america’s nelson mandela (September 9th, 1947-June 2nd, 2011)

see note for reviewers.

dead at the age of

63,

geronimo ji-jaga pratt

lived 27 of these years

behind bars:

 

 63

-27

 36

 

more than a third

of this man’s life was

spent in prison---he was

convicted of a crime that

he did NOT

commit,

& he spent 8 years of those

27 in prison

locked away in

solitary

confinement.

 

solitary confinement, for those

that are a little hairy on the subject,

is what other prisoners call the

“hole”---

they do this not because it is a great

place to cozy down and read a

book.

 

you are kept in your cell

for 24 hours a day & after the

second year they give you a

half hour out---how

gracious. 

 

many believe solitary confinement to be the

equivalent of

psychological torture,

and because mr. pratt was a

high ranking member of the

black panther party,

he like, like many, was

singled

out

by j. edgar hoover & his infamous

COINTELPRO

which by 1969 had targeted the panthers

(who had founded their group only 3 years

before)

as being “the greatest threat to the internal security of the

country”---

apparently, organizing

free breakfasts for children,

free health clinics,

rent strikes that ultimately made tenants owners of their own buildings,

free clothing drives,

liberation schools for elementary school kids,

whilst fighting for

the control of schools & police within their own

community

(to be free of crime, drugs & police brutality),

was a

great

big

threat.

 

but

pratt was not assassinated like fred hampton,

his peer,

instead, he was sent to prison in 1972 for the

1968 killing of caroline olsen, an elementary teacher,

whose husband had not even identified

pratt as the

killer.

 

julius butler,

an informant for both the FBI as well as

the LAPD, working from within the panthers,

had pointed the finger at

pratt.

 

on the night in question

pratt was in

oakland---

350 miles away from where he was said to be

shooting olsen & her husband on a tennis court in

santa monica.

 

had pratt not had stuart hanlon &

the now famous

johnnie cochran

(who at the time of pratt’s initial arrest was the attorney

appointed by the court to represent pratt)

as his lawyers,

working on his case for 27 years,

he probably never would have been

released from prison---

but then again,

was he ever going to get those 27 years back?

 

7 years of his twenties were

gone

before he woke up one day and all his

thirties had

disappeared,

only to be followed by his

forties---all burnt in a fire set by the FBI

working in the united states,

doing their absolute best

to paint him as an evil man,

one which they had to

neutralize---because he was part of an organization

that had finally

had

enough

of the racist policies in america &

chose to stand up for their own rights & the rights of

african-americans all throughout the

country.

 

&

you know when hoover wasn’t trying on his newly bought

“fluffy black dress…with flounces and lace stockings and

high heels, and a black curly wig” (all paid for by US taxpayers)

for his nightly romps with sue rosentiel, roy cohn & a few blond

boys---

well,

he just couldn’t have these panthers sticking up for themselves in the

face of the racists in the country, or for that matter,

helping their communities survive amidst the

subtle structural racism which one might argue

has yet to end.

 

but he was not neutralized---

he was not killed in his bed

while sleeping, like

hampton was---he walked out of

prison on june 10^th, 1997 on

$25,000 bail---

yes, it still cost this man money,

after 27 years of imprisonment

for something that he didn’t do.

 

he gained it all back in the settlement of a

civil suit,

receiving $2.75 million from the

city of los angeles &

$1.75 million from the US department of

justice---all for his wrongful imprisonment of

27 years.

 

pratt,

who grew up during segregation,

dealing with the KKK violence in

morgan city, louisiana---

pratt,

who did 2 tours in the vietnam war,

& as a sergeant, earning 2 bronze stars,

1 silver star &

2 purple hearts---

pratt,

who studied political science at UCLA on the

GI Bill---

pratt,

who excelled within the black panther party, rising to the role of

minister of defense within his local chapter---

pratt,

who was imprisoned for 27 years,

for a crime that he did not commit---

pratt,

who in the last free years of his life did all that he could in

support of mumia abu-jamal, who still imprisoned, awaits his own death on

death row---

he

died in imbaseni village in

tanzania, on thursday, june 2^nd, leaving his

wife and daughter

behind

&

to many, this man whose case

johnnie cochran has said was the most important of his life,

always believing in pratt’s innocence---

he has been dubbed

“america’s nelson mandela.”

Author's Note

“All of my—seven years of my twenties, every minute of my thirties, every second of my forties were taken away from me. If that’s a system working, then I think something’s wrong with your thinking.”

-GERONIMO JI-JAGA PRATT