In Light of Colin Kaepernick's Courageous Stand:
Revolutionary Military Veteran Carl Dix and Flag-Burner Gregory “Joey” Johnson Challenge to DEBATE
September 1, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
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In Light of Colin Kaepernick's Courageous Stand:
Revolutionary Military Veteran Carl Dix and Flag-Burner Gregory “Joey” Johnson Challenge to DEBATE
“No one should stand for the National Anthem or salute that blood-soaked imperialist rag,” says Carl Dix, a military veteran and founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, explaining his support for Colin Kaepernick.
He has issued a challenge, “I challenge anyone who wants to defend the flag or the anthem to debate. Let them defend selling children out of their parents’ arms during slavery, driving Native Americans off their lands, dropping napalm on civilians in Vietnam, incinerating hundreds of thousands in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, droning weddings in Afghanistan and Yemen, and locking up millions of Black and Brown people across this country.”
Carl Dix is unique among the growing number of U.S. military veterans who have taken to Twitter with the hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick in that Dix is no stranger to taking risks to defy enforced patriotism. As a young man, he led the largest mass refusal of active G.I.s to fight in Vietnam. For this, he spent two years in military prison. As part of fighting for an actual revolution, Dix has been a leading voice for over 20 years in the fight against police terror and murder, the very issue cited by Kaepernick in his protest.
Gregory “Joey” Johnson made history himself when, in 1989, he won the Supreme Court case, Texas v. Johnson, which declared flag-burning protected speech. In July of this year, he was again arrested, along with 15 others, after burning the American flag at the Republican National Convention. He is currently fighting those charges.
In a recent article on Huffington Post, Johnson writes, “I am so proud of Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand for the national anthem. This is not merely because I respect his right to freedom of speech, though this is important. I feel this way because I absolutely hate the American flag, the national anthem, and everything they stand for.”
Dix and Johnson say they are willing to debate anyone over Colin Kaepernick's stand and over whether the National Anthem and American flag are symbols of freedom or symbols of blood-soaked oppression. They say, “We are ready to take on all comers!”
Available for interview and/or debates:
Carl Dix is a courageous freedom fighter from the 1960s who went on to become a revolutionary fighter and a communist. Dix spent two years in military prison for refusing to fight in the unjust Vietnam War. He emerged unrepentant and went on to become a founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), USA, dedicating his life to the emancipation of all humanity. Today, Carl is a follower of and advocate for Bob Avakian, his leadership and his visionary new synthesis of communism. Carl Dix and Cornel West co-founded the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN), and Rise Up October that brought thousands into the streets in New York City demanding a stop to police terror.
Gregory “Joey” Johnson is a follower of Revolutionary Communist leader Bob Avakian and the defendant in USSC Texas v. Johnson establishing flag burning as protected speech.
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