H. Rap Brown, a militant Black Power leader of the 1960s who later converted to Islam and changed his name to Jamil Al-Amin, has died. He was 82.
Al-Amin died at a federal prison in Butner, N.C., his wife, Karima Al-Amin, said Monday. He had previously been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and the North Carolina prison is often used by the feds to house high-profile prisoners with health issues.
Though best known for his fiery rhetoric during the civil rights protests in the 1960s and 1970s, Al-Amin was behind bars for the killing of a Georgia sheriff’s deputy in 2000. He contested his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear his case in 2020.
Al-Amin was among the most militant of the civil rights movement leaders, calling for Black people nationwide to take up arms and fight for their freedom. Among his most repeated quotes were, “Violence is as American as cherry pie” and, “If America don’t come around, we’re gonna burn it down.”
“If President [Lyndon] Johnson is worried about my rifle,” he told reporters while out on bail for weapons charges in 1967, “wait until I get my atom bomb.”
In 1971, Al-Amin was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison in connection with an armed robbery and police shootout in Manhattan. During his time behind bars, he converted to Islam and changed his name. When released, he moved to Atlanta, opened a convenience store and became an Imam.
The FBI, which began its surveillance of Al-Amin in the 1960s, launched multiple operations concerning his store but found no evidence of criminal activity. But in 2000, two Fulton County sheriff’s deputies arrived at Al-Amin’s home to arrest him on a traffic charge.
Deputy Ricky Kinchen was shot dead at the scene, and his partner Aldranon English was wounded in the shootout. English identified Al-Amin as the killer, and he was convicted at trial in 2002 and sentenced to life.
“The FBI has a file on me containing 44,000 documents,” he told the New York Times immediately before the trial. “At some point they had to make something happen to justify all the investigations and all the money they’ve spent.”
With News Wire Services
