March 10: The Tibetan National Uprising Day
I think I am speaking for the majority of Tibetans — or at least to me when I say that March 10 of every year, brings me a generational pain — a pain of my grandfather who starved to death in a prison for being a Tibetan, a pain of my mother who was looted of all her property and was forced to beg for food, and my own story of family separation. I think there’s not a single Tibetan family who does not share a story like mine or even worse.
On March 10,1959, thousands of Tibetans took to the streets in opposition to the illegal occupation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The PRC used their military forces to kill 87,000 civilians that day. Seven days after the protest, His Holiness the Dalai Lama escaped to India. Since then March 10 has been known as Tibetan National Uprising Day.
