It is still US government policy to segregate and marginalize Native Americans and provide them with dreadful healthcare on disgraceful reservations, where cigarettes, liquor and gambling are the major pastimes. It was a failure of US government policy that led to the horror of Vietnam and endless mental health cases in the US and Vietnam. Vietnam vets have told me of the extreme sexual abuse of young Vietnamese women and girls. It was failure of US government policy by several administrations to ignore human rights abuses of the former Soviet Union, China, Haiti, Ferdinand  Marcos, the Shah of Iran, and many others. How could one not criticize the US government? Diplomat, to have any credibility at foreign posts, should be encouraged to speak truth. Else, they look and sound like fools.

 

In sum, I used diplomatic and government speak to answer my "final and critical" Foreign Service question about "never criticizing US government policy." I spoke strongly about US government policies I agreed with and diplomatically "left the door open" on US government atrocities.  It is a US government atrocity today to ignore the plight of Falun Gong and their children.

 

As I told the Epoch Times, China and Chinese businesses are investing across the US, including California and Alabama. Clearly, China wants US dollars and a presence in the US. That means China and, its honorable Ambassador in Washington, must listen to the American people and take action to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

 

 

 

Diplomat James Patterson with "House Raid" by artist Chongqi Yao (Oakland, CA) 20o8. The canvas depicts arrest of a mother as her innocent child looks out to the world for an answer to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Diplomat James Patterson with a canvas titled "An Orphan's Sorrow" on exhibit August 1-30 at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont California.

 

 

Diplomat James Patterson with a canvas titled "Homeless" one of several canvases in the exhibit The Art of Zhen Shan Ren: Truth, Compassion, Tolerance" at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, California. The canvases depict real stories of Falun Gong practitioners: savage suffering, triumphant and inspiring courage, and enduring beauty, especially the canvases of children and others waiting for an end to the senseless persecution by the Chinese government.

For more information see www.falunart.org.

James Patterson, Diplomat
Life Member American Foreign Service Association
James Patterson is a diplomat for disabled children and people with HIV/AIDS, perceived or real.
JEPDiplomat@gmail.com