Free Gregory!

Gregory Koger's appeal bond hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday, Sept. 22 in Skokie, IL.  A big message must be sent by packing the hearing with support for Gregory.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Sign the petition (at worldcantwait.org) demanding Gregory be immediately released from jail.
2. Donate generously to publish this petition and for the legal appeal (information on the defense committee website, http://www.dropthecharges.net/)
3. Send letters of support to Gregory (information on the defense committee website http://www.dropthecharges.net/)
4. Come to the appeal hearing on Wed., Sept. 22, 9:30 a.m., Cook County Courthouse, 5600 W. Old Orchard Rd., Skokie, IL.

If you are on Facebook, find "Free Gregory Koger!" and build opposition to this highly political prosecution there as well.

The petition has been signed by:
August Berkshire, President of the Minnesota Atheists*
Father Bob Bossie, SCJ
Pat Hill, Exec. Director, African-American Police League*
Prof. Theodore Jennings, Chicago Theological Seminary*
H. Candace Gorman, Attorney for Guantanamo detainees
Cynthia McKinney
Michael Radzilowsky, Attorney
Joann Shapiro
Cindy Sheehan
David Swanson
Debra Sweet
Sunsara Taylor
Matthis Chiroux, The Disobedient*
*For identification purposes only

Latest article on the case from Revolution, September 26, 2010...

Judge Slams Videographer with 300 Days in Jail
FREE GREGORY!

On September 8, more than 40 people came to the Cook County Courthouse in Skokie, IL, to support Gregory Koger at his sentencing hearing. Gregory was arrested in November 2009 at the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago (EHSC) when he was videotaping a short statement by Sunsara Taylor. Gregory was videotaping Sunsara Taylor's statement for her protection—that is, so there would be an accurate record of what she had said. And for that "crime," the police grabbed, beat and maced him, leaving him with lacerations and contusions. Then they charged HIM with misdemeanor battery, resisting arrest and trespassing. There were many irregularities in this case—leading to an unjust guilty verdict on all counts, the highly unusual revocation of bail while awaiting sentencing, and now culminating in this totally disproportionate sentence and the outrageous lies used to justify it. (See Revolution #211 for the full story.)

At the sentencing hearing, the judge was presented with a petition with almost 1,000 signatures urging that Gregory be spared jail time. Twenty-five personal letters from a broad spectrum of people were also submitted. A high school principal wrote, "The amount of work and dedication Gregory has invested in this school and the work he has done with inner city youth … is beyond measure." A businessman wrote, "I have personally come to know Gregory as a responsible contributor to society. He has overcome great obstacles in his life and to send him back to the environment he has worked so hard to overcome is a travesty." A lawyer who worked with Gregory in his capacity as a paralegal wrote, "He has told me that he was a former gang member in his youth and has been convicted of a crime. If there is anyone who I have met who seems to be fundamentally rehabilitated and exhibits a life far from that violent area, it is Mr. Koger."

Seven witnesses testified on his behalf. His employer, an attorney, said that beside being an exemplary employee, what Gregory has done in dedicating his life to helping people is exemplary nd to interrupt this "would be obscene." A college instructor and former prosecutor, who had Gregory as a student, spoke to his intelligent questioning and engagement in class and said, "He has done an enormous amount to get his life back. I would want to say to the court that my hope is that a foolish decision of a 17-year-old boy would not be held against the man here today." A research scientist testified: "He is thoughtful, he is intelligent, he is a model for other people. He is a poster boy of what it is to be an ethical human being. He is my friend. The transformation he has made as a person, and from his circumstances, is remarkable!" A professor at the University of Illinois, Champaign recounted how he knew Gregory through the Books for Prisoners program and they became pen pals, and when he was released from prison Gregory spoke on behalf of prisoners who are still incarcerated and helped raise funds for that program. "I have to say that these charges are difficult to fathom. I'd ask this Court for mercy so that Gregory can continue to do the important things he is doing." Other witnesses were a Catholic priest, a college student who Gregory mentored, and a university instructor who met Gregory in Omaha, at the defense of an abortion clinic in 2009.

