The C.O.W.S. Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt Part 11

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Thursday, May 13th 8:00PM Eastern/ 5:00PM Pacific

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the 11th study session on Jack Olsen’s Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt. Olsen is a White man, and a prolific author. He wrote for Sport Illustrated during the turbulent 1960’s, and penned a celebrated series examining black athletes and Racism. The magazine also credits Olsen with writing one of the best biographies on boxing icon and attempted counter-racist Muhammad Ali. Last week, Olsen detailed the CBS “60 Minutes” interview of Pratt. The piece aired in 1987, and seemed like it was probably edited by FBI enforcement officials. Pratt’s White female prison counselor (L. Atkinson), continued to advocate for Pratt against her fellow co-workers wishes. Flexing her White might, Atkinson sued the Department of Corrections for $100,000 for workplace abuse, ditched the penitentiary and became pen-pals with Nelson Mandela. Before exiting, she severely admonished Pratt for not holding a grudge against Huey P. Newton. The White woman called Netwon a “dickhead” and chided Pratt to recognize his “enemies.” Newton was shot and killed shortly after being released from prison. Before his murder, Newton reconciled with Pratt and vowed to help free his former comrade.