H Rap Brown

Remembering Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown)Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, the trailblazing Black revolutionary who electrified the civil rights movement as H. Rap Brown before embracing Islam and becoming a revered imam, passed away on November 23, 2025, at the age of 82. He died in a federal prison hospital at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, after a prolonged battle with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer that had led to his transfer from a facility in Arizona earlier in the year. His death was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and announced by his family and supporters, who mourned the loss of a figure whose life embodied fierce resistance, spiritual transformation, and unyielding dignity.Born Hubert Gerold Brown on October 4, 1943, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Al-Amin rose to prominence in the turbulent 1960s as a fiery orator and leader in the Black Power movement. Inspired by his brother Ed, a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he joined the fight against systemic racism and white supremacy. In 1967, at just 23, he succeeded Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture) as SNCC's fifth chairman, shifting the organization toward militant Black nationalism. His speeches were legendary for their raw intensity—one infamous line, "Violence is as American as cherry pie," captured the era's rage against oppression and landed him on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for inciting riots and illegal firearms possession.Arrested in 1970 after a shootout with New York police during an attempted robbery, Al-Amin served five years in Attica Prison (1971–1976). It was there, in the shadow of the infamous 1971 uprising, that he converted to Islam, adopting the name Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin and finding solace in the faith's call for justice and community. Upon release, he distanced himself from his militant past, settling in Atlanta's West End neighborhood. There, he founded a mosque, opened a bookstore and community store, and preached against drugs, gambling, and social ills as part of the Dar ul-Islam movement. For decades, he lived as a quiet pillar of his community—a stark contrast to the revolutionary firebrand he once was.Tragedy struck in 2000 when Fulton County sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English approached Al-Amin's home to serve an arrest warrant for minor traffic violations. A shootout ensued: Kinchen was killed, English wounded, and Al-Amin fled, sparking a massive manhunt that ended with his capture in Alabama. Convicted in 2002 of felony murder and related charges, he was sentenced to life without parole. Al-Amin maintained his innocence throughout, and supporters, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), alleged the trial was marred by anti-Muslim bias, especially in the post-9/11 climate, and that federal agencies pressured witnesses to link him to unrelated crimes. In 2007, federal inmate Otis Jackson confessed under oath to being the shooter, but the Fulton County District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit declined to vacate the conviction. Efforts for a new trial persisted until his death, with his legal team at Davis Bozeman Johnson Law Firm filing motions that, heartbreakingly, went unheard.