Goodbye "G"
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Deoliver47
Many of us who are old enough to remember what life was like during the 60's and 70's, during a time when multiple political movements for change intersected are also at the age where the passing though "natural causes" of those who fought along side us - are becoming too frequent.
So it is with a deep and profound regret that I write today about the death of comrade Geronimo Ji Jaga, who I knew simply as "G".
Not too long ago G read a poem by his godson Tupac Shakur.
It serves as his epitaph.
In the Event of My Demise by Tupac Shakur
In the event of my demise
when my heart can beat no more
I hope I die for a principle
Or a belief that I had lived for
I will die before my time
Because I feel the shadow's depth
So much I wanted to accomplish
Before I reached my death
I have come to grips with the possibility
And wiped the last tear from my eyes
I loved all who were positive
In the event of my demise
From The Rose that Grew From Concrete
Those movements - civil rights, Native American rights, anti-war, women's liberation, gay liberation differed in one major respect.
People of color movements - tended to lose our leaders, and cadres through assassination and incarceration. Many of us were never sure from one day to the next if we would die pursuing justice or if we were not murdered outright - we faced the possibility of life in prison, or at best life in exile.
We accepted the possibility of our demise- and kept on.
Prominent in that struggle from the left of the spectrum within the black community was the Black Panther Party. A memory now - not to be confused with the bogus group that has adopted the name in these times.
Many of you knew the names of the more public figures in the Party - Huey P Newton, Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver, Bobby Seale...Fred Hampton, but often the contributions of other Panthers to that struggle has been overlooked.
In the last few months we have lost Field Marshall Donald Cox (who died in exile in France) Michael Cetewayo Tabor, NY Panther 21 , who died in exile in Zambia, and now comes the news of the passing of Geronimo Ji Jaga - aka Geronimo Pratt, in Tanzania.
G's story - his childhood, his coming of age in a racist America, his military service, joining the Panthers, and his frame-up by J Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO operation, his life in prison and the battle to free him, his eventual release after too many long years of incarceration is told in this biography and anatomy of the trial and eventual freedom for G, by Jack Olsen.
LAST MAN STANDING:
The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt
Olsen leads readers through Pratt’s background, showing how and why this soft-spoken Louisianian suddenly found himself in the inner sanctums of the Black Panther Party, an odd assemblage of idealistic African Americans and loose cannons. Pratt had grown up in the bayou country southwest of New Orleans, surrounded by a loving family that valued hard work, self-reliance and education. His father eked out a living by salvaging scraps from the town dump, but Pratt and his six siblings never realized they were poor. In his senior year at Morgan City Colored High, the star quarterback came under the influence of a council of black "elders" who enlightened him about racial injustice in an era when civil rights workers were being murdered, churches fire-bombed and children burned to death.
After two tours of duty in Vietnam and fifty-five combat jumps (Soldiers Medal, Air Medal, Purple Heart), Pratt enrolled in a "high potential" program at UCLA. In his earliest months on campus, wholesale acts of police brutality and racial violence inspired him to join the Panthers. As he became more active, he found himself subjected to a mysterious campaign of harassment. Years would pass before it finally came to light that he’d been targeted by J. Edgar Hoover and a systematic FBI counter-intelligence program whose admitted goal was to undermine black solidarity and "neutralize" Panther leaders. Among other victims, two of Pratt’s closest friends were killed in a gunfight triggered by federal agents provocateurs.
In 1970 G was arrested, jailed and two years later found guilty of a murder he could not possibly committed. Evidence that could have proved his innocence was suppressed.
You know - when you get convicted of something, many people, including progressives, assume justice has been done. Thankfully, even though G slipped from the newspapers, his friends, comrades and a courageous team of lawyers, among them Stuart Hanlon, and Johnnie Cochran, who remained committed to winning his freedom.
During his battle for justice G had requested that Kathleen Cleaver become one of his lawyers. Katleen had testified for him in his first trial.
New Attorney Denied for Pratt at Parole Hearing : Prisons: Kathleen Cleaver won't be able to represent the convicted Black Panther at session Wednesday.
His 13th parole hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, comes against a backdrop of renewed efforts to win his release. Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti is reviewing the case, prompted by a detailed report from crusading lay minister Jim McCloskey who vigorously argues Pratt's innocence.
Those calling for Pratt's release over the years have included Amnesty International, members of Congress and a cross-section of Los Angeles' most prominent clergy and civil rights leaders.
