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| "Geronimo" Pratt: 27 years of false imprisonment couldn't break his spirit |
Twenty-seven years is a long time to serve in prison -- especially when you are innocent.
That was what happened to Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a former Black Panther Party leader framed for murder by the FBI, who died last week at age 63 in Tanzania.
Regardless of what one thinks of the Black Panthers -- though all must agree there were positives in the mix -- Pratt and the Panthers, both intentionally and involuntarily, put the magnifying glass over the institutional corruption that exists at the highest levels of our society.
Those were the days, of COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program, which ran from 1956 to 1971),when the FBI spearheaded covert, and generally illegal, spying and disruptive activities against U.S. citizens and groups, which even included assassination. Pratt, as a black activist of some standing, was a natural target, and framing him for murder was a convenient way to take him out of circulation.
A decorated Vietnam War veteran, Pratt was arrested for murder in 1968, convicted in 1972, and had his case overturned in 1997. In 2000, he settled a false-imprisonment and civil rights lawsuit against the FBI and the city of Los Angeles for $4.5 million.
Geronimo Pratt had courage and compassion. He cared about those who struggled in life: the persecuted, the disenfranchised, the powerless. And he continued to work to change their plight right up until his death.
We need more men like Geronimo Pratt. And that is as great a tribute as one can win in this life.
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| Pratt's biography |
Adrian
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