H. Rap Brown (Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin), Former Black Power Leader and Atlanta Imam, Dies at 82

H. Rap Brown — who later took the name Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin — has died at age 82 while incarcerated, his widow, Karima Al-Amin, said. He passed away Sunday at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, where he had been held after a transfer from a federal prison in Colorado in 2014.

A cause of death was not immediately released. Karima Al-Amin told reporters that he had been battling cancer prior to his transfer to the medical facility.

Brown rose to prominence in the 1960s as a passionate and outspoken figure of the Black Power movement, frequently condemning heavy-handed policing in Black neighborhoods. At a 1967 news conference he said:

"Violence is a part of America’s culture. ... America taught the black people to be violent. We will use that violence to rid ourselves of oppression, if necessary. We will be free by any means necessary."

He served as chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and in 1968 was named minister of justice for the Black Panther Party. In 1971 he was arrested after a robbery that ended in a shootout with New York police; while serving a five-year sentence for that conviction he converted to the Dar-ul-Islam movement and adopted the name Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin.

After his release, Brown moved to Atlanta in 1976, opened a grocery and health food store and became an imam — a spiritual and community leader for local Muslims. Reflecting on his life and faith in 1998, he said that Islam had clarified his priorities and reinforced his commitment to the welfare of his community.

The 2000 shooting and conviction

On March 16, 2000, Fulton County Deputy Sheriff Ricky Kinchen and Deputy Aldranon English encountered Brown outside his Atlanta home while attempting to serve a warrant for his alleged failure to appear in court on charges related to driving a stolen vehicle and impersonating a police officer during an earlier traffic stop.

At trial, Deputy English testified that Brown fired a high-powered rifle when officers tried to arrest him. Prosecutors said Brown then used a handgun to shoot Deputy Kinchen in the groin; Kinchen later died of his wounds. Prosecutors portrayed Brown as a deliberate killer; his defense team described him as a community religious leader and argued he had been targeted because of his past activism.

Brown maintained his innocence. He was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. He and his attorneys contended that his constitutional rights were violated during the trial and pursued appeals; in 2019 he sought relief from a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Family statement and lingering questions

On Monday, Brown’s family issued a statement saying that questions have long surrounded the fairness of his trial. They cited newly surfaced material — including previously unseen FBI surveillance files, inconsistent eyewitness accounts and alleged third-party confessions — as raising serious concerns about whether Imam Al-Amin received the fair trial guaranteed by the Constitution.

Brown’s life encompassed militant activism, a religious conversion and decades of legal controversy. His death closes a contentious chapter that divided supporters and critics and is likely to renew debate about his legacy as both a civil-rights-era firebrand and a community religious leader.