One person at the hearing said about this testimony, "You would have to be a stone to not be deeply moved."

In stark contrast, the prosecution presented no witnesses. The only evidence they submitted to the judge was two documents attesting to Gregory's previous criminal convictions, and the most recent was 10 years ago, in 2000.

A reasonable observer might think the judge would take seriously all the people who felt so strongly about Gregory that they were willing to testify to and write statements on Gregory's character and to support him by coming to the trial proceedings, that she would take this into consideration and decide that this person is making valuable contributions to society and does not belong in jail. After all, the default sentence for misdemeanors in Illinois is PROBATION, unless there are clear reasons that the person would be a danger to society if allowed to remain free.

The exact opposite happened. It was as though none of these people had spoken. It appeared that the judge had already decided what the outcome would be, that these people didn't know what they were talking about, even though they spoke from personal knowledge of Gregory. The judge countered with a depiction of Gregory as a person with a "volatile nature," a continuous pattern of criminality, and who "chose the path of violence." Then she declared that "a period of imprisonment is necessary for the protection of the public" and that "probation would deprecate the seriousness of the offender's conduct." Remember, these were misdemeanors!

Any thinking person would ask: What kind of system of "justice" would send a person to jail for 300 days for turning on a video camera?

To draw this outrageously fallacious conclusion, the judge had to pull aside the veil of fairness and impartiality, giving a glimpse of the class dictatorship that lies beneath the façade of democracy. She went outside of the legal system's own rules by literally inventing lies to justify the harsh sentence, saying "Yes, he endangered every person that was there in the auditorium that day. And now he has to pay." This claim was never made in the trial by the prosecutor, yet his harsh sentence is based on it.

Then the judge proceeded to lecture the people in the courtroom on the finer points of how this unjust system works. "There are some very fine people who came here today in support of the defendant, you have to understand that the defendant is a convicted felon."

Actually the "fine people" did know this, it was a major reason why many were there.

Should a whole section of society (there are over 2 million people incarcerated right now in American prisons) be denied the right to participate in the full range of lawful social and political activity by mere virtue of being former prisoners, because the state will use prior criminal convictions to justify and excuse political persecution? Together with this, a message is being sent to intimidate millions of others at the bottom of society, "Don't even think about raising your head, participating in political activity or protest, much less taking up revolutionary politics, this is what we will do to you."

The "public" is not threatened by former prisoners stepping forward to take up the big social and political questions of the day, especially those who become revolutionary emancipators of humanity. THAT is the life Gregory has chosen, not a "path of violence," as the judge asserted, and that is what is "volatile," and threatening to their system, not Gregory picking up an iPhone.

A retired major wrote the judge through the online petition, "I am a retired military judge and civilian lawyer of over 30 yrs. practice. I have read all I have been able to find on-line about this case and it seems quite clear that a great injustice has been perpetrated in your Court. The prosecution is charged with seeking justice, not with the simple minded seeking convictions or using the law to attack an ideology. What should happen, is that this prosecutor should be referred to the Bar Assoc. for prosecutorial misconduct. If this happened in my court I would have stopped the proceedings at the end of the trial, before it went to the jury, dismissed the charges and barred the prosecutor from my court pending the results of a Bar investigation."

The case is alarming to people from many walks of life, from the proletarian neighborhood near the jail to the farmers markets in the suburbs, to the Chicago Jazz Festival where one performer dedicated a song to Gregory. People from the oppressed communities, so familiar with the realities of police brutality and systemic police testi-lying; people who came alive in the '60s; humanists who find this prosecution highly unethical are beginning to question in one way or another how things got to be this way. And as word about this spreads nationally, growing numbers of people are stepping forward to put an end to this vindictive political prosecution.

And many people are concerned about the implications of this case for photographers and journalists, especially in this age of YouTube and ubiquitous cell phone videotaping. The prestigious Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press published an article about this case on the front page of its website (rcfp.org). Many who signed the petition wrote comments about the unjustness of bringing charges for videotaping, for example: "I cannot abide this blatantly unjust frame-up prosecution. How can you as a judge participate in a clear obstruction of the rights of the People? I am a producer of religious, philosophical, political programs. At no time have I been threatened with legal action even when I was on military reservation with my press credentials. What possible harm did Gregory do to anyone by using a cell phone video camera when told that he could not use his digital video camera?"

