H. Rap Brown, also known as Jamil Abdulllah Al-Amin, one of the most charismatic leaders of the Black Power Movement, died Sunday in the Federal Medical Center in North Carolina. He was 82.

He was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s, and he later served as the Black Panther Party‘s Minister of Justice during an alliance between SNCC and the Black Panther Party.

He was perhaps best known for his proclamations during that period, including “Violence is as American as cherry pie,” and “If America doesn’t come around, we’re gonna burn it down.”

His death follows that of Assata Shakir, the godmother of rapper Tupac Shakur, an author, and a woman hunted for decades by the FBI, who died September 25 in Cuba, where she fled after being involved in the shooting death of a New Jersey state trooper, Werner Forster, in 1973.

With the aid of the Black Liberation Army, of which she was a member, Shakir, also known as Johanne Chesimard, escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility on November 2, 1979, and fled to Cuba. Officials said she died of old age. She was 78.

Al-Amin was also known for his autobiography, Die Nigger Die!. He was serving a life sentence for murder following the shooting of two Fulton County, Georgia, sheriff’s deputies in 2000.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Jamil Al-Amin, Brown, died in federal custody at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.

On July 18, 2014, having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, Al-Amin was transferred to Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina. In the late 2010s to the early 2020s, he was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson, Arizona.

In March of 2025, al-Amin was transferred once again to FMC Butner after family members requested he receive medical help. 

His attorneys say he went through a “prolonged period of severe medical decline.”

“On behalf of our entire family, I thank every single person who prayed, stood, marched, researched, wrote, advocated, and fought to clear my father’s name. Your love sustained us. Your belief in his innocence strengthened us,” his son, Kairi Al-Amin, wrote.

Al-Amin was serving a life sentence after being convicted of the 2000 killing of a Fulton County deputy and injuring another one. Deputy Ricky Kinchen and Deputy Aldranon English were serving an arrest warrant on Al-Amin when both were shot. Kinchen died from his injuries, while English survived.

Throughout his sentence, Al-Amin maintained his innocence. 

His attorneys with the Davis Bozeman Johnson Law Firm say they were working to secure a new trial for Al-Amin. In May 2025, attorneys say they joined the Innocence Project to file a motion for a new trial.