[In the original paper we included a suprisingly frank editorial on the case of Geronimo Pratt that appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and then provided the following comments...]

This is what the mainstream press had to say about Geronimo Pratt's release! Pratt's frame-up was part of a series of frame-ups designed by COINTELPRO during the 1960's.

COINTELPRO (the Counter-Intelligence Program) was the FBI's secret unit designed to target activists in the United States. They used whatever means they could to frame or kill activists.

COINTELPRO's prime area of operation was in subverting the Black panther Party (BPP) and the American Indian Movement (AIM). It is estimated that at the peak of its operations, the Black Panther Party had four thousand members. Of these, it is estimated that as many as one thousand were FBI informants. Despite internal problems within both the BPP and AIM, what ultimately led to the collapse of these organisations was COINTELPRO's ruthless activities.

People should realize that the consequences of COINTELPRO's operations are still being felt. Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier are still in jail, both at one time were being monitored by the FBI. The families of Fred Hampton and Davis Collins, both of whom were BPP members murdered by COINTELPRO, are still feeling the loss of their loved ones.

Recently books have come out trying to play down the extent to which COINTELPRO and the FBI operated. The Shadow of the Panther and Where was AIM? are both examples of books written today which seek to discredit AIM and the BPP through gossip and innuendo. People today should remember what these movements stood for, what they achieved, where they failed and why.

In the future @te Ball Justice will have more focus on political prisoners and there fights for justice.