Katie Porter: “Nine years ago, the People's Liberation Army and the State Security Forces of the People's Republic of China turned…”

“Nine years ago, the People's Liberation Army and the State Security Forces of the People's Republic of China turned their weapons on a group of unarmed, peaceful demonstrators who had gathered in the center of Beijing for several weeks to protest the corruption of the communist Chinese government and demand democratic reforms and greater freedom. Many of those who had gathered there were students--the best and brightest of China--but there were also factory workers, older people, families and even party members. They had come to Tiananmen Square--the physical and psychic center of China's capital city--to peacefully petition for change in their government. This peaceful petition was met with bullets and tanks. Between 2,000 and 5,000 people were killed in and around Tiananmen Square by Chinese military and police forces. They were shot in the back as they ran away. They were crushed under tank treads. They were killed by indiscriminate machine gunfire. They put their own lives at risk to save others. They are heroes and martyrs, and we will never know many of their names even though we watched their fate unfold on CNN. We cannot allow their memory to die and we cannot allow what they stood for to be diminished. By ordering Chinese troops and police to fire on their own people, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and the rest of the Chinese Politburo earned their place in history. Nothing that has happened since can change this fact.”