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30-765: The Progressive Student Network ( PSN ) was a national, multi-issue, progressive college student activist organization in the United States. It was founded at a conference in 1980 as a merger of the Revolutionary Student Brigade , the Midwest Coalition against Registration and the Draft (Mid-CARD), and the Student Coalition Against Nukes Nationwide (SCANN). The founding of the PSN commemorated

60-596: A Los Angeles organizer for the October 22 Coalition against police brutality and for Not in Our Name , an antiwar foreign policy organization. Throughout 2009, Johnson, who during his Supreme Court case was a client of American civil rights attorney William Kunstler , promoted the film William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe , a documentary that premiered at the 25th Sundance Film Festival . On 14 October 2011, Johnson

90-772: A bloody, severed pig's head (tendrils still trailing along) that he'd drag along on a leash and collar while shouting anti-imperialist slogans; the pig, of course, was the United States." Afterwards, Johnson moved to the South Bronx in New York City , then to San Francisco and Los Angeles , where he remained active with the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, in time becoming the Youth Brigade's national spokesperson. He continued to speak out against legislation targeting flag desecration. He also became

120-670: A breach of the peace. The State of Texas asked the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the case. Attorneys David D. Cole and radical civil rights activist William Kunstler acted as Johnson's lawyers. In 1989, the Supreme Court handed down a controversial 5–4 decision in favor of Gregory Johnson, holding that Johnson's conviction for flag desecration was inconsistent with the First Amendment. The Court's decision invalidated laws against flag desecration in force in forty-eight of

150-582: A conference, attended by about 450 students from 80 campuses, on June 15–17. The Revolutionary Student Brigade (RSB) was a Marxist-Leninist student organization active in the 1970s in the United States. The RSB was the student organization associated with the Revolutionary Union, which became the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1975. When the RCP split in 1977 this struggle was reflected in

180-614: A large conference in 1990 at Kent State to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1970 Kent State and Jackson State student killings. The PSN published a newspaper called PSN News , which came out sporadically, but usually at least a couple times per semester. In the early years PSN News was published by the UMass Amherst Radical Student Union and the George Washington University Progressive Student Union. Then for most of

210-506: A world where a few rich nations don’t oppress and dominate the globe; where whites don’t lord over non-whites; where men don’t dominate over women; and where one class of people doesn’t exploit the rest.” During its existence, the most famous member of the RCYB was Gregory Lee "Joey" Johnson . During the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, he burned the United States flag to protest

240-570: Is an American political activist , known for his advocacy of flag desecration . His burning of the flag of the United States in a political demonstration during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas , Texas , led to his role as defendant in the landmark United States Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson (1989). Johnson was born in Richmond , Indiana . His father spent several years of Gregory's childhood in prison. His mother, Sally,

270-471: The 1984 Republican National Convention . On 22 August 1984, Johnson participated in a political demonstration called the "Republican War Chest Tour" in Dallas, Texas to protest the policies of several Dallas-area businesses and of the Ronald Reagan presidential administration . The demonstration was timed to coincide with the 1984 Republican National Convention being held in downtown Dallas. During

300-776: The Central American countries of Nicaragua and El Salvador (the PSN supported the Sandinistas and the FMLN ); organizing to kick the CIA off university campuses; the movement against apartheid in South Africa ; organizing against the ROTC presence on college campuses; defending women's reproductive rights ; and others. PSN groups also led numerous struggles against instances of racism, sexism and homophobia that came up on their campuses. PSN organized

330-728: The Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas , but lost. He next petitioned the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to review the decision. That court overturned his conviction, saying that the State of Texas could not punish Johnson for burning the flag because the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects such activity as symbolic speech . The court also concluded that the flag burning in this case did not cause or threaten to cause

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360-599: The United States Merchant Marine , which took him to Panama and Mexico , where he observed American sociopolitical and economic influence. After moving to Tampa , Florida in 1976, he joined the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade , the youth arm of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA . At the time of his arrest for flag desecration in Dallas, Johnson was a resident of Atlanta, Georgia , and had traveled to Dallas to protest at

390-698: The United States v. Eichman ruling. The most recent attempt to send a flag desecration amendment to the states for ratification failed in the United States Senate by one vote on 27 June 2006. Johnson lived in Houston for four years after his arrest for flag desecration, during which he worked in a warehouse while his attorneys worked on his case. He was described by a contemporaneous Houston activist, Geov Parrish, as an "obnoxious young transplanted New Yorker" who would show up at "every local demonstration with

420-519: The 10 year anniversary of the National Guard killing student anti-war protesters at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970. The PSN quickly grew and attracted many new progressive student activist groups motivated to protest against the shift to the right in U.S. politics when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. Through the 1980s and into the early 1990s the PSN worked on many issues including organizing against U.S. military intervention in

450-473: The 1980s it was published by the University of Iowa PSN chapter, New Wave . In the 1990s it was published by the University of Wisconsin - Madison Progressive Student Network chapter. Revolutionary Student Brigade The Attica Brigade was an anti-imperialist student organization in the United States in the early 1970s. It was initiated in 1972 by the Revolutionary Union. The Attica Brigade aimed to fill

