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CNN Live At Daybreak

Former Black Panther Al-Amin On Trial for Murder

Aired February 19, 2002 - 06:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Atlanta, Abdullah Al-Amin is on trial for murder charged with killing a police officer. It's a high- profile trial for a man who is no stranger to controversy.

CNN's Brian Cabell takes a closer look at Al-Amin who made headlines during the Civil Rights struggle as a Black Panther named H. Rap Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hubert Rap Brown, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1943, grew up in a world where strict segregation was the law. Yet according to his brother, Hubert was bold from an early age. At 12 he stood up to a white insurance agent who making a pitch to their mother.

ED BROWN, AL-AMIN'S BROTHER: This particular guy came and said, "Auntie, why don't you take out some insurance?"

And my brother's response was -- he said, "she's not your auntie. She is Mrs. Brown, and you need to call her Mrs. Brown."

CABELL: In his late teens, Brown found himself drawn to Howard University, a growing hot bed of Civil Rights activism. He participated in the 1963 march on Washington, but slowly became radicalized. The Medgar Evers assassination in 1963, the Birmingham church bombing that same year, and Brown's own voter registration work in the Mississippi Delta in '64 changed him. He became more outspoken, hence the name "Rap," and like many other young blacks, more militant.

BROWN: We recognized that look, we cannot allow people to be wanting to kill and nothing happened about it. And it is better for you to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

CABELL: That was 1965, 1966. Martin Luther King, who preached non-violence was still the preeminence Civil Rights leader, but slowly a split was developing within the movement. The young militants respected King, but disagreed with him philosophically and tactically.

In 1967, 24-year old Rap Brown, six foot, five with a bushy Afro, beret and a penchant for fiery rhetoric became leader of the militants. He replaced Stokely Carmichael as chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, or SNICC. Brown uttered his infamous words, "I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie". He wrote his incendiary book, "Die Nigger Die".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing that's going to free you is gunpowder.

CABELL: He briefly associated with the Black Panthers and he came under constant surveillance by the FBI.

(on camera): Did he hate the government at that point?

CLEVELAND SELLERS, AL-AMIN'S FRIEND: Did he hate the government? I think he was aware that it was the government that was setting him up.

CABELL: Did he hate white people?

SELLERS: I don't know that Rap ever hated white people. I never heard him say that.

CABELL: But over the next few years, he was charged with inciting violence, transporting weapons across state lines, and armed robbery. He went to prison in 1971, served five years, and converted to Islam.

NADIM ALI, AL-AMIN'S FRIEND: In the 60's he said he'd struggled, but he was struggling without a book, and so with Islam, when he came to Islam, he found the roadmap or a book for struggle, a book for success.

CABELL: He emerged from prison with a new name, Jamil Al-Amin, and a new title, Imam, a Muslim prayer leader. He settled in a crime- ridden neighborhood of Atlanta, established a Mosque there, and followers say helped clean up the neighborhood.

He's been investigated for other possible crimes in the last decade, but never charged with anything serious until the police shooting two years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You weren't involved in the shooting at all?

JAMIL AL-AMIN: No.

CABELL: Now at 58, Jamil Al-Amin, at one time, arguably the most feared black man in America, is on trial for his life.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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