Gregory Lee Johnson

Gregory Lee Johnson
Johnson (on right) with attorney William Kunstler, circa 1989
Born	1956 (age 60–61) Richmond, Indiana, United States
Nationality	American
Other names	Joey
Occupation	Communist activist
Known for	Defendant in Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Gregory Lee "Joey" Johnson (born 1956) is an American revolutionary Communist activist whose burning of the flag of the United States in a political demonstration during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, in violation of a Texas law prohibiting flag desecration, led to his role as defendant in the landmark United States Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson (1989).

Gregory Johnson was born in Richmond, Indiana. His father spent several years of Gregory's childhood in prison. His mother, Sally, was a supporter of the American 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 radicalism and 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 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.