The following is part four of a Barefoot Lawyer interview with Reggie Littlejohn. To listen to the other parts please check the link in the description. 

Will Deatherage: Now, when was the first time you talked to Guangcheng and/or met him in person? 

Reggie Littlejohn: Okay, I’ll tell you about both of those things. The first time I talked to Guangcheng, I was on a Voice of America interview, and they warned me, Chen Guangcheng is planning to call into this interview with you. I’m glad they did because I think I would have fainted if they had not told me ahead of time. This was when he was in the hospital, he had broken his foot, he had some other problems, as well. 

He was in the hospital, where he did not want to be, because when you’re in the hospital you’re under the authority of the Chinese Communist Party. He wanted to be in the embassy. But again, that’s a whole part of the drama. 

I was on Voice of America advocating for him, advocating for the Chinese government to let him go, advocating for the American government to let him in and then, this voice came in, it felt like it was coming in from Heaven or something, the voice of Chen Guangcheng. I was able to speak with him through translators on Voice of America on air. I don’t know how many millions of people in China were listening to Voice of America at that moment, but that was absolutely unforgettable. 

One of the heights of my entire career as an advocate, as an activist, number one: when Chen Guangcheng touched down on U. S. soil was one of the most unbelievable moments of my entire life. Usually when you advocate for an activist they end up dying. They never come to the United States and become your friend; Chen Guangcheng and I are very, very close friends.  

So, then, after doing all this advocacy on Voice of America, I must have appeared at least 10, could be 20, times on the issue of Chen Guangcheng. When Chen Guangcheng came to the United States and he gave his first interview on Voice of America himself, in person, I was the one who was with him. They invited me to join the interview. 

When he came to the United States, I had brought him some red roses to give to him, but he was apparently really sick, too much excitement and the plane and all the rest of it, motion sickness, maybe. I couldn’t see him when he first touched down. So later, weeks later, I flew back to New York to meet with him, and that again was one of the most incredible moments of my entire life, when he and his wife came through the door, there he was with his foot in a cast. He gave me such a strong hug it lifted me off the ground. 

And we sat there with a translator for probably an hour and a half. Guangcheng and I were both shaking, it was so emotional. Weijing was probably shaking, too. It was an incredible meeting. He said that people had said to him, “If you have two people in the world to thank, thank Reggie Littlejohn and thank the person running the Chen Guangcheng website.” I said, “Well, I was running the Chen Guangcheng website.” 

He was very grateful to me for all I had done, and I was inside out overjoyed to actually meet him and be able to show him, take him onto my website and show him the Chen Guangcheng page and show him the sunglasses campaign, show him the video that we made, show him all the signatures on the petitions, all that. It was incredible, absolutely incredible. 

Will Deatherage: This might flow into a broader conversation, because we’ll shift focus soon to the other work you’ve been doing since freeing Guangcheng. Did you get any sort of pushback or resistance from the Communist Party, or people you suspect were from the Communist Party? This can apply to both Guangcheng but also on a broader scale to activist work you’ve done considering China in general. 

Reggie Littlejohn: Very early on, there was a weird exchange I had with another organization, that it came out that someone had created an alternate email address for me and sent an email from me to this other organization and that email had a virus in it. They were spying on me and the fact that I had a close relationship with this organization, and this organization would likely open an attachment that I sent, and that it would destroy their records. 

The email was something that had come from my computer, it was notes to myself that I had never sent to anyone else. It was clear that someone had gone onto my computer, found text of something I was thinking about currently, used that, created a different email address for me, an imposter email address, and sent it to this other organization with the intent of destroying that organization. I got the FBI involved with that and they were very helpful. That was an encounter I had with the Chinese Communist Party. 

My feeling is that I am not nearly as much at risk as people who are Chinese Nationals. Just think of this, I’m a non-Chinese American advocating on behalf of China. Think about what Chen Guangcheng did as a Chinese citizen in China, saying the same things. He and I were saying the same things, but I could do it almost with impunity here, whereas it almost cost him and his family their lives. Those are the real heroes. People say, “Oh, you’re so heroic” and I’m nothing compared to the Chinese people who are doing this. 

Will Deatherage: And even while he’s been in America, we’ve had podcasts that have covered this, but he suspected that there have been agents that have come after him and his family even while he’s been in the States. Thank God he’s loving where he is right now, especially at Catholic University’s Center for Human Rights. Reggie, thanks so much for your time, thank you for everything that you’ve done for human rights, and especially for Guangcheng. It’s always great to see you guys and people together, you’re such good friends. He loves you so much and we at the Center for Human Rights love you as well. Thank you, Reggie. 

Reggie Littlejohn: Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be his friend and I love him too and his whole family. And congratulations to you for all the wonderful things that you’re doing, as well. 

Will Deatherage: Thank you. We appreciate all of our listeners of the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China, we encourage you all to share this podcast across Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and our other platforms and we’ll see you guys next time. 

This week, the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China remembers the beginning of the Tiananmen Square protests which resulted in the assacre of thousands of pro democracy advocates in communist China. Chen Guangcheng will release a statement and reflection during the week of June 3, which marks the anniversary of the Communist Party’s suppression of these protests.