>From hmuskat Sat Aug 17 15:50:02 1991
110 lines, about 5 screens
(Reprinted without permission from The Sun Reporter, Wed. Aug 14,
1991 P 6)
FREEDOM NOW FOR GERONIMO PRATT
By Benjamin Chavis
The just demand for the freedom of political prisoners is a demand
that most Americans are comfortable with making in the interest of
human rights throughout the world, but with one exception and that
is when the political prisoners are being held here inside the
United States.
Today, however, thousands of people are raising their voices to
demand the freedom of one of the longest held political prisoners
in the United States: Geronimo ji jaga Pratt.
For more then 21 years Geronimo Pratt has been unjustly imprisoned
in the state of California. Recently, Rep. Ronald Dellums
(D-Berkeley) and renowned actor Danny Glover wrote an open letter
stating, "We write on behalf Geronimo ji jaga Pratt, a 43-year-old
African American man, who was framed during the height of the
"Black Power Movement" in the late '60's.
"Twenty-one years later Geronimo and others remain in jail for the
stands they took rather then the crimes they purportedly
committed. Please join with thousands of individuals throughout
the world who believe, as we do, that Geronimo's release is
twenty-one years over due.
We have just returned from a trip to Oakland as participants in a
"fact- finding mission" concerning the case of Geronimo Pratt. The
mission was sponsored by the Oakland Community United Church of
Christ, a newly- established African American congregation.
Rev. Dr. Lorenzo Carlisle, pastor of the church stated, "We begin
our outreach to the Oakland community in the quest for justice for
all of God's people. There is not a case more worthy of our
active support at this time in history than the case of our
brother, Geronimo Pratt.
"His unjust incarceration stands as an affront to the Christian
faith, and we intend to stand with him and his family in our
community and church," said Carlisle.
Based on our review of the record of the trial, subsequent legal
files and other new evidence that has surfaced, it was concluded
that Geronimo Pratt is in fact a political prisoner and is not
guilty of the alleged murder of a policeman in Santa Monica,
California over two decades ago.
As a direct result of Pratt's effective activism in the African
American community during the 1960's as a member of the Black
Panther Party, he became a target of the FBI's infamous COINTELPRO
counterintelligence program.
Pratt and many others were falsely accused of numerous allegations
in a systematic attempt to "criminalize" the just struggles of the
African American community for empowerment.
For all the millions of persons in this nation and from around the
world who successfully demanded the freedom of Nelson Mandela from
the prison system of apartheid South Africa, this same type of
massive demand needs to be made on behalf o Pratt. Pratt is a
victim of American racism and repression and his continued
imprisonment is an atrocious insult to human dignity.
A political prisoner is a "prisoner of conscience," a person who
has been unjustly imprisoned because of his or her political acts
of conscience to challenge injustice. The state and the government
imprison these innocent persons in an attempt to "silence" their
voice of opposition to injustice. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a
political prisoner on many occasions.
The latest news is that the many years of unjust imprisonment has
taken a tool on Geronimo's health. Assemblyman Willie L. Brown
(D-San Francisco), Speaker of the Assembly of the California
Legislature, has stressed to the California Department of
Corrections the "extraordinary" situation of injustice in regard
to Pratt's continued incarceration and deterioration of his
health.
It is therefore critical that immediate letters of protest,
petitions, and other communications be sent in support of the
"unconditional release" of Geronimo Pratt to the California Parole
Board, Governor Pete Wilson, members of the U.S. Congress, Amnesty
International, and to the International Campaign To Free Geronimo
Pratt.
Remember that COINTELPRO was a federal program as well as a state
effort to falsely incriminate and imprison African American and
other activists. We all share in the responsibility to help right
these grievous wrongs paid by our tax dollars.
Human freedom cannot be mitigated by the grand desires of the
forces of racial oppression. Human liberty cannot politically be
parceled out only to those who submit to tyranny. And we will not
be at rest until Geronimo Pratt is free.
If you would like more information on his case and wish to join
this growing campaign, please contact sister Muhjah Shakir,
co-coordinator fo the International Campaign to Free Geronimo ji
jaga Pratt, P.O. Box 3585, Oakland, CA 94609 415.268.0979.
(Hal's note: I will obtain names, addresses & fax #'s in order to
facilitate your desire and ability to demand Geronimo's release.
Rep. Dellums fax number should be in InterACT, available from the
main command line by typing (d)data. See this space soon for
additional names anf fax #'s. Geronimo's case will be heard by the
Parole Board in October.)