Save America First

By Guppy Dong

I was going to write down these thoughts in my unfinished article “Driving Across America For the 3rd Time”. I’ve even put “To be continued” at the end of it. But then I couldn’t continue writing because the only useful sentence in that article was “Why? Because there is a ball of fire in my heart.” And yet, this “ball of fire” was not kindled by my journey across America.
What fire was it? It was depression, anger and extreme anxiety!
The nefarious Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has deprived the Chinese of all normal living space and created generations of grievances. In the first of half of my life, it destroyed my home and shattered my family, and I had gone through the cruelest torture imaginable. Now towards the dusk of my life, I’ve been forced into living in exile.
I am so grateful to the amazing United States of America which took me in, gave me shelter and ended my horror of living in the ubiquitous presence of harm-doers. For this, I profoundly thank America and see her as the true motherland of our minds and hearts!
To us, America has always been the brightest lighthouse for freedom and democracy. I had always believed that the most excelling and civil people of the world are all in America, who possess free wills and democratic rights to their fullest extent. America’s rule of law protects every law-abiding citizen at all times and freedom of speech is thoroughly exercised while those in power are strictly monitored. America’s entrepreneurs and politicians are striving for justice and conscience, evil powers such as the CCP can never find a foothold in America!
Then after I came here, I had a reality check: this version of America that I pictured in my head, only belongs to the past. Today’s America has become a net full of holes under the fierce attacks by the CCP.
Let’s take a look: from America’s highest-ranking politicians to its economic core Wall Street; from the mainstream media to the top scientific research institutes; from America’s landmark cultural representatives Hollywood and NBA to its church and commerce associations; from the Americans’ thoughts and ideologies to their daily consumption of products -- on all of these, we can see the shadow of the CCP’s infiltration.
The CCP’s Trojan horse has been openly striking in almost all aspects of the American society. Anti-CCP dissidents are being assaulted and threatened as if they are still in China, even their right to purchase guns for self-defense is restricted. I suddenly realize that in America, we do not have more means to defend ourselves.
I watched with my own eyes large groups of CCP commissioners driving up in fancy cars to celebrate the anniversary of the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the most luxurious hotels; they cursed and gave middle fingers at the protesters against them. And yet, American local government officials and congresspeople gladly attended their banquets, while their thugs brazenly threatened Chinese democracy advocates living in exile in America.
I watched with my own eyes Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters being beaten up by pro-CCP Chinese “patriots”, yet the protesters were reprimanded by the police, who did nothing to punish the assailants.
I have experienced it myself: my car was burned and my cell phone was hacked. Yet long after having filed police reports, nothing has been done about my cases！
In China, what we say could bring us prison terms and various forms of persecution. But in today’s America -- leader of the Free World -- censorship and wanton suppression of speech imposed by big tech companies is omnipresent, unbridled and publicly accepted. Back in China, my WeChat and Weibo accounts were shut down numerous times; in America, I had to quit Twitter in a rage. On Facebook, I often receive warnings for my posts and any day now my account could be banned.
Yesterday, renowned journalist Jennifer Zeng told me that her Facebook page had been shut down for over a year and yet she has had no recourse to gain justice. I was shocked. Where is the rule of law in America? Has America fallen so far that people can do nothing against these infernal powers?
Some friends said to me, “Even the former president of the United States Trump is banned by these authoritarian big tech companies, what can you do against them?” Yes, how many of us all over the world feel these words profoundly, and feel their disappointment in America?
During the past 6 months, I experienced the CCP's open and blatant infiltration into the American politics, and my life was threatened for exposing it.
During my road trip from the West Coast to the East Coast, I was indeed assaulted twice on the highway (dash cam record files are too large and difficult to upload; they will be published after processing).
What means do we have to protect ourselves? Some people say, “Sue them.” Yes, but lawsuits are time-consuming, costly and exhausting. If we have to depend on lawsuits to simply protect our lives, that is a very sad state that the Free World is in.