An even louder public outcry against this travesty must be mounted with the demand to release Gregory immediately from jail. To this end, the Ad Hoc Committee for Reason is circulating a new petition to the judge urging that Gregory be granted bail so he can be released from jail and put his efforts into appealing this outrageous conviction. Funds are being collected to publish the ad in a place where it can have significant impact on public opinion.

Stop the Political Railroad! FREE GREGORY KOGER!!

Today, Gregory Koger was sentenced to 300 days in jail, and denied bail during his appeal, for “crimes” that never happened.  Convicted of trespassing, simple battery (on a police officer) and resisting arrest for using his iphone to film events at a public meeting, Gregory never received an ounce of the much vaunted “rights and protections” allegedly afforded by the U.S. legal justice system.  Instead, in what can only be described as a vindictive political railroad, he has been targeted with police brutality and lies, political persecution, and outrageous imprisonment.

The charges against Gregory stem from an incident last November when he filmed me making a short statement at a public meeting of the “Ethical” Humanist Society of Chicago before their service began.  I was objecting to their politically motivated dis-invitation of me from a talk I had been scheduled to give.  But what started as a shameful act of political suppression by the EHSC has transformed into an extremely grave political railroad and imprisonment of an innocent and righteous revolutionary.

Gregory Koger lived a life like millions of others trapped and forgotten the bottom of this society.  Growing up, he and his family were homeless at times and struggling tremendously.  As a teenager he got caught up in gang activity and ended up serving 11 years in prison.  All that, frankly, is not that uncommon under this capitalist-imperialist system that offers millions and millions of youth no greater purpose than crime and punishment, to kill or be killed in the streets, or to sign up and become a mindless killing machine in this system’s wars and occupations.

But what happened from there is what makes Gregory’s story unique, important, and inspiring.  As he himself wrote [http://dropthecharges.net/?p=223]:

“Within a few years I was placed in segregation—solitary confinement—for an indeterminate period of time, and faced the prospect of languishing in isolation devoid of human contact in a concrete tomb until my release. It was in the midst of this—the pepper spray choking the whole cell house, the tactical team stomping down the gallery to drag someone out of their cell and beat them down, the constant agony of men straining against the solitude crying out for some kind of conversation or contact—that I first read Revolution newspaper.

“Revolution began to open my eyes to a whole other way that society could be organized and a whole other way of thinking. Instead of focusing intently on revenge and my own personal oppression or wrongs, I began to see that this capitalist-imperialist system is fundamentally based on the exploitation and oppression of the vast majority of humanity at the hands of the few within the ruling class who own and control the means of production. And that the basis exists to emancipate all of humanity from the oppressive relations of class society, and unleash people to flourish in ways undreamed of under the confines of this capitalist system.”

In other words, Gregory Koger did what the entirety of the U.S. prison system is set up to prevent; he transformed himself into someone dedicated to the emancipation of all humanity.

The radical transformation of Gregory Koger’s character was something that many people testified to in court today.  This included professors who had taught Gregory, students who had learned from his public speaking, former members of the “Ethical” Humanist Society of Chicago who had come to know and deeply regard him, a priest who is regarded highly nation-wide, and others.  Many more people wrote letters testifying to Gregory’s gentle demeanor and attentive listening, his dedication to making known the injustices of prison and the desperation of street life to all who are willing to listen, and his commitment to utilizing his own recent freedom from prison to serve not only himself but humanity’s struggle for emancipation.  His activities have included defending abortion doctors, speaking out against police murder, protesting torture while dressed in the orange jumpsuit of Guantanamo detainees and much more.

But, did the judge consider any of this testimony in her sentencing?  No!  Instead, Judge Marguerite Quinn insisted that Gregory had been a danger to everyone present on the day of his arrest, that his criminal record proved he had a volatile “nature” and that he was not a productive member of society.  Then, she gave him the near-maximum possible sentence of 300 days in jail!

