News of ex-Black Panther Party member Geronimo Pratt’s death should send us into serious reflection about the role of political prisoners in America.

Pratt’s story is similar to those of so many other freedom fighters who took on a conscious role of fighting on behalf of the African American community. As a Vietnam veteran, Pratt took his military training back to the black community and was instrumental in developing and defending the Los Angeles Panther Party against police brutality. His involvement with the party led him to become a victim of the notoriously illegal F.B.I. Counter Intelligence Program (a program designed to destroy left-wing organizations), and his incarceration is a shining example of the American government’s wrath against progressive black organizations.

Pratt was accused and convicted of kidnapping and murdering a schoolteacher in 1972 in Los Angeles. He and others had testified that he was attending a Black Panther executive meeting in Oakland at the time of the woman’s death, something that could have been verified by the wiretappings of the meeting by the F.B.I. The case was ultimately determined by the testimony of an agent provocateur.

If not for a young lawyer named Johnny Cochrane, who took on Pratt’s case and committed to it for decades, this injustice might have never been undone. In 1997, Cochrane was able to free Pratt after 27 years of imprisonment by revealing that the key witness was a police informant, thus discrediting his testimony.

As a student at Philander Smith College, I got a chance to meet Mr. Cochrane, and I asked him why he stayed on the case for so many years. His reply was simple: “I knew he was not guilty and the government set him up.”

Both men’s lives can be used as a blueprint for how to live a life dedicated to justice.

Many in the hip-hop community do not know the impact Pratt had on the genre. As Tupac’s Godfather, Pac would frequently visit Geronimo in prison, and it was during these conversations that Pac began to develop and define his philosophy of “Thug Life.” Phrases like “ride or die” became a staple in Pac’s vernacular, which he borrowed from his Godfather, who explained that it was used by Black Panther members when they would police the police. Perhaps the most explicit connection can be heard in Pac’s song “White Man’s World,” where he shouts outs Geronimo and other political prisoners.

When one thinks about the sacrifices that our elders made for us to get to where we are today, one does not automatically think of Pratt. So often we lift the names of famous freedom fighters and make claims like “Rosa sat so Martin can walk; Martin walked so Obama could run” instead of “Geronimo was incarcerated so Obama could be president.” The only solace that I have about his death is that he was exonerated and was able to spend part of life as a free man and died on the Continent in Tanzania.

Through his death, there should be a serious dialog and renewed effort to free anyone who has been falsely accused of crimes. We must continue to tell his story and fight for others like Assata, Mumia, Mutula and Sundiata.

I would even go so far as to say that we should petition Obama’s justice department to reopen all cases involving the Panthers and provide them with new trials. By doing this, we will be honoring Pratt’s legacy while continuing to fight against the various injustices that exist in this world. Rest in peace, Baba Pratt.

***
Dr. Joseph L. Jones is the Director of the Social Justice Initiative at Philander Smith College.

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