None of Pratt's attorneys believe his release will be ordered Wednesday, however, and a spokeswoman for Garcetti said the office will oppose parole.
Cleaver, who said she was denied permission to visit Pratt on Sunday, called the decision blocking her from representing him retaliatory.
"First they don't want me visiting him, and they don't want me in the room representing him," said Cleaver, a Yale law graduate and a law professor at Emory University in Atlanta.
Her experience dealing with the injustice of the Criminal Justice system in this country had led her to go back to school and become a lawyer. Kathleen and other former Panthers around the country never abandoned G. We often would hear from him via phone calls from the joint - where he was organizing and educating brothers behind bars.
Finally ... came the news that many of us on the outside had been waiting for after 27 years. His conviction was vacated on June 10, 1997.
CBS news
Geronimo Pratt is Free
Johnnie Cochran talks about G's release on bail.
The Case of Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt
Though G was free on bail after his conviction was reversed he still had to face the fact that Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti was going to appeal the reversal. Finally, Garcetti lost the appeal and G got a settlement for false imprisonment and civil rights violations for $4.5 million.
He went home to Morgan City, LA, and then he headed to Tanzania in East Africa.
He used money from his settlement to support projects for young folks in Morgan City and to help former comrades in exile in Tanzania. Though G has ended his life, the work he has contributed to goes on.
To get a better understanding of why Tanzania is where G headed you need to learn the story of two Panthers in exile - Pete and Charlotte O'Neal.
Posted here is a link to the full film. I hope, when you have time you will watch it and support the work that Pete and Charlotte are doing at United African Alliance Community Center(UAACC)
A Panther in Africa
Geronimo is survived by his wife Joju Cleaver, his son Hiroji Pratt, daughter Shona Pratt, and sons Kayode and Tecumseh Jaga, many other family members and those of us who will continue the struggle.
With love.
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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The Republicans war on woman continues. ColorLines: Indiana’s Anti-Choice Zealots See Poor Black Women As Collateral Damage
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In early May, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed one of the most draconian anti-choice laws in the country, HB 1210. Among other heinousness, the law codifies what radical anti-choicers call ‘fetal pain,’ and requires a woman who has already decided to have an abortion to gaze at ultrasound images and listen for the flutter of a fetal heartbeat right before the emotionally charged procedure.
HB 1210 also strips existing and future Medicaid payments from “any entity that performs abortions or maintains or operates a facility where abortions are performed.” (Hospitals are exempt.) For those who don’t speak Radical Republicanese, “entity” means “Planned Parenthood,” which runs 28 health centers across the state.
Proponents in the Hoosier House and Senate insist that Medicaid users won’t suffer because they have plenty of reproductive healthcare options. But according to the Indiana “Journal Gazette,” that’s kinda not true. Of an April 27th hearing,the paper reported:
“Minutes before the Indiana House voted on the bill to defund Planned Parenthood and other health care providers, two lawmakers backing the bill held up a handmade map covered in colored dots. The map, they said, showed [clinics] that could bridge the gap if Planned Parenthood lost funding. … ‘In every circumstance but one, there is another provider nearby,’ Rep. P. Eric Turner, R-Cicero [said].’
[…]
The list provided by House Republicans and on their website includes health service providers that have nothing to do with women’s reproductive health, sexual health or family planning. They include a Salvation Army addiction center, a homeless shelter, several mental health centers, a juvenile detention center and the Indiana Women’s Prison.”
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From the Republicans war on education, maybe because there is a high correlation between education levels and liberalism. Colorlines: Critics Accuse Sesame Street of ‘Anti-Conservative Bias’
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Some conservative talking heads have stooped to a new low and are going after Sesame Street, according to The Hollywood Insider. In this latest and laughable chapter of America’s culture wars, panelists on conservative Sean Hannity’s Fox News talk show argued that the beloved kids show actually dumbs down black and Latino youth and promotes so-called “anti-conservative discrimination” because it encourages parents to use gender neutral pronouns.
Author Ben Shapiro appeared on Hannity’s show to publicize his new book” Primetime Propoganda”, which he says reveals liberal bias in Hollywood. “I kinda wanna take ‘em outside and cap ‘em,” Shapiro disgustingly joked to Hannity. “I went and spoke to the biggest creators in TV over the last 50 years and had them admit to me on tape that yes, they bias their programming in a liberal direction, they discriminate against conservatives in Hollywood.”