All this came after the judge had worked systematically to assist the police and prosecution in jerry-rigging evidence and suppressing truth in such a way as to convict Gregory in the first place.

At every step along the way, Gregory’s trial has been a complete sham.

To site just a little of how this is so, the day before his trial, Gregory’s defense lawyers released as evidence the video footage he had taken on the day of his arrest.  It offered video proof that the allegations against him were bogus.  However, when faced with hard evidence that showed the lie of their charges, the police and the prosecution simply rewrote their case!  They changed the location in which they claimed Gregory had resisted arrest, they changed which police officer they claimed had been assaulted, and they implied that trespass law forbids videotaping when in it only forbids people from staying in a private space after clearly being told they must leave.

All of these new claims by police were contradicted not only by multiple witnesses, but by the police’s own original report!  However, rather than overseeing a forum where all the evidence could be heard and justice could prevail, the judge refused to let the defense submit the original police report as evidence!

The fact is, Gregory is not a menace or a threat to the public.  As many testified, Gregory is a living example of how even the most pushed-down and written off members of this society can rise above the muck and mire, become emancipators of humanity, and connect with and inspire many from other walks of life in this process.  In reality, it is precisely for this reason, that the system has thrown the book at him; Gregory’s life and this case contradict some of the very lies behind which this system maintains its legitimacy.

Gregory is a living refutation of the MYTH that the 2.3 million people in prison are all irredeemable monsters.  His case is a living refutation of the LIE that everyone in this country receives “equal rights before the law.”  The outrageous sentencing is a living refutation of the FABLE that people in this country are not persecuted for their political beliefs.

Gregory’s case is currently being appealed.  Yet, as one final grotesque and unjust step in this political railroad, the judge refused to release Gregory on bail as his appeal works its way through the courts.  To quote from the recent coverage of this case in Revolution newspaper [http://revcom.us/a/211/grave_injustice-en.html]:

“Jon Burge, the notorious Chicago police detective who tortured many people and sent them to prison and death row based on false coerced confessions, and who was finally convicted this spring—30 years later—of felony lying to a federal agent, is out on bail until his November sentencing.

“By contrast: A young man wrenches himself out of the dog-eat-dog mentality and life into which this system drives so many. In the bowels of the U.S. prison system he questions, he studies, he begins to understand, and live a life based on the fact that, as he put it, ‘the basis exists to emancipate all of humanity from the oppressive relations of class society, and unleash people to flourish in ways undreamed of under the confines of this capitalist system.’ But for Gregory, the person who has inspired many other people with his moral, ethical, and political transformation, the prosecutor and the judge took the extraordinary step of revoking his bail before sentencing [and now, during appeal].”

It is urgent and imperative that Gregory Koger be released immediately and his sentence overturned.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Send this newsflash to everyone you know. Use Twitter, Facebook, use the list serves you are on to get this out everywhere

• Immediately send statements of support for Gregory to the defense committee AdHoc4Reason@gmail.com

• Donate money for the appeal. Go to the defense committee website for more information www.dropthecharges.net

• More information will be coming; keep in touch with the Ad Hoc Committee at AdHoc4Reason@gmail.com

Free Gregory! No Jail Time!

A Grave Injustice Has Been Perpetrated...

http://revcom.us/a/211/grave_injustice-en.html


A grave injustice has been perpetrated! In an outrageous trial, for "crimes" that never happened, a young man who came out of prison and took up revolutionary politics was convicted in a Skokie, Illinois, court on August 26 of three totally trumped-up criminal misdemeanor charges of trespass, simple battery (on a cop) and resisting arrest. In an additional outrage, instead of allowing Gregory to remain out of jail on bond pending a sentencing hearing, the judge revoked his bond and he was taken directly from the courthouse to jail. The sentencing hearing is September 8, where he faces as many as three years in jail. This railroad must be stopped!

	Gregory being arrested for videotaping Sunsara Taylor at the Ethical Humanist Society, November 2009.

