After nearly a year fighting an unrelenting political attack from the “Ethical” Humanist Society of Chicago, Skokie police, Cook County State’s Attorney, and judges who starkly exposed the “justice” system as the naked instrument of class suppression that it is, I’ve recently spent two months under a 300 day sentence as a political prisoner in the Cook County Jail – with the increasingly growing support of many people outraged by this blatantly political prosecution. You can read more about the backstory of the political charges against me at www.dropthecharges.net. In one of the largest county jail’s in the country, I was locked down there with over 10,000 brothers and sisters who this system has written off as worthless – human beings who deserve a much better life than this system has for them and who have a vast potential to contribute to brining into being a radically different society.

Take a moment to seriously consider the fact that nearly two-and-a-half million men, women and children are imprisoned in an unrivaled and unparalleled racist gulag that stretches like a razor-wire scar across this so-called “land of the free.” The rulers of the U.S. imprison more people than any other country in the world. The U.S. “justice” system is fundamentally stacked against people from the bottom of society ensnared within its inhuman clutches, and its primary function is the suppression of whole sections of society in service of upholding the interests and power of the ruling class. One in eight young Black men are locked up – a higher rate of incarceration for Black men than apartheid South Africa – and there are more Black folks under the control of the U.S. “justice” system than there were slaves at the time of the Civil War. More women are incarcerated in American than anywhere else on the planet. Whole families – including young children – who come here from around the world seeking a better future due to the depredations of U.S. imperialism on their home countries are criminalized and locked up in immigration prisons. The vast majority of prisoners are warehoused for years in conditions devoid of any meaningful human contact, forced to endure constant threats and abuse from guards, and denied access to educational opportunities. Tens of thousands are held in extreme isolation and sensory deprivation in supermax and segregation units – conditions that amount to torture. This is the daily reality for millions upon millions of people in this so-called “greatest country in the world.”

That this system offers millions of people no greater purpose and no better fate than crime and punishment and a future of living and dying for nothing, just one horror of many that this criminal system perpetrates on the masses of people here and around the world – this alone is reason enough to sweep this system aside and struggle together to increasingly unleash people to transform the world as they transform themselves and each other. The masses of people have a vast amount of power and potential to wake up and shake off the oppressive and degrading ways of thinking and relating to each other that this system constantly indoctrinates us with, and to rise up in struggle to put an end to all of the crimes of this system and bring into being a radically different future for all humanity. But those who rule over this system will do everything in their power to prevent that – and to suppress those people and movements who are fighting to bring an end to the crimes and injustices of this system.

During my time held captive as a political prisoner, I spent my time in the Cook County Jail having many interesting and important discussions and debates with the brothers locked down there with me, such as around religion, the oppression of women, national oppression and the historical and social forces that lead all of us to be locked up there, and the possibility for radical and revolutionary change, as well as learning more about the daily lives and struggles of those locked down there with me and the cases they are fighting – a major recurring theme of which was lying-ass police.

I received many touching and heartfelt letters from across the country and abroad, from people who heard about my case and were outraged by it, as well as many who were inspired by my story of transforming my life from a youth caught up in the dog-eat-dog mentality of survival in the street life through many years in the dehumanizing and degrading conditions of America’s hellhole prison system into a dedicated revolutionary emancipator of humanity.

I immersed myself in study so that I can further contribute to fighting against the crimes and injustices of this system, and I brought a revolutionary communist vision that there is no permanent necessity for the world to remain this way, that there is a whole other liberatory future possible for humanity: that through unleashing the increasingly conscious actions of the masses to break down all of the oppressive and exploitative relations and ideas of class society, we can bring forth a world where everybody contributes what they can to society and gets back what they need to live a life worthy of human beings – a communist world.

Although the battle against this political prosecution is far from over, thanks to the support and contributions of many thousands of people, I am now out on appeal bond and able to more fully participate in my defense and towards defeating these charges, as well as to continue contributing to the broader revolutionary work that my life is dedicated to. In the face of this political prosecution and imprisonment, my dedication and determination to fight the crimes and injustices of this system and to the struggle for liberation has only increased.

My deepest thanks to all who have shared their love and support.

With Hope and Determination for a Liberated Future For All Humanity,

Gregory