And then there’s this exchange, where Shapiro attempts to explain how Elmo is hurting America’s children:
Hannity: How is Elmo liberal?
Shapiro: I talked to one of the guys who was originally at Children’s Television Workshop originally, and he said that the whole purpose of Sesame Street was to cater to black and Hispanic youths who don’t have reading literature in the house…if you go on the Sesame Street website, it talked about ‘when you’re bringing up your child, make sure that you use gender neutral language. Make sure that you give your boys dolls and make sure that you give your girls firetrucks
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A little bit of history. LA Times: African American landmark building in West Adams named L.A. historic monument
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A West Adams building that housed one of the first companies to offer life insurance to African Americans was designated this week by the L.A. City Council as a historic-cultural monument.
Preservationists who say the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. building is architecturally and culturally significant were delighted with Wednesday's council vote.
Towering at the corner of West Adams Boulevard and Western Avenue, the building was completed in 1949 and designed by noted African American architect Paul Revere Williams.
It served as headquarters for the operation that became the largest black-owned insurance company in the western United States and one of the first to offer life insurance to African Americans.
It boasts large lobby murals created specifically for the building by African American artists Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff. The works illustrate the early contributions of African Americans to the history of Los Angeles and California.
“This rare combination of client, architect, and artists creates a trifecta of significance and is an irreplaceable part of our history,” said Adrian Scott Fine, director of advocacy for the Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit preservation group that helped to secure the building’s new status.
Councilman Bernard Parks, who represents the district where the building is located, said the structure also served as a venue for meetings of black activists and members of the African American community's elite.
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Elmer G. "Geronimo" Pratt, a former Los Angeles Black Panther Party leader who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he says he did not commit and whose case became a symbol of racial injustice during the turbulent 1960s, has died. He was 63. LA Times: Elmer 'Geronimo' Pratt, a former Black Panther leader, dies in Tanzania
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Pratt died at his home in a small village in Tanzania, where he had been living with his wife and child, according to Stuart Hanlon, a San Francisco attorney who helped overturn Pratt's murder conviction. Hanlon said he was informed of the death by Pratt's sister.
Pratt's case became a cause celebre for elected officials, Amnesty International, clergy and celebrities who believed he was framed by the government because he was African American and a member of the Black Panthers.
"Geronimo was a powerful leader," Hanlon told The Times. "For that reason he was targeted."
Pratt was convicted in 1972 and sentenced to life in prison for the 1968 fatal shooting of Caroline Olsen and the serious wounding of her husband, Kenneth, in a robbery that netted $18. The case was overturned in 1997 by an Orange County Superior Court judge who ruled that prosecutors at Pratt's murder trial had concealed evidence that could have led to his acquittal.
Pratt maintained that the FBI knew he was innocent because the agency had him under surveillance in Oakland when the murder was committed in Santa Monica.
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The South African leader made extraordinary personal sacrifices so the ordinary African could lead a dignified life. The Root: A Tribute To Albertina Sisulu
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was saddened by the news that Albertina Sisulu, one of the great leaders of the African National Congress had died at the age of 92. She was the widow of Walter Sisulu, the first secretary general of the ANC, a Robben Island prisoner and colleague of Nelson Mandela. She was a retired nurse and midwife.
She had made extraordinary personal sacrifices so that the ordinary African could lead a dignified life, free of the daily discriminations and humiliations that constituted the Apartheid System. She endured a lot so that each person, regardless of race, creed or gender, could enjoy the full range of pleasures and sorrows, challenges and accomplishments that define the daily essence of an ordinary person. Best of all, she and her late husband epitomized the proposition that a decent married couple, seeking the best for their children, could also be committed activists for a just South Africa.
The outline of her life is well known. She was born in 1918 in the village of Camama in the Transkei region of South Africa. An excellent student, she chose to study nursing in the 1940s because trainee nurses were paid during their studies, allowing her to save money to send home to her family. She married Walter Sisulu in 1947.
Albertina Sisulu was the only woman present at the birth of the ANC Youth League. Soon, the first of numerous extraordinary sacrifices was to occur. Her husband elected to surrender his paying job to become the full-time secretary general of the ANC, leaving her to support her growing family on a nurse’s income. She became more of an activist, leading the ANC Women’s League in the famous 1952 Defiance Campaign and the boycotts, protests and sit-ins of the 1950s.