Gregory is a young man who came through hard times, who got caught up in the life that so many youth get caught up in and went to prison. But during his time in prison, and after his release, he began to question the nature of the system that put him and millions of others behind bars. He began to read Revolution newspaper in prison. He broke with the dog-eat-dog outlook. And, as he put it in a statement he issued before his trial, "Besides studying broadly and reading as much as I could get my hands on while I was locked up, I also began to develop as a writer." Several of his writings were published and he earned a paralegal diploma while personally litigating a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging prison policies. And, as he put it in the statement, "Now my life is dedicated to the struggle to end all exploitation and oppression and getting to a world where people contribute what they can to society and get back what they need to live a life worthy of human beings."

Changing the Rules in the Middle of the Game

This all began when Gregory videotaped a brief statement by Sunsara Taylor at the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago (EHSC) in Skokie last November. Gregory committed no crime; he damaged no property; he hurt no one. In fact, HE was brutalized and maced by the police.

The prosecutor said in her opening statement: "...this is a simple case. We have a person unwilling to comply with a reasonable request. Had he kept his camera off, we would not be here today." That was not the case. Any reasonable, thinking person would ask: "What kind of system of 'justice' sends a person to jail for turning on a camera?!!" Nothing about this case was simple—or just.
The day before trial the defense turned over a copy of Gregory’s video, which clearly showed no one told him not to enter the premises. Nor did anyone tell him at any time while that video camera was recording that he must leave or he would be arrested, which is part of the requirements of the trespassing law. In the face of the video evidence, the prosecution simply rewrote their case! On the day the trial opened—and in the face of strenuous objections from the defense—the prosecution was allowed by the judge to revise key allegations on which the battery and resisting charges that had been filed last November were based.

The battery charge was now specified as intentionally making "physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature" and not "bodily harm." The prosecution falsely claimed Gregory intentionally put his hands on Officer Bello’s chest and pushed him back an inch, which they then claimed constituted battery.And they changed the time and place at which the supposed battery occurred. The prosecution set the bar as low as they could because there was no evidence of any harm done to the cop and certainly no medical evidence. In fact, Officer Mendoza, the other cop who testified, was standing within inches of Gregory when he supposedly committed this "battery" and yet failed to mention it in his testimony! This charge was put on Gregory not only to justify the beating the cops gave him but to hang him with a "violent" crime.

The changes in the allegations of the resisting charge were equally egregious. First, the prosecution’s story as to which officer was involved changed at the last minute from Officer Bello to an Officer Mendoza. If such resistance actually happened, how did it magically change from one cop to the other between November and August? And how was this particular offense completely overlooked until more than nine months after it supposedly occurred? And second, the prosecution stated a different location where this supposed "resisting" occurred. It now took place outside the auditorium and not inside it.

The judge refused to allow the original police report to be used by the defense to challenge the blatant inconsistencies in the prosecution witnesses’ changing stories. Then, after the judge made all these rulings in favor of the prosecution—and refused the defense request for time to prepare to defend Gregory against the changed story and allegation—the trial began. This is the much vaunted American justice system in action—if the defendant presents hard evidence proving his innocence and revealing the state’s claims to be false, the state is allowed to change their story to try to convict the defendant!

The Illinois trespass law states that you must be ordered to leave, and then you must show your intent to remain after you have been given notice to leave. On the video Bello is clearly heard asking Gregory in a loud voice only to "step outside." And an eyewitness who sat right next to Gregory testified on the stand that she did not hear Bello order Gregory to leave or say anything about trespassing. The prosecutor predicated the trespass case on the testimony of one cop, Bello, who had been hired by the EHSC for that morning. He claimed that he whispered to Gregory to stop filming or he would be arrested. How convenient! The only evidence the prosecution presented was the claim of a whispered command that supposedly only the defendant and the cop could hear. So Bello moved the time and place of his supposed order to leave to when there was no one in whispered earshot and there is no video footage, so that it is the word of the cop against Gregory.

Together with this paper-thin lie, the prosecution in the final closing argument to the jury distorted the legal definition of "trespassing," equating it with breaking any rules of the property owner. The legal "logic" supposedly being that if a property owner says put down the camera and the person doesn’t comply, they are trespassing. Again, this is not the legal definition of trespassing in Illinois, which requires that you must be ordered to leave and then show your intent to remain after being given notice to leave. When the defense objected to this mis-statement of the law, it was overruled.