480-831: The Bakke decision! In 1979 they protested nuclear weapons. In 1989 Antonin Scalia and four others justices ruled that a Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade member's right to burn the US flag was a protected right. In 1991 they protested American involvement in the Persian Gulf , and members were arrested. In 1992 they participated in agitation and organization efforts during the Rodney King protests and uprising in Los Angeles. Gregory Lee Johnson Gregory Lee "Joey" Johnson (born 1956)

510-585: The RCP-RWH split. In 1980, what was left of the RSB joined with the Student Coalition Against Nukes Nationwide (SCANN) and Midwest Coalition Against Registration and the Draft (MidCARD) to found a new organization, the Progressive Student Network . Prior to this merger, RSB cadre had been active in both of the other two organizations. RCYB’s ultimate objective was to help create “a world of for-real Communism;

540-556: The RSB; a significant section of the Revolutionary Student Brigade left the RCP, taking the RSB name with them. They joined the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters , a new Marxist-Leninist organization which emerged from the RCP. Those who remained in the RCP and renamed their organization the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade . Disagreement over how to organize students and youth played a role in

570-520: The buildings by another protester. At the culmination of the protest outside Dallas City Hall , Johnson poured kerosene on the flag and set it on fire. While the flag burned, he chanted political slogans, including " Reagan , Mondale , which will it be ? Either one means World War III ;" "Ronald Reagan, killer of the hour, Perfect example of U.S. power;" and " red, white and blue , we spit on you, you stand for plunder, you will go under." Some witnesses testified that they were seriously offended. No one

600-490: The case United States v. Haggerty (1990). Mark Haggerty, Jennifer Campbell, Darius Strong and Carlos Garza were also charged with having violated the Flag Protection Act of 1989 outside a Seattle , Washington post office just a few minutes after the law went into effect on 28 October. The Supreme Court handed down its decision on United States v. Eichman on 11 June 1990, ruling 5–4 in favor of Eichman, Haggerty, and

630-419: The demonstration, approximately one hundred protesters marched in the streets, chanted slogans, and staged anti-nuclear weapons and anti-war die-ins at various corporate offices. Some protesters vandalized businesses by spray-painting building walls and knocking over potted plants and ashtrays. Johnson did not take part in the vandalism, but took an American flag that had been seized from a flagpole at one of

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660-544: The fifty states. In response to the Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson , the United States Congress enacted legislation outlawing the desecration of the flag, which then-President George H. W. Bush allowed to pass into law without his signature. The Flag Protection Act of 1989 went into effect at midnight on 28 October 1989. On 30 October, Gregory Johnson joined Shawn Eichman, David Blalock, and Scott Tyler on

690-449: The other respondents, and striking down the Flag Protection Act of 1989. The failed federal legislation triggered many unsuccessful efforts to pass an amendment to the United States Constitution banning flag desecration , including one attempt during the two weeks in October 1989 between the passage of the Flag Protection Act of 1989 and its taking effect, and another just eleven days after

720-529: The policies of the Reagan administration. Johnson was arrested and convicted, but had his conviction overturned on appeal. The State of Texas then sought and obtained review by the Supreme Court . In Texas v. Johnson , a five-justice majority of the court held that Johnson’s act of flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution . In 1978 Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade published Minorities and whites, unite to smash

750-654: The steps of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. , where they set fire to three American flags while chanting "burn, baby, burn." The four protesters were arrested and spent the night in jail. The next day, Eichman, Blalock, and Tyler were charged with violating the Flag Protection Act of 1989, demonstrating without a permit, and disorderly conduct. However, the United States Attorney's Office declined to file charges against Johnson, claiming that there

780-573: The vacuum of left wing activism on campuses after Students for a Democratic Society split in 1969. The name of the organization is inspired by the Attica prison uprising in 1971. Attica Brigade organized an Eastern regional conference that drew 250 attendants from 31 campus chapters in New York on March 31 - April 1, 1973. In 1974 the Attica Brigade changed its name to the Revolutionary Student Brigade at

810-630: Was a supporter of the civil rights movement who married a staff sergeant in the United States Army . Johnson grew up in a racially mixed, low-income neighborhood of Richmond. In 1969, he moved with his family to an American military base in West Germany , where he was influenced by growing opposition to the Vietnam War among Vietnam War draftees . His family returned to the United States in 1971. In 1973, he dropped out of high school and joined

840-528: Was arrested after he and two others chained themselves to the front doors of the headquarters of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Sacramento , California. The three were protesting in support of a hunger strike being conducted by Pelican Bay State Prison inmates . On 20 June 2016, Johnson and Revolution Club members were arrested after burning the United States flag at

870-533: Was hurt or threatened with injury during the protest. Johnson was not the only protester to be charged with a crime . Other charges included: vandalism, disorderly conduct, and a class C misdemeanor with a two hundred dollar fine, and of using abusive and obscene language in a public place causing a crowd to form. He was convicted of the desecration of a venerated object in violation of Texas Penal Code Annotated § 42.11(a)(3), sentenced to one year in prison, and fined $ 2,000. Johnson appealed his conviction to

900-474: Was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. Johnson declared that the government's decision not to charge him was an "act of cowardice" and a "miscarriage of justice," and stated that he was outraged. The consolidated cases of Shawn Eichman, David Blalock, and Scott Tyler eventually reached the Supreme Court with Eichman as the named respondent in United States v. Eichman (1990), which was argued together with

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