We see that America is going through a strange change that has turned it into something that we can barely recognize. The riots, burning and looting committed by the Black Lives Matter were endorsed by the country’s top politicians who even knelt down to support them. Now robbery and looting of stores in some big cities has become part and parcel of their daily life. Whenever there is a protest, shops would bar their doors and windows with wood panels -- such scenes that we used to only expect to see during wartimes, has become the new norm in America.
I remember taking a flight that got cancelled four times yet no arrangements were made to accommodate the passengers. I had to spend all those nights at the airport. One of the flights took 24 hours. Yet no explanation was ever made. Which airline elsewhere in the world would let this happen? Recently I read in the news that the American airline companies cannot find enough employees therefore the flights were all cancelled. This was such a laughable excuse - the largest airline companies in America are unable to find enough people to hire? Not to mention using that to defend lowered quality of service and treating the passengers in such a terrible manner, how is that not strange? Is this the new “normal” America? They say it is all because of the virus -- so the CCP virus changed Americans’ sense of justice and conscience?
And I was not the only one who encountered similar situations. Just a few weeks ago my friend’s flight was canceled and she had to spend the night at the airport as well -- and she suffers from severe anemia and other health conditions.
People say, “Why don’t you sue them?” Here we are back where we started. When you have just been through an ordeal then you must embark on another long, difficult journey. Perhaps this is why the majority of Americans choose to stay silent? Ordinary people do not have the wealth or energy to deal with lawsuits. Perhaps that is why the world is often sadly kidnapped by darkness.
I have left California and may never return. I believe that is the best choice for me. On the way to the East Coast I saw several cars with California license plates with luggage in their trunks. I thought, maybe they were like me, fleeing California. Near Pennsylvania I saw an elderly white lady driving with all her possessions like I was. What anger has driven her to uproot her life and come all this way here?
When I first flew back to California last month, my friend came to pick me up at the airport. I asked her how she was. She said during the two weeks that I was away, two major things occurred in their Airbnbs. The first was a guest who lodged with them harassed all female guests, including the cleaner in her 50s and her 12-year-old daughter. I asked if she reported it to the police, she said “You think they’d do anything about it?” I could only sigh. Soon after this harassment ended, another Airbnb was broken into and robbed. Not only the residing guest’s computer and possessions were all taken, even the landlord’s little tool shed for storage was ransacked and cleared out. My friend said, “All the valuables that I’ve brought from China were stolen, and the most devastating is that all memorabilia got robbed as well.” They told me that the victims believed the thieves responsible for it were the three hispanic men living at the Airbnb, as they appeared to be professional criminals. They were still staying there even when the police came.
The next day, when I went to say goodbye to another friend, he said, “After we’re done here with our work, we will leave California for good as well.” The reason? Because their residential area that has been the safest community for decades, has had over a dozen heavy offense cases just recently.
This reminded me of the 76 thousand criminals released by the California governor Newson; reminded me of Los Angeles’ new district attorney’s first act after taking office to abolish cash bails for defendants; reminded me the Democratic Party’s topman Soros who claimed to build a global government at the Davos Forum; and reminded me of the radical left in the States trying to defund the police, giving a criminal suspect national burial and making him a hero for an entire year.
It seems that some villainous people who hate America are attempting to destroy America!
Some people with a sense of justice say, no, this cannot continue. We must awaken the Americans. But the question is, how?
In the past few weeks I had some profound exchanges with a few American caucasians. When talking about the CCP’s evil doings, my friend J asked me, why do they do this? For money, or power? I told him, sometimes, there is no reason for what they do, it is simply an inertia of habitually acting egregious. He could not understand. I know that Americans receive a rational education. They cannot comprehend the viciousness of unbridled and inflated power, and cannot even imagine that being evil sometimes is merely a need and a “hobby”. Therefore he could not recognize the evils that are occurring here. Not because they are stupid; it’s because of the immense difference between our two cultures. We think we need to awaken them, but they feel that they have been awake.