Charging the Victim of Police Brutality

	Prisoners at Cook County Jail respond to a demonstration demanding “No Jail Time” for videographer Gregory who was hauled to jail without bond immediately after a completely unjust and outrageous verdict, August 24.

Photos given to the prosecution by the defense ahead of trial, as required, showed Gregory being brutalized by the police. The prosecution went on the offensive with these pictures, putting their own twisted spin on them to tell the jury that what they were seeing was evidence of wrongdoing by the defendant, not by the police.
Charging the victim of police brutality with resisting arrest and battery on a police officer is a police practice so common it has a name, "cover charges." (Cover charges are charges the police press when they need legal justification to "cover" their brutality. [See acslaw.org/node/16288.]) In one photo, Gregory’s shirt is seen hanging in shreds, exposing lacerations on his trunk. But according to the prosecutor this was not because the police were violently grabbing and pulling on him, but because he was violently resisting! Another photo showed four to five big cops on top of Gregory... but this wasn’t massive overkill by the cops... no, it was interpreted by the prosecutors and their witnesses as the force needed to subdue the 140 pound, 5'6'' defendant. Bello, the cop who maced Gregory, readily admitted Gregory had contusions and lacerations and needed medical care, but the prosecutor argued Gregory did it to himself!
In an hour and a half, the verdict was returned of guilty on all charges—a completely unjust and outrageous verdict.

 

Retaliation for Radical Transformation

After the verdict, the prosecutor demanded revocation of bail on the basis that Gregory had spent years in prison for crimes stemming from when he was young. The defense attorney protested immediately, but the judge cut him off, agreed with the prosecution and further escalated the vindictive persecution by revoking bail because of the jury’s guilty verdict on three misdemeanors.

	Protest against the outrageous trial and conviction of videographer Gregory, August 24.

This is highly unusual at the misdemeanor level, especially because the defendant never violated his bond before trial. Gregory is employed and obviously has strong roots in the community, since the courtroom was packed every day, with a line waiting to get in.

Many who have heard of this case, its outcome and the revocation of bail for these misdemeanors ask: Why was Gregory ever charged? Why did this ever get to trial, how could the jury find him guilty, and how could the judge revoke his bail for such minor charges? They say there must be more to it. And there is.
More than one person has pointed out that Jon Burge, the notorious Chicago police detective who tortured many people and sent them to prison and death row based on false coerced confessions, and who was finally convicted this spring—30 years later—of felony lying to a federal agent, is out on bail until his November sentencing.

By contrast: A young man wrenches himself out of the dog-eat-dog mentality and life into which this system drives so many. In the bowels of the U.S. prison system he questions, he studies, he begins to understand, and live a life based on the fact that, as he put it, "the basis exists to emancipate all of humanity from the oppressive relations of class society, and unleash people to flourish in ways undreamed of under the confines of this capitalist system." But for Gregory, the person who has inspired many other people with his moral, ethical, and political transformation, the prosecutor and the judge took the extraordinary step of revoking his bail before sentencing.

 

Due Process or Political Suppression?

The judge stated in the beginning of the trial that "politics are not at all the issue in this arrest..." but politics are the issue—not only in the arrest but throughout this whole vindictive railroad. A major escalation of the railroad against Gregory came in April, a week after Gregory’s defense committee sponsored a showingof the documentary Disturbing the Universe, about William Kunstler at Northwestern University. Emily Kunstler, one of the filmmakers; Thomas Geoghegan, labor lawyer and author; Gregory’s lawyer, Scott Frankel; and Gregory appeared on a panel together. This was the first time since his arrest that Gregory spoke publicly, describing his past as a prisoner and how he had transformed through his contact with the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund and Revolution newspaper. He denounced the ban of Revolution newspaper in California prisons and spoke about how important this newspaper was to him and why the authorities are trying to stop it. This theme of transformation resonated with the North Shore and Northwestern student audience and signaled to the broader world that connections and support for this revolutionary ex-prisoner were being developed among sections of the people who normally are inundated with messages that prisoners are "incorrigible predators" and "the worst of the worst."

