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A Brief Chronology of Imam Jamil
Al-Amin's life
The 6' 5" Imam has been the President of the Islamic Shura Council of North America, Vice President and acting President of the American Muslim Council (AMC), and a member of the Central Shura of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) apart from being a leader of what he simply called "The Community." Here is some brief chronologically organized information about him. October, 1943-his birth, the names, and the early days: Imam Jamil was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The youngest of three children, he is named Hubert Gerold Brown. His father, Eddie C. Brown, works in an oil company. His mother is Thelma (Warren) Brown. The streets gave him nickname "Rap." In the late 1960s he was known as H. Rap Brown. After Islam he adopted the name Jamil Al-Amin. At high school he was superb athlete, excelling in basketball and football. 1960-1964-The university years In 1960, he enrolled at Southern University in Georgia and majored in sociology. "I lived near Louisiana State University, and I could see this big fine school with modern buildings and it was for whites. Then there was Southern University, which was about to fall in and that was for the niggers." Although a good student, he left school in 1964 before finishing his undergraduate degree. 1964-Around Howard University Influenced by many writers committed to the struggle of African-Americans for freedom, 19-year-old H. Rap Brown found the environment around Howard University in Washington, D.C. inspiring and motivating when he visited his brother who was studying there. He moved to Washington, D.C. and became got involved in activism for social justice. 1966- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Brown was a field organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Greene County, Alabama. This was one of the first examples of his involvement in the civil rights movement, which characterized American politics in the 1960s. 1967-Becomes head of SNCC At the age of 23, Brown was elected the chairman of the SNCC after Stokely Carmichael, one of its founding members, was ousted. During Carmichael's chairmanship, the SNCC moved from a philosophy of nonviolence to that of "Black Power," by encouraging African-Americans to move to other forms of political and cultural empowerment. Newsweek magazine described the new chairman as: ... a disenchanted ex-poverty worker who affects sunglasses indoors and out, a droopy mustache, a bushy "natural" coif and a curdled view of the white world…He preaches armed eye-for-an-eye self-defense for Negroes and packs a 12-gauge "cracker gun" in his own dusty Plymouth. July 1967-"Incites" a riot A national figure, H. Rap Brown was in great demand as speaker. In July 1967, he addressed a civil rights rally in Cambridge, Maryland. Brown urged about 400 people to fight fire with fire. "Black folks built America, and if America don't come around, we're going to burn America down," he is quoted as saying. As he was escorting a lady to her home, some persons fired at him from the bushes. He was injured by a shotgun pellet to his forehead. Subsequently, rioting broke out. Brown was accused of inciting a riot, and with the charge pending, he was arrested. A federal judge gave him the maximum sentence of five years in 1968. February 1968-Becomes minister in the Black Panther Party At a rally in Oakland on Feb. 17, 1968, he and Stokely Carmichael were made honorary officers of the Black Panther Party in a merger of the two groups. Brown was named minister of justice for the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October, 1966, in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The name was shortened to the Black Panther Party (BPP). It grew to at least 5,000 members nationwide, with chapters in over half of the United States, as well as an international branch in Algeria. Its programs included free health clinics and free breakfast programs for children. But this posed a threat to the predominantly white power structure of the time and the vast majority of the white public. For them, the Black Panther party meant anti-government militancy. 1969-Die Nigger Die! Brown's autobiography is published "Die Nigger Die!" is the fiery title of Brown's autobiography. In it, he explains how even in his youth, he developed a sense of outrage over racial injustice and was always arguing with teachers about prejudice in the works of white writers, for instance. December 1969- Panthers raided by Chicago Police A police raid on the Panthers' quarters in Chicago resulted in the deaths of two of the party's leaders. Police riddled the apartment with bullets in a controversial show of force. Earlier the same year, Seale and other Panthers had been charged with killing a suspected informer. An undeclared war was being waged against the Panthers. 1970-Goes into hiding, put on FBI's "Most Wanted" list Brown's attorney, William Kunstler, who also defended the Chicago 7 and other Black Panthers, delayed Brown's trial for two years. While the sentence for the 1968 arms conviction was on appeal, and as the state of Maryland was preparing to try him for the Cambridge riot, Brown went into hiding in 1970. The FBI added him to its "Most Wanted" list. 1971-Brown is arrested Brown eluded the FBI for a year and a half, reappearing after 17 months on October 16, 1971. With three supporters who had joined him, he led an attack on a New York City bar, targeted for its exploitation of the community. A shootout with police ensued and Brown was wounded and captured. 1971 Conversion to Islam While Brown was in jail, waiting for his trial, he converted to Islam. A fellow prisoner suggested he name himself "the trustworthy" or "Al-Amin" in Arabic. He adopts the name Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. 1973- Trial finally began His trial finally began after two years. It was a strange fare for a jury to digest, beginning as it did with a prayer and ending enigmatically with a poem. Before a hushed courtroom crowd, [H. Rap Brown]… took his lawyer's place to deliver the opening statement…in blue jeans and beige knit skullcap, [he] stood quietly with his head bowed for several moments, palms extended heavenward, murmuring a Muslim prayer. [Newsweek, Feb. 12, 1973] He was sentenced to five-to-fifteen years in Attica State Prison. 1976-Imam Jamil is released, makes Hajj After three years in various state prisons, Imam Jamil won parole in 1976. His total jail and prison time was five years, including two years in jail prior to sentencing. He made Hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah in Saudi Arabia. Following Hajj, he settled in Atlanta, Georgia's West End and established the Community Mosque of Atlanta. 1983-The National Community is established Imam Jamil al Amin's National Community is formed. This is a coalition of 30 mosques which traces its roots to the Dar al-Islam Movement which was founded in Brooklyn in 1963 but dropped this name in 1980 after a split in the organization. 1980s-Cleans up drugs and prostitution in his area Imam Jamil and his community are involved in cleaning out their area of drugs and prostitution, similar to Brooklyn, New York's Imam Siraj Wahhaj's campaign in 1988. 1990-Elected American Muslim Council's (AMC) Vice President 1992-Imam Jamil's Community becomes member of Bosnia Task Force, USA Bosnia Task Force, USA was the first national alliance of ten Muslim organizations to mobilize support for Bosnia with Abdul Malik Mujahid as its national coordinator. May