Another American friend that I had a deep conversation with was G. He understands what happened in the Tiananmen Massacre and used to be a supporter of the democratic movement. I was impressed by his rational and clear thinking when talking to him. However, his wife told me that he only reads “mainstream media” now. After I had left, he was nervous that being associated with me might bring them trouble from the CCP. Even Americans in America are scared of CCP harassment. Why is this happening? (In my original article I observed some more shocking facts but to protect their privacy I decided to cut some of the details out here.)
G said he used to go to church when he was young but stopped once he grew up. His wife told me that most Americans do not attend church anymore after they become adults. Perhaps that is the problem?
On Route 68 in Ohio, I came across an incident. A pickup truck suddenly slowed down in front of me and honked, which is rare and impolite in America. As it turned out, an SUV was in his way. After the SUV moved out of the lane, the pickup truck accelerated sharply spewing a cloud of dark smoke. Then I saw the elderly white driver of the SUV sticking out his middle finger to the pickup truck cursing. I started paying attention to the surroundings along the highway trying to find a church and couldn’t find any for 30 minutes.
This reminded me of another experience while passing through Missouri. I saw the Gateway Arch from afar and wanted to take a closer look. As soon as I got off the highway, I saw nothing but abandoned buildings. Their structure shows that these buildings used to be high-end residential housing. Why were they abandoned? And in such a large amount? I saw no cars along the entire way. Then after I turned a corner, two cars showed up and weirdly, they both quickly pulled over and stopped by the roadside as soon as they spotted me. Then I realized I came into an area that I shouldn’t have, and rapidly I left. Entering the highway again I saw one building still in use, a church -- the only building with human lives still active in it. Are they persisting? It felt like a Hollywood disaster film, where the faith is keeping its final ground struggling for its last breath; like a lone tree standing in the middle of a desert.
While passing by Indiana the highway was blocked and I had to turn off it to gas up the car. At the gas station suddenly several young men with tattoos on their noses, of both white and black, showed up. They were obviously drunk and talking very noisily, behaving in a very brusque manner, appearing to be gangsters. I immediately took out the gas nozzle and drove off. On the way I saw groups of young men of similar appearances. Then I thought, perhaps that is why there are so many abandoned buildings in St. Louis?
I had never been so close to such a city before. This was completely different from what I had imagined America to be. So I looked it up: St. Louis, the most prosperous industrial city in 20th century America and the most famous civil rights movement city. I also saw some other words in its description as well: highest crime rate; the white flight, etc.
I had always commended America’s suburbs as the safest and most beautiful areas. I have heard of “white flight” before. I am not a racist; I know the problems do not lie with race. I believe the words of an excellent African American: “Some evil powers in America have been purposely helping the worst kind of African Americans; they have been in fact helping all criminals.”
They say, Americans are used to all this; only you newcomers freak out about these things.
Yes because we have just come out of the darkness; we’ve come in pursuit of light. Then we realized that that light is only in our imagination. Perhaps only in the reflection of that beautiful imagination, the ugliness can be discovered.
The CCP is celebrating their harming the world for an entire century. Xi Jinping is proudly announcing his prerogative to persecute and destroy the Chinese people. As all evil dictators, he loves to use nationalism to incite and mentally entrap his slaves. Such a nefarious anti-humanity party has been in existence for a hundred years -- this is humanity’s shame and disgrace.
When evil has grown to bring about the darkest night, we often hope for a dawn -- for the sunlight to dispel the darkness.
But when we suddenly find the sunlit world that we have yearned for for so long is beginning to be covered in dark clouds, what should we do?
America represents justice in this world. If its light turns off, the world will go into complete darkness.
Then some intelligent friends said to me, do not complain if you see darkness. If you want to defeat the CCP, America must be saved from its evil first!
Then what can we do?

7/8/2021 *

Guppy Dong (pseudonym) was a government official in mainland China until he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his participation in the Tiananmen Square protests. After his release, he worked as a journalist and editor for several Chinese-language publications. He was also CEO of an enterprise listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, general manager of a consulting company, and visiting professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He has written many articles exposing the Chinese Communist Party. He fled China in 2018, and is now living in the United States.