This developing broad support was seized on by the prosecution: one week later the state struck back with a vengeance. At what was supposed to be a routine status hearing to set a trial date, the prosecution gave notice that they were filing a contempt petition against Gregory because of his defense committee’s website, which talked about his case. The prosecution petition itself was blatantly political—pages and pages of printouts of the defense committee website, including publicity for the Kunstler movie event and other events with speakers like Bill Ayers, Marc Falkoff, and Sunsara Taylor. The judge threatened the defense attorney with disbarment because his name appeared on the website (as Gregory’s attorney!). At a later hearing the contempt charge was defeated, but that judge took the opportunity to rail that "you are not going to turn my courtroom into a circus" and to warn Gregory that having a defense committee to support him was going to "harm" his case—an unmistakable threat to back off the political struggle—while asserting at the same time "this is not political, there are no martyrs here." Not only did Gregory not repudiate his revolutionary politics or the support of the defense committee, but the committee continued to expand their outreach and held another event in June with a panel of Bill Ayers, Cindy Sheehan, and Sunsara Taylor.

One of the big claims of America is its so-called freedoms—in this country, there is supposedly no political suppression. To cover up what is actually a political trial, criminal charges are brought to suppress political views and movements; political acts are depicted as criminal acts and then at trial, the actual events are twisted to fit this framework. The judge made a big show about being supposedly "fair and just." But make no mistake, this is political suppression, pure and simple. The system has bared its teeth.

And this system has a particular necessity to "make an example" of people like Gregory, who have come out of the prison system and have come to understand the nature of this system and to work for revolution. From the point of view of a system of oppression and exploitation that has no future for millions but its hell-hole penitentiaries, such an example is something to put a stop to. But for the very same reason, people from all walks of life must refuse to let this system get away with this attack.
The outrageous verdict and revocation of bond for misdemeanors has brought many new people into support. Indymedia’s recent national article after the trial identified this case as a "cause célèbre, in Chicago and nationally." One lawyer contributed $300 with a statement to Gregory that all kinds of people who Gregory doesn’t even know support him. The defense committee has received written statements from many people whose lives have been touched by Gregory, urging the judge to free him.

A petition has been launched online to tell the court that Gregory should get no jail time and he must be released on bond immediately. This can be signed at worldcantwait.net and spread through emails, lists, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and more. If you are in the Chicago area, come to the sentencing on Wednesday, September 8 at 9:30 am at Cook County Courthouse, 5600 W. Old Orchard Road, Skokie. And get in touch with the Ad Hoc Committee for Reason at adhoc4reason@gmail.com to find out more ways to help overturn this completely unjust conviction. Funds are urgently needed to appeal this outrageous conviction and denial of bond. Checks can be sent to attorney Scott Frankel, 77 W. Washington, Suite 1720, Chicago, IL 60602. (Please mark "Gregory’s appeal" in the memo line.)

Free Gregory Koger! Videotaping is not a crime - Gregory should do no time!

Gregory Koger will be sentenced on Wednesday, Sept. 8 for videotaping with his cell-phone at a controversial public meeting.   The hearing will be at the Cook County Courthouse,

5600 W. Old Orchard Road, Skokie, IL

at 9:30 A.M.

ADD YOUR NAME TO THIS PETITION HERE

To the Judge:

We the undersigned strongly urge that Gregory Koger not be given jail time for these misdemeanor convictions. The extremely unusual revocation of bond for a misdemeanor conviction should be reversed so he can be free to work on his appeal. Far from a “menace to society,” Gregory has overcome his troubled youth, transformed his life, and become an inspiration for all those seeking justice and a better world.

Please read Gregory's personal statement – and you will understand why Sunsara Taylor wrote, Free Gregory Koger -- Not only is he innocent, Gregory is righteous!

From Gregory:

I come from a background like millions of others—troubled financial circumstances led to my family losing our home and put me on the streets at the age of 15, where I got involved with a street organization (AKA “gang”) to survive. By the time I was 17 years old, I was locked down in an adult maximum security prison, sentenced to serve many years behind the wall of the hellholes of the American prison system. Like too many other youth, this system offered me no greater purpose and no better fate than crime and punishment – a future of living and dying for nothing.

