Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (جميل عبد الله الامين) (Born October 4, 1943, as
Hubert Gerold Brown), also known as
H. Rap Brown, came to prominence in the 1960s as chairman of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeThe Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
and the Justice Minister of the
Black Panther PartyThe Black Panther Party was an African-American revolutionary organization established to promote Black Power, and by extension self-defense for blacks. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s...
. He is perhaps most famous for his proclamation during that period that "violence is as American as cherry pie", as well as once stating that "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down".
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (جميل عبد الله الامين) (Born October 4, 1943, as
Hubert Gerold Brown), also known as
H. Rap Brown, came to prominence in the 1960s as chairman of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeThe Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
and the Justice Minister of the
Black Panther PartyThe Black Panther Party was an African-American revolutionary organization established to promote Black Power, and by extension self-defense for blacks. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s...
. He is perhaps most famous for his proclamation during that period that "violence is as American as cherry pie", as well as once stating that "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down". He is currently serving a life sentence for
homicideHomicide refers to the act of a human killing a human being. A common form of homicide, for example, would be murder. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
.
Active years
Brown was born in
Baton RougeBaton Rouge is the capital city and the second largest city of Louisiana It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish which contains 428,000 residents. The Greater Baton Rouge population is approximately 774,327...
,
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He became known as H. Rap Brown during the early 1960s. His activism in the civil rights movement included involvement with the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeThe Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
(SNCC), of which he was named chairman in 1967. That same year, he was arrested in
Cambridge, MarylandCambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 10,911 at the 2000 census and 11,752 according to current July 2008 census estimates. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county's largest municipality. Cambridge is the fourth most populous city in...
, and charged with inciting to riot as a result of a fiery speech he gave there. He left the SNCC and joined the
Black PanthersThe Black Panther Party was an African-American revolutionary organization established to promote Black Power, and by extension self-defense for blacks. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s...
in 1968.
He appeared on the FBI's
Ten Most Wanted ListThe FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949, during a game of Hearts between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to...
after avoiding trial on charges of inciting riot and of carrying a gun across state lines. His attorneys in the gun violation case were civil rights advocate
Murphy BellMurphy Wilbert Bell was an American attorney from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who was active in the civil rights movement of the 1950s through the 1970s. In 1972, Bell and radical attorney William Kunstler of New York City represented the black activist H. Rap Brown on federal gun violations, which...
of Baton Rouge and the radical
William KunstlerWilliam Moses Kunstler was an American self-described "radical lawyer" and civil rights activist, known for his controversial clients...
. He disappeared for eighteen months then was arrested after a reported shootout with officers. The shootout occurred after what was said to be an attempted robbery of a bar in 1971 in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
He spent five years (1971–1976) in the
Attica PrisonThe Attica Correctional Facility is a penitentiary in Attica, New York.It held many of the most dangerous criminals of the time when it was constructed in the 1930s. A tear gas system is installed in the mess hall and industry areas and has been used to quell conflicts in these areas...
after a robbery conviction. While in prison, Brown converted to
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
and changed his name to Jamil Abdullah al-Amin. After his release, he opened a grocery store in
AtlantaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the state of Georgia, as well as the urban core of one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States....
,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
and became a Muslim spiritual leader and community activist preaching against drugs and gambling in
Atlanta's West EndThe West End neighborhood of Atlanta is on the National Register of Historic Places and can be found southwest of Castleberry Hill, east of Westview, west of Adair Park Historic District, and just north of Oakland City...
neighborhood. He also became leader of the National Ummah.
2000 arrest and conviction
On March 16, 2000, in
Fulton County, GeorgiaFulton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its county seat is Atlanta, the state capital since 1868 and the principal city of the Atlanta metropolitan area. At the 2000 United States Census, the population was 816,006...
, Sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to al-Amin's home to serve an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on a traffic citation of speeding and impersonating a police officer (he showed the officer his honorary badge that was given to him by the city for cleaning up the "West End"). After stopping in front of al-Amin's home and determining that nobody was there they drove away and were passed by a black Mercedes that was heading towards the home. Kinchen (the more senior deputy) watched the suspect vehicle and turned the car around and drove up to it stopping nose to nose. English approached the Mercedes and told the occupant to show his hands. The occupant opened fire with a .223 rifle. English ran but was hit four times. Kinchen was shot with the rifle and a 9mm handgun. The following day, Kinchen died of his wounds in a Georgia hospital. English survived his wounds and identified al-Amin as the shooter from six photos he was shown while recovering in the hospital.
Shortly after the shootout, al-Amin fled to
White Hall, AlabamaWhite Hall is a town in Lowndes County, Alabama, United States. The community was named for a plantation which was destroyed in a 1882 tornado. At the 2000 census the population was 1,014. It is part of the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, where he was tracked down by U.S. marshals and arrested by law enforcement officers after a four-day manhunt. Al-Amin was wearing body armor at the time of his arrest, and near his arrest location, officers located a 9mm handgun and .223 rifle. Ballistics testing showed that both weapons were the same guns used to shoot Kinchen and English. Later on, his black Mercedes, covered with bullet holes, was located.
On March 9, 2002, nearly two years after the shooting took place, al-Amin was convicted of 13 criminal charges, including the murder of deputy Kinchen. Four days later, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was sent to
Georgia State PrisonGeorgia State Prison is the main maximum security facility in the state of Georgia. Located on Hwy 147 just outside Reidsville, Georgia, "GSP" houses approximately 1550 inmates. The current warden is Don Jarriel....
, the state's maximum security facility near
Reidsville, GeorgiaReidsville is a city in Tattnall County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,235 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Tattnall County.-Geography:Reidsville is located at ....
.
Since his conviction, supporters of al-Amin have asserted that another man, Otis Jackson, who confessed to the shooting (but later recanted), is the real shooter. Also the police initially believed the shooter was wounded during the gun battle, but al-Amin had no injuries at the time of his arrest. Supporters assert that the investigation and trial were plagued by irregularities, including the suppression of evidence. Some feel that al-Amin's conviction is politically motivated.
At his trial, prosecutors pointed out al-Amin never provided any alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the shootout, nor any explanation as to why he fled the state afterwards. He also did not explain the bullet holes in his car, nor how the weapons used in the shootout were located near him during his arrest. In May 2004, the
Georgia Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of Georgia is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. State of Georgia. The court was established in 1845 as a three-member panel...
unanimously ruled to uphold al-Amin's conviction.
In August 2007, he was transferred from state custody to Federal custody as Georgia officials decided that al-Amin is too high-profile an inmate for the Georgia prison system to handle. He was moved to a Federal transfer facility in Oklahoma pending assignment to a Federal penitentiary. On October 21, 2007, al-Amin was transferred to the
ADX FlorenceThe United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, USA. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies. It is operated by the federal government and is part of the Florence Federal...
supermaxSupermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in some countries' prison systems...
prison in
Florence, ColoradoThe City of Florence is a Statutory City located in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The population was 3,653 at the 2000 census.Florence contains ADX Florence, the only federal Supermax prison in the United States.-Geography:...
.
See also
External links