Obituary: Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown)

Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin — born Hubert Gerald Brown on October 4, 1943, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana — returned to his Lord after a lifetime spent at the crossroads of American history, civil rights struggle, spiritual devotion, and unyielding resistance to injustice. His passing in federal custody marks the end of an era, yet his legacy continues to cast a long, unextinguishable shadow across justice movements.

To generations of Americans, he was first known as H. Rap Brown, the fiery young chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), an uncompromising voice of Black liberation in the 1960s. To Muslims across the country and the world, he is remembered as Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a man who rebuilt neighborhoods, brokered peace among street organizations, and lived a life of profound spiritual depth. To his community in Atlanta’s West End, he was simply Imam, the man who prayed with them, organized with them, protected their youth, and inspired them toward dignity and service.

His life cannot be told without recounting the weight of the struggles he endured — nor without honoring the extraordinary contributions he made despite them.

Early Life and Emergence as a Leader

Al-Amin’s journey began in the segregated South, where he developed the courage and clarity that would define his public life. At Southern University (1960–1964), he joined the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG) and quickly emerged as a committed organizer. His work during the Mississippi Summer Project and his attendance at the 1964 Democratic Convention alongside the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party placed him at the forefront of America’s democratic awakening.

By 1966, he was a national figure. As SNCC’s Alabama project director and, later in 1967, as its chairman, he championed human rights over narrow civil rights frameworks. His speeches electrified audiences; his organizing inspired thousands; and his commitment to truth unsettled America’s entrenched power structures.

But his rising influence also made him a target.

COINTELPRO, Persecution, and the Long Road of Resistance

From 1967 onward, the U.S. government placed Al-Amin under the relentless scrutiny and harassment of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. He was shot, arrested repeatedly, charged under newly minted laws, and pursued with an intensity reserved for those the government feared most.

Among these infamous episodes:

• The Cambridge, Maryland incident (1967), after which fabricated arson charges would be used to trigger federal firearms indictments.

• A long series of arrests, bond restrictions, and a highly politicized “Anti-Riot Act” inserted into federal law largely to target him specifically.

• The harassment of his attorneys, the intimidation of witnesses, and eventually even evidence — revealed decades later — that the state’s own prosecutors admitted some early charges were entirely fabricated.

Throughout these ordeals, Al-Amin never ceased organizing or serving.

Spiritual Transformation and Community Leadership

In 1971, while imprisoned in Rikers Island, Al-Amin embraced Islam, taking the name Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. The transformation was profound: from revolutionary to spiritual guide, from activist to Imam.

Upon completing his parole in 1976, he settled in Atlanta’s West End, where he became a beacon of community renewal:

• He helped rid neighborhoods of drugs and crime through grassroots safety initiatives.

• He organized national Muslim networks, including Al-Ummah and the National Majlis ash-Shura.

• He led cease-fire efforts among street organizations, contributing to a 25% reduction in youth homicides in the 1990s.

• He coordinated Hajj programs, served as a chaplain, mediated conflicts, and cultivated young leaders.

He worked tirelessly for peace. Countless organizers credit him with “saving thousands of lives.”

Controversial Arrest and Imprisonment

On March 16, 2000, on the eve of Eid al-Adha, two sheriff’s deputies approached Al-Amin’s store with a bench warrant. Conflicting eyewitness descriptions, none matching Al-Amin, were given after one deputy was killed and another injured. Another man, Otis Jackson (James Santos), confessed repeatedly to being the shooter.

Despite this, Al-Amin was arrested, beaten, extradited, and eventually convicted in a trial marked by contradictions, withheld evidence, and later-revealed COINTELPRO documents that named him a long-term “target.”

He was sentenced to life without parole.

Over the next two decades, he endured harsh imprisonment, solitary confinement, deteriorating health, and repeated medical neglect. Only after public pressure was he transferred to a medical facility and later moved again.

He remained, until his final breath, a man of dignity and deep faith.

Death, Mourning, and Renewed Demands for Justice

Upon his passing, Muslim communities, civil rights veterans, and justice advocates across the country expressed grief — and outrage.

CAIR’s statement captured the nation's sentiment:

“To God we belong and to Him we return,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.“Imam Jamil Al-Amin was a hero of the civil rights movement and a victim of injustice who passed away in a prison, jailed for a crime he did not commit.”

CAIR urged that the case be reopened and his name cleared.

Al-Amin’s life spanned eras of segregation, mass uprisings, state repression, spiritual rebirth, and community rebuilding. He understood, perhaps more than anyone of his age, that freedom movements must have structure and moral purpose. His words remain a guiding light: “Liberation movements must rest on political principles that give meaning and substance to the lives of the masses. And it is this struggle that advances the creation of a people’s ideology.”

A Legacy That Will Not Fade

Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin lived with conviction, courage, and compassion. He transformed the lives of countless people — from civil rights workers to young Muslims, from street-involved youth to the families of his Atlanta community. Though targeted, incarcerated, and silenced, his ideas endured. His service endured. His impact endured.

And now, after his passing, the call for justice grows louder.

He leaves behind a nation more conscious because of his struggle, communities forever enriched by his guidance, and a legacy that history will recall not with the distortions of his persecutors, but with the honor due to a man whose entire life was devoted to freedom, faith, and truth.

May God envelop him in His mercy, grant him rest among the righteous, and allow the justice he was denied in life to be realized in memory.