Re: [sixties-l] Opening statements expected in trial of ex-Black Panther (fwd)

From: George Snedeker (snedeker@concentric.net)
Date: Fri Feb 22 2002 - 19:43:52 EST

  • Next message: sixties@lists.village.virginia.edu: "[sixties-l] Hope I Play as I Get Old (fwd)"

    I can not understand why people insist in referring to Al-Amin (H. Rap
    Brown) as an ex-Black Panther. why not refer to him as a former leader of
    SNCC? what does "Black Panther" signify in this context? a violent criminal?
    let's be a little careful about the hidden meanings of our very political
    language. why not refer to H. Rap as a former Communist? after all, the
    Panthers were Marxist-Leninists...
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: <sixties@lists.village.virginia.edu>
    To: sixties-l <sixties-l@lists.village.virginia.edu>
    Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 3:26 AM
    Subject: [sixties-l] Opening statements expected in trial of ex-Black
    Panther (fwd)

    >
    >
    > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
    > Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 23:57:56 -0800
    > From: radtimes <resist@best.com>
    > Subject: Opening statements expected in trial of ex-Black Panther
    >
    > Opening statements expected in trial of ex-Black Panther
    >
    > <http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/02/19/al.amin.trial/index.html>
    >
    > February 19, 2002
    > Atlanta, Georgia (CNN)
    >
    > Opening statements got under way Tuesday in the trial of a former Black
    > Panther whoin the 1960swent by the name H. Rap Brown.
    > If convicted, Jamil Abdullah Abdullah Al-Amin, who went by the name H. Rap
    > Brown in the 1960s, could face the death penalty.
    > Al-Amin, now a Muslim cleric who ran a small grocery store till his
    arrest,
    > is charged with killing a Fulton County, Georgia, sheriff's deputy and
    > wounding another on March 16, 2000.
    > The surviving deputy is expected to testify that Al-Amin fired at them
    that
    > day when officers tried to arrest him on minor charges.
    > The arrest warrant was for Al-Amin's failure to appear in court on charges
    > of receiving stolen property and impersonating an officer.
    > The deputies exchanged gunfire with a man standing near a black Mercedes
    > Benz, and a spokesman on that day said the deputies might have wounded the
    > man who shot at them.
    > One deputy, Ricky Kinchen, died the next day. The surviving officer
    > identified Al-Amin as the shooter.
    > SWAT teams, helicopters and search dogs joined in a hunt that started with
    > a blood trail. After entering a vacant house where police thought they'd
    > cornered the shooter, they found more signs that the assailant may have
    > been wounded.
    > Four days later, authorities arrested Al-Amin in Lowndes County, Alabama,
    > 175 miles southwest of Atlanta. He was not wounded.
    > Police also found a rifle and handgun near his arrest location, and tests
    > indicated they were the weapons that wounded Kinchen, a local newspaper
    > reported. Ten days later, they also found a black Mercedes with bullet
    > holes in it.
    > Three months later, an Atlanta fugitive captured in Nevada confessed to
    > killing Kinchen. He later recanted that statement.
    > Black Panther past
    > Born Hubert Gerold Brown in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Al-Amin went by the
    > name H. Rap Brown during the 1960s and served as chairman of the Student
    > Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
    > In 1967, he was charged with inciting a riot in Cambridge, Maryland, where
    > he declared to hundreds of African-Americans: "It's time for Cambridge to
    > explode, baby. Black folks built America, and if America don't come
    around,
    > we're going to burn America down."
    > The next morning, a school and two city blocks burned.
    > He later joined the Black Panther Party, which sought to empower
    > African-Americans and confront and conquer social injustices. At one point
    > he was minister of justice for the Panthers.
    > As a Panther, Al-Amin exhorted African-Americans to arm themselves. "I say
    > violence is necessary," he once famously said. "It is as American as
    cherry
    > pie."
    > The Black Panther Party collapsed in the late 1970s, brought down by
    > deaths, defections and infighting.
    > Al-Amin, 58, converted to Islam while in prison serving five years for his
    > role in a robbery that ended in a shootout with New York police.
    > Until his arrest, Al-Amin operated the grocery in Atlanta's West End and
    > was the spiritual leader of a mosque in the neighborhood.
    > Neighbors credited Al-Amin, whom friends described as a humble and
    > respectful man, for working to clean up drugs and prostitution in the
    > low-income West End.
    > Conspiracy accusations
    > Al-Amin and his followers contend the state's case is bogus, and
    represents
    > the U.S. government's latest attempt to destroy the Muslim cleric.
    > Because the accused in under a gag order, Ed Brown, Al-Amin's brother,
    > serves as spokesman for the family.
    > "This [murder arrest] is part of a pattern that has gone on for 35 years,"
    > Brown said. "It started with his civil rights efforts and now it's Islam.
    > Anything that shines a light on the corruption of this government or does
    > not contribute to its process of corruption, they are opposed to."
    > The government has cooked up a case against his brother, destroying
    > evidence, Brown continued.
    > "Both officers said they wounded the perpetrator. It was reported there
    was
    > a blood trail. They got a search warrant and mobilized the SWAT team based
    > on the blood trail," he said.
    > "But then when they arrested him and he wasn't wounded, they stopped
    > talking about it."
    > Al-Amin's dealings with authorities did not end when he converted to
    Islam,
    > records show. In 1995, he was accused of aggravated assault, but the
    victim
    > later recanted and said authorities pressured him to blame Al-Amin.
    > From 1992 to 1997, the FBI staked out Al-Amin, suspecting him of
    > gun-running. The agency generated 44,000 documents, records indicate, but
    > failed to produce an arrest or indictment.
    > "What explanation do they have for watching him?" Ed Brown asked. "They
    > were so obsessed."
    > Now, Al-Amin faces the death penalty if convicted. Brown said Al-Amin's
    > death is what law enforcement has sought for years.
    > "This is a very unforgiving country when you show this country its warts,
    > when you hold the mirror up," Brown said. "If you happen not to share
    their
    > beliefs, they'll kill you."
    >



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