So I began my reporting there. Carter recruited him into the party and fostered his political education. Yes, Johnnie Cochran, of O. I mean, they knew where they all were. When Pratt was finally released in 1997, Hilliard and Elaine Brown showed up to embrace him. Your reporting was instrumental ultimately in having Geronimo ji-Jaga exonerated and freed.
He taught weaponry to the Panther cadres and organized the defense of their chapter in 1969 when local police were attacking Panther redoubts nation-wide. And we demonize them as the Panthers were demonized, and then we justify trials without juries, trial without — you know, in military courts. In 1997 a California Superior Court judge, Everett W. The book Last Man Standing denies any contacts between Pratt and George Jackson, Can this be true? And Amy, how we found out this out was through the good offices, really, of Stuart Hanlon. He is not a danger to society. While in prison, Pratt became an inspiration for many blacks seeking to break free of the shackling systems of corrupted justice that are manipulated to hold us down.
A federal judge approved the settlement of the civil suit: The city of L. Together with William Paparian, Hanlon worked on the appeals that later led to Pratt's conviction being vacated. Police Department and, finally, for the L. The murder was blamed on a Party schism between supporters of Huey Newton and those of Eldridge Cleaver, with Geronimo Ji Jaga and his wife belonging to the Cleaver faction. His attorney, Johnnie Cochran, argued that the charges should be dropped, alleging that Geronimo Ji Jaga had been 350 miles away on the night of the murder. Elmer Pratt, the prominent Black Panther known by his nom de guerre, Geronimo ji-Jaga, died at 63 on June 2 in Tanzania. That paranoia is healthy, that now our new enemy may not be the Black Panther Party or African-American groups, but the new enemy could be Mideastern people or Muslims.
Before he died, however, Newton had tried to make amends with Pratt. And imagine that, that we felt that a group of young African Americans, probably less than a thousand throughout the country, were the number one threat to our internal safety. Former member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, a radical Africa-American who was convicted for the murder of a California school teacher in 1972. I apologize for my mistake. He was their confidential informant. He rose to lead the Los Angeles branch.
In all, Pratt spent 27 years behind bars, eight of them in solitary confinement, before being released in 1997 when a judge ruled that prosecutors had withheld evidence that could have led to his acquittal. In 1970, Geronimo Ji Jaga was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping. Police Department because of his activity in the Black Panther Party. This decision was upheld on appeal. The news of the death of Geronimo ji-Jaga — you remained his friend to the end. And you can rest assured that I will adhere to every order and every instruction that this court indicates for me to follow. Pratt became politically active and was recruited into the by and.
You were caught and charged when? He was released in 1997 after a judge vacated his conviction. And all the Panthers were pretty much acquitted of all the charges in that, and it was a bogus case. Pratt was a star at Sumpter Williams High School. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than using the archive tool instructions below. Saundra's murder was unrelated to the Black Panther Party. There were thousands and thousands just on his case.
The very people who had run him as an informant sat there during the habeas corpus hearing and pointed out, yes, he was my informant in this circumstance and this circumstance. Pratt, you know, that a little paranoia is healthy, that even paranoid people have real enemies. His nickname—Geronimo—had as much to do with his Native-American color and features as it did with his ferocity as a soldier and fighter. They did all these things in an effort to neutralize — which meant kill, destroy, lock up forever — Geronimo Pratt, at the behest of J. It just so happened that when I was selected, Vietnam was happening, and I ended up in Vietnam and survived that, two tours, or two and a half.
He died — he had just — I think he had left about three weeks before from Louisiana, and he had a great trip out here in California. He served two combat tours as a soldier in the , reaching the rank of sergeant. Ed, talk about how you first came to this story. Addicted to crack, hewas killed on an Oakland street in 1989 by a drug-dealer who told me after his conviction that he was tired of Newton demanding free cocaine. But what it means is that this country tortures people. Pratt came to symbolize a politically motivated attack on the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and other radical groups.
Pratt spoke at Cochran's funeral in 2005. He rose to become Deputy Minister of Defense of the local organization, after and were killed by infiltrators in the. When Pratt joined the Black Panthers, his years in the army proved useful. His attorney, , argued that the charges should be dropped. But the jury was not informed of that, the judge said.
While in prison for rape, Cleaver had written a best-selling book of essays, Soul on Ice. Witnesses had described Pratt as — had described the shooter, rather, as clean-shaven. By the mid-80s, Newton and his cocaine habit were all that was left. And the legal system falls apart when we let these things happen. And then, after the second year, it became 23 and a half.