Out of Tibet, an eerie silence

An eerie silence seems to be coming out of Tibet. A silence I have heard before.

All the news reports I've read have been inconclusive, unsure, unclear about what has been going on in the Tibetan capitol of Lhasa the last few days.

On Monday, Tibetan monks began protesting in the middle of Lhasa. Some reports claim civilians joined in the riots after Chinese police began beating the monks. According to reports, as many as 10 to 100 people have been killed in the riots.

Some reports claim the Tibetan monks started the violence, others claim it was the Chinese.

No one seems to know exactly what is going on in Lhasa (or if they do, they are not letting the news out). The pending Olympics seem to be protecting the protesters from an overly harsh crackdown by the central Chinese government.

But I've heard this silence before. Not in Asia, but in Washington.

I was sitting in my school cafeteria with a friend -- a friend who told me a story and forbid me from sharing it. He was afraid the Chinese government would arrest him when he returned to China.

My friend, a Tibetan, was studying in the United States. His name I will not share. He told me, at length, of his struggle to keep his identity as a Tibetan. Of the unfair way the Chinese took advantage of his country.

He mourned over the loss of friends. He spoke angrily against the Chinese government, the Chinese people for squashing his culture.

I asked him if I could write an article about what he had shared with me. He forbade me.

"I told my story to you, so you know what is happening to the Tibetan people," he told me. I have not forgotten those words.

My friend's silence speaks louder to me now as the Tibetan people cry out to the world through protest. A protest muffled by exaggerated accounts, unknown numbers and denial.