Who is Howard Morgan?

I’ve worked in the sales department at WVON1690AM for a little over two years and in that time I’ve heard countless references to Howard Morgan on-air. Listeners often call in to say that we need to FREE HOWARD MORGAN and the on-air hosts always wholeheartedly agree. For two years, I’ve heard “Free Howard Morgan” reverberating on the station but I didn’t know the story behind the name. With all the police brutality finally coming to light in cities across the county and all the grassroots political activism, I knew it was finally time that I found out exactly “Who Is Howard Morgan?” and why do people talk about him so much.

Howard Morgan is a highly-respected, African-American male, former Chicago Police Department officer, former Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Detective who was pulled over for a traffic violation a block away from his home by four white CPD officers on February 21, 2005. They shot him 28 times; 20 times in the back and 8 times in the front. He survived and was chained to a hospital bed on his back for 6 months. Although he was the victim in this horrendous crime and none of the white officers spent a night in the hospital, he was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and aggravated discharge of a firearm. The four white CPD officers received medals of honor for their assassination attempt and Howard Morgan is currently serving a 40-year sentence in jail. 63-years-old Officer Morgan is innocent of all these charges. Instead of being home with his wife, children and grandchildren enjoying his retirement, he is suffering numerous indignities in jail and rapidly declining health due to the assault on his body by the CPD.

All victims of police brutality are not shot dead in the street. Some are wrongfully incarcerated and their victimization continues every day. Governor Pat Quinn’s philosophy, which he inherited from his grandfather, is “Everybody In, Nobody Left Out.” Howard Morgan has been left out of justice in a cold jail cell for too long. Howard Morgan’s family and supporters ask that everyone join together and raise our collective power to ask Governor Quinn to PARDON HOWARD MORGAN WITH CLEMENCY AND EXPUNGEMENT before he leaves office in 22 days. These are the ACTION ITEMS you can help with:

-Call Governor Pat Quinn’s office at 217-782-0244 and 312-814-2121 and tell him you support a pardon for Howard Morgan. We need 30-40 calls every day.

-Sign the petition on www.Change.org

-Donate on PayPal or send a check to support the campaign and Mr. Morgan's needs in prison.

-Spread the story of the wrongful incarceration of Howard Morgan #FreeHowardMorgan #PardonHowardMorgan #iAmHowardMorgan

-Come the Candlelight Vigil tonight, Dec 19th at the Church of the Living God, 1738 W. Marquette (67th and Hermitage). Mr. Morgan and all prisoners only get one new uniform and one pair of shoes a year. Everything else must be provided by their families. Please bring something special for Mr. and Mrs. Morgan.

-Visit www.FreeHowardMorgan.com for more information

Deanna Burrell is the General Sales Manager at WVON and the author of the explosive novel, Single Girl Summer. She has recently taken a leave of absence from WVON to work full-time with the family of Howard Morgan to secure a pardon for Mr. Morgan before Governor Quinn leaves office on January 11th. 


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