Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known to us as H. Rap Brown, is now on trial for his life following a deadly shootout in the southwest Atlanta community where he has lived and served as a Muslim cleric for almost thirty years.
There has been blind rush to judgment on the part of the police chief and prosecuting attorney. Without benefit of trial they have publicly declared Al-Amin a murderer and are demanding the death penalty. There has also been a similar presumption of guilt on the part of the media in spite of a number of glaring discrepancies in the police version of events.
The most telling of these discrepancies suggests a shooter other than Al-Amin. Immediately after the shooting both deputies insisted that they had shot and wounded their assailant severely enough that there was a "trail of blood" near the scene. After the violent encounter, a 911 caller reported that a bleeding man was a few blocks away begging passing motorists to give him a ride. The early description both deputies gave of their assailant did not fit Al-Amin in several important respects. For example, the surviving deputy was certain that the assailant had gray eyes while Al-Amin has dark brown eyes. Yet Al- Amin, who had no injuries was pursued, arrested and charged with the shooting.
The facts as alleged are completely out of character for the man we knew in the civil rights movement and now know as a religious leader in the Muslim community. As a civil rights activist and chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Al-Amin then known as H. Rap Brown worked tirelessly in the struggle of disenfranchised communities in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi to gain the right to vote. As SNCC national Chairman, he spoke out against the war in Vietnam and championed the rights of oppressed people in the US and abroad.
Since then, Al-Amin has been a devout spiritual teacher and a public- spirited local leader. We know Imam Al-Amin as a principled and compassionate man, committed to justice for all oppressed people and devoted to the moral welfare of his community. His Atlanta neighbors have attested to his devotion to family and community.
During the sixties, H. Rap Brown was hounded by authorities for his militant defense of black protest. This pattern of harassment has continued. Over the past twenty years, authorities have made over thirty attempts to charge him with a variety of crimes. All charges were found to be baseless and were dismissed for lack of evidence.
In light of the discrepancies in the accounts of the current case, and our knowledge of Imam Al-Amin's character, we urge a suspension of judgement until all the facts are heard. We also call for a fair and impartial trial.
Victoria Gray Adams
Sandra Adickes
Rev. Dan Aldridge
Dorothy Dewberry Aldridge
Chude Pam Parker Allen
Prof. Ernest Allen
Maris Arnold
Atlanta International Action Center
Prof. Allan Austin
Amina Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Prof. Cora Masters Barry
The Hon. Marion S. Barry, Jr.
Jawara Senghor Baye
Fay Bellamy
Juliette Bethea
Freddie Greene Biddle
The Hon. Julian Bond
Heather Tobis Booth
St. Clair Bourne
Prof. John Bracey
Anne Braden
Ed Brown
Elaine Brown
Prof. Elza Barkley Brown
Joan Browning
Dorothy Burlage, Ph.D
Leonette Butler
Cathy Cade
Earl Caldwell
Prof. Clayborne Carson
Ruth Howard Chambers
Anne Halley Chametzky
Prof. Jules Chametzky
Len Chandler
Min. Benjamin Chavis Muhammad
Wanda P. Childs
Ron Clark
Atty. Kathleen Cleaver
Charlie Cobb
Courtland Cox
M. Phylliss Cunningham
Constance Curry
Gloria Richardson Dandridge
Barbara Dane
A. Page DeFrantz
Linda Moses Dehnad
Theresa Del Pozzo
Gail Dixon
Ivanhoe Donaldson
Tom Doran, MCSE
James C. Early
Ramona Edelin
Edwin R. Edmonds, Ph.D
Charles Ensley
Leila Feinstein
Bettie Fikes
Atty. Robert Fletcher
Chaka Forman
James Forman, Ph.D
C. Gerald Fraser
Don Freeman
Dennis B. Gaynor
Vida A. Gaynor, Ph.D
Atty. Ed Geffner
Gilbert Gilthere
Regina Ginyard
Tony Gittens
Prof. Myrtle G. Glascoe
Miram Cohen Glickman
Prof. Susan Glisson
Prof. Thavolia Glymph
Joanne Grant
Hunter Gray
Vernard R. Gray
George Greene
Cheryll Y. Greene
Dr. Jewell Handy Gresham-Nemiroff
Lawrence Guyot
Emory Harris
Rutha Harris
Mimi Shaw Hayes
Juadine Henderson
Gloria House, Ph.D
Karen Y. House
Dream Hampton
Casey Hayden
Margaret Herring
Faith Holsaert
Phil Hutchings
Beni Ivy
Lamin Jangha
Donald A. Jenkins
Atty. Timothy Jenkins
Viviana de Jesus
E. Jeanne Breaker Johnson
June E. Johnson
Atty. J. Charles Jones
Marshall Jones
Matthew Jones
Eric P. Jones
Rayford Kharabia
George King
Lucille Knowles
Marion Kwan
Dorie Ladner
Adam Levenstein
Jamila Levi
Jean Libby
Lorne Cress Love
Howard Machtinger
Elizabeth Sutherland Martinez
Fred Mangrum
Bob Mants
Joanne Christian Mants
Diane Mathiowetz
Charles F. McDew
Judy Mionalowshi
Jack Minnis
Charlene Mitchell
Atty. Jane Bond Moore
Atty. Howard Moore, Jr.
Rev. Douglas E. Moore
Dr. Janet Moses
Robert Moses, Ph.D
Darryl E. Moss
Curtis Muhammad
Hollis Watkins Muhammad
Daphne Muse
Diane Nash
Chico Neblett
Chuck Neblett
Prof. Horace Okafor-Newsum
Martha P. Norman
Dr. Silas Norman, Jr.
John O'Neal
Mary Lovelace O'Neal
Alashe Michael Oshoosi, Ph.D, JD
Robbie Osman
Penny Patch
Prof. Gwendolyn Patton
Prof. Charles M. Payne
Willie Wazir Peacock
Bill Perlman
Thomas J. Porter
William Porter
Chea Prince
Prof. Barbara Ransby
Jimmy Raynor
Judy Richardson
Betty Garman Robinson
Keisha Robinson
Reggie Robinson
Donovan Rogers
Jimmy Rogers
Avon Rollins
Constancia Dinky Romilly
SIEU Local 371
Kalamu ya Salaam
Prof. John R. Salter
Pete Seeger
Prof. Cleveland L. Sellers
Rev. Charles Sherrod
Charles Simmons
John J. Simon
Jane Silver
Scott B. Smith
Karen Spellman
Alonzo Rico Speight
Prof. William Stafford
Prof. William L. Strickland
Brian Tate
Charles Tate
Florence Tate
Greg Tate
Prof. Esther M.. Terry
Prof. Eugene Terry
Prof. Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
Joan Thornell
Sue Thrasher
Muriel Tillinghast
W.S. Tkweme
Albert U. Turner
Maria Varela
Tres Vismale
Rev. C. T. Vivian
Dr. Ronald Walters
Terry Weber
Dr. Frances Cress Welsing
Angelica Whitmal
Nathaniel Whitmal
John Edgar Wideman
Jean Wiley
Elvira Williams
Dr. Irving Williams
Pamela Woodard
The Hon. Dezie Woods-Jones
Prof. Robert Paul Wollf
Emery Wright
Jan Wynne
Bob Zellner
Dorothy M. Zellner
Dr. Howard Zinn
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