Ex-NBA Star Enes Kanter Freedom: “We’re Tired of Condemnation” – Action vs CCP | Falun Gong 2026

Well, I just want to say thank you guys for having me. As you guys see, I don't have a paper in front of me because I'm just going to speak from my heart because, uh, you know, uh, Falun Dafa issue has been a dear to my, uh, so dear to my heart for a very long time. Around three years ago, I met with this little girl, right? And, uh, she was just, she was like pretty much like a three feet tall, very young girl. She told me that she's like, Hey, can you please help my family? And I was confused. I'm like, what are you talking about? And that was the first time that I heard about the cause of, uh, Falun Dafa, Falun Gong issue. And from that day, the whole cause became a dear to my heart. And I was playing basketball in NBA actually. Right. And obviously as everybody knows that NBA has deep ties with the Chinese communist party. So I started to speak up about some of the problems that are happening, uh, in China. And unfortunately, you know, because of the relationship between NBA and the Chinese communist party, NBA was pressuring me to stop talking about it. But I was like, you know what? This issue is bigger than myself, bigger than basketball and bigger than NBA because while we are comfortably playing basketball in this country, on the other side of the world, people are losing their loved ones, losing their lives and losing their homes. So, um, obviously we are in Washington, DC, right? And we have a lot of, we have lots of lawmakers, uh, in this city. Um, I think my one message to all the lawmakers out there, we are tired of hearing condemnation. We don't want to hear condemnation anymore. We want you to take concrete action against 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 got to do whatever we can to push our lawmakers to take concrete action against those evil regime, like the CCP. So this is my first message. And my second message is, I mean, please look around you, right? We have people from all different kinds of ages coming here for standing for what's right. Stand up for the truth and stand them for what they believe in it. And this is the message that you guys are passing along to young generation out there. So if nothing happens, right? All these kids out there growing up, uh, for what they believe in it. So for that reason, it gives me so much hope. It gives me so much motivation to fight for what's right. Whenever I see all these young kids out there are coming here and trying to be the voice of all those innocent people out there who don't have a voice. So I want to say, you guys have an ally as an NBA player and I know that I lost my career. I know that I lost millions of dollars, but you know what? This is, it's nothing compared to what you guys are going through. So, um, but again, you know, I just want to say, thank you guys for having me, but we need to bring, uh, more people in here. Maybe next year I want to bring more athletes. I want to bring more actors. I want to bring more. Um, I want to bring more, uh, activists and I want to bring more people here to be your voice because this is a non political movement. This is a, this is a human rights issue. So we don't care if you are from the right, from the left, whoever you are, you can come here and stand with innocent people. So also my last message to all the world leaders out there, if all these world leaders just actually listens and follows the, the mess, the pure message of the fallen DAPA or Falun Gong message, right? We wouldn't have any of these wars right now. It is all about compassion. It is all about truthfulness. And it is all about standing for what's right. So lastly, I want to say thank you guys for having me and I'm going to do whatever I can, uh, to help you guys. So we can be the voice of innocent people out there. We don't have a voice. And again, we are tired of hearing condemnation. We need to take concrete action against the evil regime of CCP. So thank you guys for having me keep inspiring people because I see we have thousands of people here and more than half of it is the young generation. It is so important because every fallen DAPA grows up as an activist. Every fallen DAPA grows up, uh, born as an activist. So for that reason, keep inspiring, please keep being the voice of people. And again, thank you. Thank you guys for having me. I hope that we will not have to meet again last year, next year, because I hope that this persecution and this, uh, uh, this pain will end as soon as possible. So thank you guys for having me. I'm honored to stand with you guys and I'm going to do whatever I can to be your voice. You guys have an ally in the NBA. Thank you guys.