What happed to H. Rap? Free Imam Jamil Campaign Relaunch

Leaders weren’t bread for social isolation or sensory deprivation, but this is the fate that many outspoken leaders from throughout the earlier years of the Black Liberation Movement are suffering at the hands of prison and political officials who’ve condemned them to captivity in the United States’ Departments of Korrections. These leaders who have been plucked from our communities and forced to reside behind the wall, grossly over sentenced for trumped up crimes, are referred to by many as political prisoners. A political prisoner is often targeted for their political views and/or have been targeted by racist/classist government policies focused on fueling the Prison Industrial Slave Complex with more bodies that can be exploited for prisoner (slave) labor. Understanding this, it’s essential that we do not forget about the causes and cases of the many political prisoners that live among us behind the wall.

In honor of those who sacrificed their lives in service of the people, throughout the month of September SawariMedia highlighted a series of political prisoners who had leadership roles in the movement for Black Lives, and marginalized people at large. Many social activists are familiar with the names of Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a healer whose expertise in natural medicine contributed greatly to the Black liberation movements of the 1960s and 70s; and Jalil Muntaqim a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who recently received his twelfth parole denial after serving nearly 50 years in prison.

In addition to these heros there are several lesser known names including Ruchell Magee, the longest held political prisoner, known for his role in August 7, 1970’s Courthouse Slave Rebellion. There’s also native american political prisoner, Leonard Peltier who was arrested for his role in defending his people being attacked by police forces at Pine Ridge, South Dakota; an area of intense conflict between Native people and U.S. forces to this day. The longest serving political prisoner in the state of California, Romaine Chip Fitzgerald is a former member of the Black Panther Party’s Southern California Chapter who connected to the party while incarcerated and dedicated his life to service of the party immediately upon his release until his re-arrest in 1969, at that time he was sentenced to death at the age of 20, he is now 71 years old as his family calls for his compassionate release.

In the cases of these political prisoners we can clearly see how the call of service and sacrifice for the people became central to the lives of these men until the point that their calling conflicted with state forces, these men chose the people anyway. This is why I refuse to forget the political prisoner.

In honor of the plight for people imprisoned for their political beliefs, I dedicate this article to Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly known as H. Rap Brown), on which today he turns 77. Today kicks off the campaign relaunch calling for his release. For those who are unfamiliar with Jamil’s work, he is not only a former organizer for the Black Panther Party, but he also led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee that executed actions highlighting the errors of white supremacy. His work forced people on both sides of the conflict to come to terms with the central role that violence has played to organize division across the country. He is known widely for his way of speech and famous quote, “Violence is as American as cherry pie.” He was named H. Rap Brown, as one of the pioneers of the rap genre for the way that he engaged his audience with his melodically, powerfully punching speeches. These speeches contributed to his being targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO surveillance program whose focus was on “neutralizing black messiahs”.

The status of his influence further elevated after stepping into his position as an imam which added a spiritual facet to his revolutionary perspective. His leadership in the Muslim community unified African American and immigrant communities. With division being the most critical aspect of oppression, this unity of oppressed groups became the most dangerous aspect of the revolution.

Like many heavily surviled, unjustly targeted social change makers, Jamil was arrested during an illegal traffic stop in 2000 which lead to his being unjustly convicted of murder in 2002. Outstandingly the actual assailant, Otis Jackson, admitted to his guilt of the crime Jamil was convicted of from the beginning, but Jamil was still kept imprisoned unlawfully. Though he was convicted of a state crime, Jamil is currently unjustly being held in a high security federal prison, Florence Colorado Supermax, while under 23 hour daily solitary confinement he has been unjustly denied parole for the past 18 years. Jamil is suffering not only from an overuse of solitary confinement, social isolation and sensory deprivation, but also from medical neglect as officials are doing everything they can in order to erase his legacy, hoping that no other H. Rap Browns are ignited in coming generations.

You can isolate the revolutionary, but you can’t isolate the revolution.  

Currently Imam Jamil’s case is in review by the Conviction Integrity Unit. Students for Imam Jamil, led by pre-law student Wasiq Javeed, are using Jamil’s birthday to strategically relaunch a Campaign that targets the district attorney, Paul Howard, to use the last few months of his term to reopen Jamil’s case prior to a new person being assigned to the AG position in January. The Campaign calls for the following  

  1. Transfer Imam Jamil from federal to state prison ensuring that he has access to the proper medical treatment
  2. Demand that Attorney General Paul Howard begin the process of reopening Imam Jamil’s case prior to his removal from office
  3. Donate to support Imam Jamil’s legal team

No person should die in prison, especially not these leaders who sacrificed their lives to the service of the people. Political prisoners are not criminals, thugs or thieves; they are revolutionary thinking community servants whose actions contributed greatly to the elevation of oppressed groups that include Blacks, Natives and Latin American people. The criminals are the sick minds who unjustly surveilled them, the thugs are the police who unjustly arrested them, and the thieves are the judges and prosecutors who stole decades of life from them and their families in grossly over sentencing them.

It is our responsibility to transform the current situation into a system that liberates these leaders and other political prisoners. We know we have a sick and deteriorating criminal legal system that sees large numbers of aging incarcerated bodies as a success, but with the pandemic threatening the lives of millions of aging people in prison, itis essential that we do the work needed in order to pass legislation that would allow people in prison to have a real second chance at life on the outside regardless of how much time they’ve spent in prison.


If we allow these men and women to die in prison, then we have submitted to a system that values unreasonable, unjust and unrewarding over punitive punishment over retribution, community service and passionate policies that value people over profits. Today is the day to elevate the cause and case of Imam Jamil and other political prisoners with more passion and consistency than ever before. 

Join organizers today online or in person for his campaign relaunch rally at West Den Park.  Do what you can to amplify the cause and case of Imam Jamil today and throughout the month as we pressure the state and District Attorney Howard to respond to campaign demands. 

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