15th 1993-March for Bosnia 1993-The Islamic Shura Council is established, Imam Jamil's group joins Upon the invitation of Bosnia Task Force, USA, secretary generals of the four major Muslim North American organizations (the Islamic Society of North America or ISNA, the Islamic Circle of North America or ICNA, the The Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed and Imam Jamil's community) met in Chicago to discuss the idea of Islamic Shura Council of North America. Within a year, the four organizations announced the Shura Council formation in California. In 1995, Abdullah Idris Ali was elected to be it's chairperson, to be followed by Imam Jamil Al-Amin and later by Imam W. D. Mohammed. Imam Jamil is the organization's last chairman. 1993-"Revolution by the Book:The Rap is Live" is published This is Imam Jamil's first and only book, so far, written after his conversion to Islam. In one part, he writes about how Islam empowers individuals: "Islam is something that Allah has given us, to take us from the level of degradation, from the level where we have been crushed, to a level where Allah is satisfied with us and grants us success....It deals with training. It deals with discipline. It deals with submission, to the point where it becomes automatic....where we don't give a second thought about doing things that are good; enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong." 1994-Elected member Shura Council of ISNA August 1995-The Imam is arrested, charged, then cleared of assault Imam Jamil was arrested in connection with a shooting the previous month of a young man in the neighborhood. He was charged with aggravated assault after the man claimed Imam Jamil shot him. Later, however, this man withdrew this statement, saying he was pressured by authorities to identify Imam Jamil as the assailant. This man later converted to Islam and becomes a member of Imam Jamil's community. September 1995-Leads protest against the UN with Bosnia Task Force, USA Imam Jamil was one of the speakers at a historic March for Bosnia in New York and one of the signatories of a historic declaration by Muslims of North America directed at the United Nations calling for justice in Bosnia. The declaration also points out war crimes committed by the UN against the Muslims of Bosnia. One report about the march described the event in this way: "The marching brothers and sisters came to us, and young brothers formed a human chain alongside the marchers, hand linked to hand, tall men and slight men and black men and white men and brown; a riveting and powerful brotherhood, gently holding the marchers together, and the leaders and the learned and the Imams and the people who walked and held the banners" (from "On The March: Flashes from the Bosnia Task Force March" by Tasleem K. Griffin, The Message-Canada/October 1995 p. 25). March 16, 2000-Shooting incident outside Imam Jamil's store Fulton County Deputy Sheriff Ricky Kinchen is shot and later dies. Another deputy Aldranon English is wounded after being shot by a man outside Imam Jamil's store. They were trying to deliver an arrest warrant to Imam Jamil. The warrant was for failure to appear in court in January 2000 on charges of theft by receiving stolen property and impersonating an officer. Those charges date back to incident in May 1999. English identified the shooter in the March 16 incident as Imam Jamil. March 20, 2000-Imam Jamil is arrested Imam Jamil is arrested in Lowndes County, Alabama, following a four-day U.S.-wide manhunt. March 28, 2000-Imam Jamil is indicted for murder A grand jury in Atlanta indicts Imam Jamil for murder in connection with the shooting death of deputy Kinchen the previous month. He is indicted on one count of murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault and six other lesser charges. May 4, 2000-Imam Jamil could be executed if found guilty The State of Georgia announces that it will pursue a death penalty conviction of Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. April 2000 FBI says that they kept Imam Jamil under investigation between 1992-1997 From 1992 to 1997, the FBI and Atlanta police investigated the former black militant once known as H. Rap Brown in connection with everything from domestic terrorism to gunrunning to 14 homicides in Atlanta's West End, according to police investigators' reports, FBI documents and interviews. The FBI investigation ended in February 1996. The Atlanta police investigation ended in August 1997 without any charging him of any crime. In his only public comment on his arrest, Al-Amin called it a "government conspiracy." Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April 1/00) June 2000 - someone else confesses to the crime Otis Jackson, 26, confesses to killing the police officer, but later recants. Imam Jamil's defense team is not informed about it. January 19, 2001-Imam Jamil pleads innocence A hearing is held in the Superior Court of Fulton County before Judge Stephanie Manis. Matters before the Court were Imam Jamil's arraignment and 95 pending motions filed by the Defense. Many of the motions were unsettled and filed last November. Imam Jamil stood before the Court on the matter of his arraignment with an opening prayer; he pleaded innocent. January 21 2001-Mayor Jackson of White Hall, Alabama becomes Muslim Mayor Johnny Jackson of White Hall, Alabama, takes Shahada and has become Muslim. His acceptance of Islam is administered by Shaykh Muhammad S. Jara at a former Masjid. The mayor is Imam Jamil's friend who reportedly gave him the honorary police badge which was used by Atlanta police to accuse Imam Jamil of presenting himself as police officer. This is also the town where Imam Jamil was arrested. March 2001 Threat to Imam Jamil's life in prison An inmate at the Fulton County Jail writes a letter alleging that an officer working amongst the inmates has made a threat on the life of Imam Jamil Al-Amin. He says that he has a list of names of other inmates who are witnesses to the threat. This alleged threat and others are becoming more ominous. Prior to this current alleged threat, an officer representing the State, spoke the following words to another: "he won't make it to trial"
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