Free John Now! Moves On

Free John Now! Moves On

The FREE JOHN NOW! campaign continued to gather steam last week as lawyer Bill Kunstler, Detroit area disk jockies, the Ann Arbor free concert program, more local and national rock and roll bands, and an ever-increasing number of Michigan citizens came forward to give public support to the new Committee to Free John Sinclair in their fight to bring John back with his people.

Originally planned as a 3-week series of consciousness-and money-raising events, the big FREE JOHN NOW! push has been so successful that it has been decided to extend the campaign until TOTAL success has been realized with the release of our brother from the Michigan prisons that have held him for over 22 months.

On Thursday, June 3, the Rainbow People's Party band, Up, played a free rock and roll party in honor of John at MSU's Phillip Snyder Hall in East Lansing. Two or three hundred crazed music addicts got high and danced with the band, heard them talk about John, and picked up on FREE JOHN NOW! literature that was distributed at the killer event.

Newsmen packed into a room at Detroit's Metropolitan Airport the morning of Friday, June 4, to take part in a press conference with William KunstIer, who had just arrived from New York City to take part in FREE JOHN NOW! The people's attorney lectured U of M law students about John's case and the injustice of the marijuana laws later in the afternoon, and talked on the same subjects during a taping of the Lou Gordon show at Channel 50 studios in Detroit.

Kunstler was the featured guest at two cocktail parties, in Ann Arbor and at the Garwood Mansion in Detroit, that raised money to help take care of the costs of the on-going legal battles to FREE JOHN NOW! He stayed overnight at RPP headquarters in AA and visited John himself in Jackson Prison Saturday morning.

"John Sinclair is an exceptional man," the awestruck Kunstler remarked before returning to his offices in New York. "I'll have to take off a week to visit him once we bring him back home where he belongs!"

On Sunday, June 6, John's wife, Leni Sinclair, was interviewed about John's case on the half-hour "Spotlight" television show on Channel 7. That same day, just before the Up set at the AA Tribal Council free concert, John's brother and RPP Chief of Staff Dave Sinclair read the special message from John to the people that was printed in the last issue of the SUN.

As the people's hearty acclamation dedicated the first free park concert to John, FREE JOHN NOW! workers rushed to Detroit's Grande Ballroom where yet another great benefit for the John Sinclair Freedom Fund was about to take place. The Grande benefit (check out page 6) featured San Francisco's Flamin' Groovies and raised over $700, the greatest single contribution to the Freedom Fund yet.

Another high energy benefit is planned for the Grande Ballroom this Sunday, June 13, and it won't be the last. The struggle to force the government and courts to give up John Sinclair will not end until he is a free man. John has already served SEVEN TIMES the maximum penalty for possession proposed in the new marijuana bill passed by the Michigan House of Representatives last week, and FREE JOHN NOW! activities of every sort involving more individuals, more rock and roll bands, and more organizations--will keep happening up to the time when the government, courts, and prison system have no choice but to let John come on home.

At FREE JOHN NOW! activities over the past two weeks, 20,000 pre-addressed postcards to Governor Milliken urging him to commute John's sentence have been distributed. Thousands have already arrived at Milliken's office, and another 20,000 are currently being printed by the Committee to Free John Sinclair and will be available at the RPP house on Hill Street and the Fifth Estate office at 4403 Second in Detroit.

While attornies Buck Davis and Chuck Ravitz continue their work on John's appeal, disk jockies Dan Carlisle of WRIF, Dennis Frawley of of WABX, and Bob Rudnick have been hard at work on a monster radio special that will be played at the same time on WDET, RIF, and ABX some time in the next two weeks. The special includes the music and poetry John had helped make, and will be a stomp down testimonial to his selfless work with the people of the Ann Arbor Detroit area.

FREE JOHN NOW !