The sham trial of H Rap Brown, the Black Panther Party’s minister of justice
At a time when American “immigration officers” seemingly have carte blanche to shoot innocent Americans in the head whenever they feel like it, it feels good to have the Black Panthers out there exercising their Second Amendment rights, doesn’t it?
The sight of members of the Black Panther Party protecting their communities from Donald Trump’s Gestapo by any means necessary has been one of the vanishingly few heartwarming things to come from this nightmare of a month. One hopes that their imagery being adopted for Beyoncé’s Super Bowl concert and their very name being adopted for a Marvel superhero of all things hasn’t distracted from the fact that the Black Panthers have always been necessary and are needed now more than ever.
It really can’t be stressed enough that the reason the Black Panthers haven’t remained at the heart of mainstream political discourse is that a lot of extremely powerful people made it their mission in life to destroy them. Many people will go on about the tried and tested excuse of “leftist infighting”, and while that may have a ring of truth to it, since the Panthers have and always will be a proudly communist institution, the Panthers absolutely weren’t the perpetrators of their own undoing.
The perpetrators were powerful white supremacists who succeeded in murdering and incarcerating several influential members of the Panthers because they stood against the inherently fascist nature of the United States of America. Want proof? Look no further than the life and times of Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, who served the Black Panthers as their minister of justice during a short-lived union between the Panthers and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which al-Amin was chairman of under the name H Rap Brown.
In 1967, a memo was put out by the FBI calling for Brown’s “neutralisation”. This wouldn’t come to pass until 32 years later, however.
Understanding the trial of H Rap Brown
On May 31st, 1999, Brown was pulled over in Marietta, Georgia.
The piggie who made this call, Johnny Mack, “suspected” Brown of driving a stolen vehicle. In turning out Brown’s pockets, he found a bill of sale confirming that Brown account that he’d bought the vehicle himself. He also found a police badge in his pocket. This was an honorary badge that Brown had been given by Mayor John Jackson, who’d served as Mayor of White Hall, Alabama.
Despite the proof that Brown presented confirming his side of the story to be true, he was still arrested for impersonation of a police officer and driving a stolen vehicle. Also speeding, but considering how legit the other charges were, I think we all know how reliable that particular charge is. Considering these charges were a farce, Brown didn’t show up to the court case that he would almost certainly lose. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and after failing to find Brown at his residence, the cops started a firefight with a passing car that just happened to be near the residence. Both cops were injured, and a day later, one of them died of his wounds.
The other cop, of course, pointed the finger at Brown.
Now, Brown had no wounds from the shoot-out, despite the cop testifying that he’d shot him. The blood stains at the crime scene were confirmed to be animal blood. No fingerprints of Brown’s were found at the scene of the crime. The cop testified that the shooter’s eyes were grey and Brown’s eyes were brown. Another man called Otis Jackson, who had wounds that matched the testimony of the cops and the eye colour to match, confessed to carrying out the attacks.
I’ll give you three guesses whether Brown was found guilty when the case finally went to trial. Brown died in prison 25 years later at the age of 82.
A sobering reminder that you cannot peacefully resist a state that is already trying to kill you. Fight back. By Any Means Necessary.