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Cincinnati Victory: Draft Resistor Wins Freedom

By VVAW

A great victory was won in Cincinnati when the US government was forced to drop all draft resistance charges against Buddy Gray, despite their long prosecution and months of FBI harassment. Buddy, who lives in the Over-the-Rhine community, a poor black and white Appalachian neighborhood, was being prosecuted because of his long-time opposition to the war in Indochina he felt it was more important to work in his own community. He said, "If there's any 'freedom-fighting' for me to do--it's right here, and not against oppressed peasant farmers 10,000 miles away."

Because of his community work, hundreds of people from Over-the Rhine rallied around to support his case. In addition many organizations in Cincinnati, including VVAW/WSO worked to free Buddy and talk about the need for a universal and unconditional amnesty for all war resisters.

Buddy was arrested as part of a nationwide campaign against draft resisters that began in early 1973. The Justice Department ordered the FBI to give arrest priority to political activists. Because Buddy was actively involved in Over-the-Rhine struggles for decent housing he was a good target for them. But rather than arresting him right away, the FBI harassed him, his family and his friends for almost a year. Since his arrest in August of 1974, community support grew and grew in Over-the-Rhine.

For a year, Gray and supporters working hard together planning to bring his case out to the people of Cincinnati. Rather than relying on the court system, where Buddy know he couldn't beat the government's attempts to put him away, they worked at making it a "People's Political Trial." The aim was to show that Buddy was a "people's fighter" and secondly to show how the US military is an enemy of working class people. By bringing the case to the Over-the-Rhine community and the people of Cincinnati, hundreds of people said they would come to the trial to support Buddy.

With this public support, the government backed down and dropped all four charges of draft evasion against him. The government's action took place shortly after the Cambodians and Vietnamese liberated their countries. Buddy and his defense committee felt that these two events were related in that the American people clearly showed that they had enough of the Indochina war and the persecution at home.

Now that Buddy is free and can continue to work in his community in the interests of the working people there, he still sees the need to struggle for universal and unconditional amnesty, After his victory Buddy said, "This was clearly a people's victory-but a partial victory so far. For there are still nearly one million people facing persecution by the US government for their opposition to the Indochina war--that includes thousands and thousands of other war resisters in the US or forced out of the US, or Vietnam veterans with bad discharges due to that war.

"The amnesty movement is growing across America. Together we can free all the other resisters and veterans, and put the real criminals on trial--those rulers who?profited from these wars."