Geronimo Ji-Jaga, a Black Panther leader, decorated Vietnam War veteran, and godfather to rapper Tupac Shakur, was cremated following his death on June 2, 2011, and his ashes were scattered in Tanzania, fulfilling his wish for his life’s journey to conclude on African soil.
Dar es Salaam. Former Black Panther Party leader Geronimo Ji-Jaga, widely known earlier as Elmer Gerard Pratt, lived a life marked by battlefield courage, political activism, wrongful imprisonment and eventual exoneration.
Remembered across the United States as a disciplined revolutionary and respected organiser, he also forged a lasting relationship with Africa, culminating in his final wish being honoured in Tanzania.
Geronimo Ji-Jaga, a Black Panther leader, decorated Vietnam War veteran, and godfather to rapper Tupac Shakur, was cremated following his death on June 2, 2011, and his ashes were scattered in Tanzania, fulfilling his wish for his life’s journey to conclude on African soil.
Born on September 13, 1947 in Morgan City, Louisiana, Ji-Jaga came of age in the segregated American South, where racial barriers shaped social and political realities.
Seeking direction and discipline, he joined the United States Army, completing two combat tours in Vietnam.
Military records credited him with commendations for bravery, foreshadowing the resolve that would later define his activism.
After returning home, Ji-Jaga enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, at a time when student movements were reshaping political discourse.
He joined the Black Panther Party amid growing calls for racial equality, community protection and economic justice.
Ji-Jaga quickly rose to Deputy Minister of Defense for the Southern California chapter, placing him among the organisation’s most senior figures in the region.
His responsibilities included organisational leadership, political education and coordination of community defence initiatives during an era defined by tension between activists and law enforcement.
That prominence brought intense federal scrutiny. In 1972, Ji-Jaga was convicted of a 1968 murder in Santa Monica, California.
Prosecutors relied on testimony later discredited and failed to disclose critical evidence to the defence.
Court findings later established that authorities had information showing Ji-Jaga was attending a Black Panther meeting hundreds of miles away at the time of the crime.
Ji-Jaga spent 27 years behind bars, including prolonged periods in solitary confinement.
Over time, his case drew national and international attention as civil rights advocates, legal experts and journalists challenged the prosecution, describing the conviction as a profound miscarriage of justice.
The conviction was overturned in 1997 after a judge ruled that prosecutors had suppressed evidence favourable to the defence and failed to reveal that a key witness had served as a government informant.
Ji-Jaga walked out of prison after nearly three decades, a decision widely regarded as one of the most significant reversals of a wrongful conviction linked to the era of aggressive intelligence operations against political activists.
He later received a financial settlement from government authorities, reinforcing the scale of the injustice he endured.
In subsequent years, Ji-Jaga spoke publicly about wrongful convictions, incarceration and the need for accountability in the justice system.
Beyond politics, Ji-Jaga held a notable place in American cultural history as Tupac Shakur’s godfather.
Tupac’s mother, Ms Afeni Shakur, was an active member of the Black Panther Party, situating Ji-Jaga within a circle of activists whose influence extended into global popular culture.
In his later years, Ji-Jaga strengthened his engagement with Africa. He travelled to Tanzania, connecting with activists, scholars and communities shaped by the continent’s liberation legacy.
Tanzania’s longstanding reputation as a centre for African solidarity resonated with his lifelong commitment to dignity, political awareness and self-determination.
Geronimo Ji-Jaga died aged 63, leaving a record spanning military service, revolutionary leadership, judicial failure and eventual vindication.
From the battlefields of Vietnam to the Black Panther Party, through decades of imprisonment, and finally to a resting place in Tanzania, his story remains a defining account of endurance and contested justice in modern history.