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Despite spending the more money on health care per capita than any other country in the world, the U.S. seems to be doing a poor job of keeping its citizens alive. ColorLines: What Does the Maternal Health Care Crisis Look Like in the U.S.?
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Amnesty International recently released a maternal health graphic, bringing attention to the country’s maternal health care crisis, as well as legislative developments in the last year that could signal some progress on the issue.
It shows that despite spending more money per capita on healthcare than any other country, we rank 50th in the world for our maternal mortality ratios. To make matter worse, while care for childbearing women and newborns is the number one reason for hospitalization in the U.S., preventable deaths of both newborns and mothers in relation to childbirth are alarmingly high, especially for women of color.
Amnesty International found that African American women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than white women. Maternal mortality ratios are especially high for black, American Indian/Alaska Native and Asian/Pacific Islander mothers. However, no racial or ethnic group met the government’s Healthy People 2010 goal for reducing maternal mortality - in fact, the ratios were all 2 and a half times higher.
Miriam Zoila Pérez previously reported for Colorlines on the industry-driven shift over the years to American women giving birth almost exclusively in hospitals, and the cost, health, safety, and access concerns this system has engendered, especially for women of color and those without resources. Pérez outlined the benefits of the alternative of home birth, and legislation that would make the option of home birth more accessible for those covered by Medicaid.
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Voices and Soul
by Justice Putnam
Black Kos Poetry Editor
From 47th Street in Chicago, to Lenox Avenue in New York, to Rampart Street in New Orleans, from Fremont Street in San Francisco and Grand Avenue in Oakland, to the Rue de Parnasse in Paris and then the Spanish Steps in Rome; to any street, boulevard and avenue anywhere and any place in the world, to the bedrooms and kitchens, to the backyards and front porches, from the side paths and dark alleys, from the sunlit empty lots of a foreclosed present day, to the dusty cotton fields of a bleeding past; a people raise a voice to an unseen heaven; and a song of humanity resounds across the seas and lands.
For My People
For my people everywhere singing their slave songs
repeatedly: their dirges and their ditties and their blues
and jubilees, praying their prayers nightly to an
unknown god, bending their knees humbly to an
unseen power;
For my people lending their strength to the years, to the
gone years and the now years and the maybe years,
washing ironing cooking scrubbing sewing mending
hoeing plowing digging planting pruning patching
dragging along never gaining never reaping never
knowing and never understanding;
For my playmates in the clay and dust and sand of Alabama
backyards playing baptizing and preaching and doctor
and jail and soldier and school and mama and cooking
and playhouse and concert and store and hair and
Miss Choomby and company;
For the cramped bewildered years we went to school to learn
to know the reasons why and the answers to and the
people who and the places where and the days when, in
memory of the bitter hours when we discovered we
were black and poor and small and different and nobody
cared and nobody wondered and nobody understood;
For the boys and girls who grew in spite of these things to
be man and woman, to laugh and dance and sing and
play and drink their wine and religion and success, to
marry their playmates and bear children and then die
of consumption and anemia and lynching;
For my people thronging 47th Street in Chicago and Lenox
Avenue in New York and Rampart Street in New
Orleans, lost disinherited dispossessed and happy
people filling the cabarets and taverns and other
people’s pockets and needing bread and shoes and milk and
land and money and something—something all our own;
For my people walking blindly spreading joy, losing time
being lazy, sleeping when hungry, shouting when
burdened, drinking when hopeless, tied, and shackled
and tangled among ourselves by the unseen creatures
who tower over us omnisciently and laugh;
For my people blundering and groping and floundering in
the dark of churches and schools and clubs
and societies, associations and councils and committees and
conventions, distressed and disturbed and deceived and
devoured by money-hungry glory-craving leeches,
preyed on by facile force of state and fad and novelty, by
false prophet and holy believer;
For my people standing staring trying to fashion a better way
from confusion, from hypocrisy and misunderstanding,
trying to fashion a world that will hold all the people,
all the faces, all the adams and eves and their countless generations;
Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a
bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second
generation full of courage issue forth; let a people
loving freedom come to growth. Let a beauty full of
healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing
in our spirits and our blood. Let the martial songs
be written, let the dirges disappear. Let a race of men now
rise and take control.
(November 1937)
-- Margaret Walker
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If you'd like an invite to the Black Kos Community, if you are not already a member, give us a shout-out in comments.