The Last Man Standing: The Tragedy And Triumph of Geronimo Pratt, By Jack Olson
By
‘Bro. Zayid’
We
only wish that ‘G’ (Geronimo Pratt) was the last man standing, as the title
of this book suggests, but by the ghosts of Albert ‘Nuh’ Washington, Teddy
‘Jah’ Heath and Merle Africa,* we painfully know that he’s not.
The
book, The Last Man Standing, however, is a detailed account of the heroism,
frame up, capture, torture, survival and triumph of pioneering New Afrikan
freedom fighter, Geronimo JiJaga Pratt. It is the first full length book to
attempt to capture the whole, incredible story of the young soldier who grew up
‘Across The Tracks’ in Morgan City, Louisiana, who would ultimately bear the
tortuous, yet heroic, burden of being one of amerikkka’s longest held
political prisoners.
It also seeks to capture the enormous near 27 year commitment of his lawyers, Stuart Hanlon and Johnny Cochran, through the so-called criminal justice system at its racist and facist worst.
Like
any good piece of fiction, the book opens with action that engages and
challenges its readers right away, but this is not a novel. This is real action,
and this incredibly brave caged Panther is caught in the
middle of a murder attempt of a prison guard, just as he is meeting his
brand new, green-eared lawyer. Neither the caged Panther, nor the lawyer, could
know that this encounter of near mortal consequence would lead to a life and
career defining relationship.
Jack Olsen takes you back to G’s roots, his swamp deep, hard roots in
Louisiana’s bottom. He provides you with a thick, clear picture of G’s
strong, fiercely independent, hardworking father. ‘Mr. Jack,’ as even the
crackers called him, taught his boys to be tough and strong and unafraid of work
or war. His father was one of the few Black
men in that blood drenched Klan foothold who got the white man’s respect.
Olsen balances this picture of Mr. Jack with one of his mother, Eunice, a
well-read, no-nonsense devout Catholic, who stood her ground to see to it that
her family had all the love, direction, education and protection they needed to
survive in that hostile environment.
This
quality of writing and Olsen’s deft
usage of the narrative vignette makes the first quarter or more of the book a
real page turner as G emerges from this
background a genuine people’s soldier. Quickly, you will go through
Geronimo’s segregated growing (up) pains, coming to a head when he gets his
first ‘mission’ from his elders, to acquire the ‘skills’ necessary to
help defend the village from its racist enemies. Quickly, you will go through G
acquiring those skills the hard way, doing two tours of duty in ‘Nam, coming
home a decorated vet. Quickly, you will find him sojourning westward with his
brothers and sisters only to find himself at ‘Bunchy’ Carter’s right side
and at Huey’s back, and literally fulfilling the mission first given to him
from his Louisiana Delta elders, using his skills to protect the village from
its racist adversaries, but doing so for the Black Panther Party and for the
Black Liberation Movement! Fortifying buildings and training people how to
withstand military attacks. Although the book doesn’t quite capture the
breadth of G’s impact, it does give you a clear picture of how he did it and
how he became a target for COINTELPRO as a consequence. Quickly, perhaps too
quickly, he gives you a picture of how G was set up for capture by a snitch
named Melvin ‘Cotton’ Smith, only to then be sent away for 27 years
behind by another no good bastard snitch, Julio Butler, who literally advanced
his career off his role in sending G up!
When it comes to doing time, heads say that there is doing ‘hard
time’ and doing ‘soft time.’ Hard time means the ‘hole,’ being
tortured, beaten, poisoned, the whole hellish nine. Soft time means making no
waves at all. Going along to get along, giving the overseers everything they
want in terms of obedience so as to avoid being singled out for ‘hard time.’
G, as world now knows, did very hard time! He spent the first seven to eight
years of his life sentence in the ‘hole.’ The book captures in dramatically
readable form just how viciously California state officials made sure that G’s
time was hard time. They made sure he endured nothing but the ‘hole,’ set
ups, assassination attempts and having to inhale nothing but old and new piss,
sh#t and blood for years!
It is important to note that even though he faced brutally vicious
conditions and treatment when locked down, G never backed down off of his
revolutionary convictions. This could have been better amplified, especially
when we get to the controversial televised parole hearing in the late 80’s.
While it captures how the parole board arbitrarily denied G parole and pointed
squarely to his political affiliations and orientation, it does not give account
of what G said himself in that scenario. “And I don’t bite my tongue”
about my beliefs, he said. He was proud of his work with the Party. He believed
that our people are a nation within a nation entitled to independence and
reparations, and he considered himself a citizen of the Provisional Government
of The Republic of New Afrika!
The book is just as much about how the courts actually work when doing
and upholding political prosecution. It involves more than prosecutorial
misconduct, more than police abuse and snitching. It also involves the police
and the national security apparatus having private access to judges, including
appellate judges. This what Johnnie Cochran was referring to when he was
critical of ex parte evidence. People who are the targets of such ‘evidence’
have no way of even knowing what’s presented about them, not to mention being
able to defend themselves against that
kind of evidence. So take all that junior high stuff about impartial judges and
throw it all out the window.
Unfortunately, it is here where the book goes south. From there on, it
becomes an account of the lawyers’ handling
of an appeals process that is pathetically bogus, corrupt and
unjust. Although less compelling, that story needs also to be told because
it should make clear why it has been so difficult to get justice
for the rest of our freedom fighters. Further, it makes clear that
even though someone is innocent, there is no guarantee that
they are going to go free, and this doesn’t even address the death
penalty.
The book could have also been more effective in making its point if it
included accounts of the broad public support G had for years! By the way, this
was support rooted in the Black nationalist community, and it‘s support that
all of our political prisoners, G’s comrades, only wish they had! The
book only mentions celebs in a passing, anecdotal way though. Yet whenever G has
spoken in public, he has always spoken out about his comrades who are still
locked down, some even more than G’s
own 27 years! It would be greatly appreciated if the book illustrated how these
cases get even less legal and political support, and could mean these freedom fighters lives
in the end if we don’t at least duplicate for them what was did for him! The
ghosts of Albert ‘Nuh’ Washington, Teddy ‘Jah’ Heath
and Merle Africa, bear witness to this.
The book ends with the optimism of Cochran’s continued belief in this
system and G’s amazing lack of bitterness and anger.
We wish could share the enthusiasm, because in the end, G is not the
last man standing.
Free
All Political Prisoners! Free The
Land!
*Albert ‘Nuh’ Washington, Teddy
‘Jah’ Heath and Merle Africa, were political prisoners who died in
prison…They had each served as much 23 to 28 years in prison at the time of
their deaths…
#
’Bro. Zayid’ Kazi Angaza Kikongo Muhammad
01.31.2004