Once I was locked down behind the walls, I soon started to question what brought me—and all the other people there with me—to prison. And as conditions became more repressive, I began to develop an understanding of the historical forces that led all of us into the horrendous conditions of the American prison system.

Within a few years I was placed in segregation—solitary confinement—for an indeterminate period of time, and faced the prospect of languishing in isolation devoid of human contact in a concrete tomb until my release. It was in the midst of this—the pepper spray choking the whole cell house, the tactical team stomping down the gallery to drag someone out of their cell and beat them down, the constant agony of men straining against the solitude crying out for some kind of conversation or contact—that I first read Revolution newspaper.

Revolution began to open my eyes to a whole other way that society could be organized and a whole other way of thinking. Instead of focusing intently on revenge and my own personal oppression or wrongs, I began to see that this capitalist-imperialist system is fundamentally based on the exploitation and oppression of the vast majority of humanity at the hands of the few within the ruling class who own and control the means of production. And that the basis exists to emancipate all of humanity from the oppressive relations of class society, and unleash people to flourish in ways undreamed of under the confines of this capitalist system.

Besides studying broadly and reading as much as I could get my hands on while I was locked up, I also began to develop as a writer. I had several pieces published in the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center’s newspaper, The Public i, and in Words Through Bars: Poetry, articles and stories written by people in prison, published in 2006 by the Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners Collective. I also earned a paralegal diploma while personally litigating a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging prison policies. After being released in December 2006, I attended several semesters at the College of Lake County while I was still on parole. I am now employed as a paralegal at a law office in Chicago.

I have also continued to develop my understanding and break out of looking at things from the perspective of my own experience of oppression. Now my life is dedicated to the struggle to end all exploitation and oppression and getting to a world where people contribute what they can to society and get back what they need to live a life worthy of human beings.

As part of that struggle to liberate humanity, I’ve been in the streets opposing the wars for empire in Iraq and Afghanistan – both under Bush and Obama. I’ve worn an orange jumpsuit and black hood to bring home the reality of torture being committed by our government in our names at anti-torture demonstrations. I’ve spoken in classrooms to students around topics such as police brutality and the criminalization of youth to U.S. imperialism and torture. I’ve been out in the streets demanding gay marriage now, equal rights and liberation for the LGBT community, and I’ve marched with the immigrant community demanding an end to ICE raids, detention and deportations ripping apart families who come here yearning for a better life. And I’ve been on the front lines of the fight for women’s liberation and the right to abortion.

I consider documenting Sunsara Taylor a part of that work. Sunsara is an extraordinarily inspiring speaker and a revolutionary communist dedicated to the liberation of all humanity. Opening up debate and ferment, and involving people broadly in society in struggling over key questions of morality, philosophy, and politics is critical to radically transforming society. The EHSC was wrong to dis-invite Sunsara, especially as it was based on misrepresentations of her positions and outright anti-communism.

I am now facing charges and possible jail time for doing videography before an event started that was open to the public at the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago, as I documented a political statement condemning censorship, anti-communism, and the broader stifling of progressive and radical thought in society! This is a fundamental betrayal of the ethics and humanism that the EHSC claims to represent and an egregious abuse of the law.

Due to the pending legal charges, I cannot comment on the specific details of my arrest until after the proceedings are over. You can read more of the details about it on Sunsara’s blog, as well as Revolution newspaper. There has also been debate about this in the blogosphere, including on P. Z. Myers’ blog (which the science journal Nature listed as the top-ranked blog written by a scientist – Myers is a biology professor at the University of Minnesota and prominent atheist), where one of my former professors spoke out in my defense. It would be very helpful and greatly appreciated if you would take the time to look into this and consider what needs to be done and how you might contribute to defeating these charges.

Please join and support the Ad Hoc Committee for Reason & Dropping the Charges and demand that these outrageous charges be dropped!

Funds are urgently needed for Gregory’s medical bills and appeal fund.  Please send contributions to:

Mr. Scott Frankel

Frankel & Cohen

77 W. Washington,

Suite 1720

Chicago, IL 60602