In this video, Geronimo ji-Jaga Pratt, (1947 – 2011) addresses a forum on police brutality held after his release from prison in 1997.
Pratt, a leader of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, was targeted by the U.S. government’s COINTELPRO program.
The FBI used false testimony from informant Julius Butler to orchestrate a frame-up for the Santa Monica, California murder of Caroline Olsen in 1972. Unjustly convicted, he was imprisoned for 27 years, 8 of which were spent in solitary confinement.
Pratt was released when a judge threw out the conviction, ruling that prosecutors had concealed evidence.
His attorney, Johnnie Cochran, stated that Pratt’s case was the most important of his career and that it radicalized him.
Pratt died on June 2, 2011 in Imbaseni Village, Tanzania, where he lived for the last five years of his life.
Also, check out "Rest in Uhuru" music video tribute to Geronimo ji-Jaga Pratt below.
