A Word: A Black Power Radical’s Rise and Fall

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Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The man who rose to fame –some would say infamy– as H. Rap Brown has a uniquely American story, inventing and reinventing himself over the course of decades. He turned himself from a teenage tough guy into a civil rights leader. He abandoned the philosophy of non-violence to become a Black Power pioneer. He underwent a jailhouse conversion to Islam, and became Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a guiding force of an insular Black Muslim community. And then, almost 40 years after he stepped into the public consciousness, he was convicted of fatally shooting a cop. But was Imam Jamil being punished for his actions, or his past? In today’s episode of A Word, host Jason Johnson dives into the tangled history of the man once known as H. Rap Brown, and the murder case that landed him in jail for life. His guest is Mosi Secret, journalist and the host of the Radical podcast, which explores the case and the complicated search for justice. Guest: Mosi Secret, investigative journalist and host of the Radical podcast Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for $15 for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word, a podcast from Slate.
0:01.8	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:03.2	H-Rapp Brown was considered a civil rights radical,
0:06.6	saying the violence of white supremacy called for armed resistance.
0:10.6	So many of his critics weren't surprised when he was arrested and convicted of
0:14.1	shooting two cops. But was he a guilty man or a convenient scapegoat?
0:18.3	He really embodied this idea that violence was a means for social change because oppressed people were facing
0:26.8	violence themselves.
0:28.0	With his story and with his life, we really get a chance to see what that means.
0:34.0	The story that inspired the radical podcast coming up on a word with me Jason Johnson.
0:39.0	Stay with us. Welcome to a word of podcast about race and politics and everything else.
0:47.7	I'm your host, Jason Johnson on the night of March 16, 2000.
0:52.3	Two Atlanta cops who were trying to apprehend a fugitive were shot.
0:56.3	One dies, one survives, and he points the finger at the man they've been trying to arrest.
1:01.7	That man was Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, a black Muslim community leader who
1:06.7	was known for hating two things. Drugs and cops. But was Imam Jamil guilty, a victim of rushed to judgment, or the target of slow moving law enforcement, and a vendetta, payback for his radical past?
1:20.0	That's the mystery at the heart of Radical, an investigative series from Campside Media,
1:24.6	Tenderfoot TV, and I-Heart Podcasts.
1:27.2	But it's much more than a true crime story.
1:29.5	It's a window into the history of the civil rights movement,
1:32.4	the afterlife of its foot soldiers, and the sometimes deadly moments when they cross pass with police.
1:39.0	Journalist Mosi Secret hosts the Radical Podcast, and he joins us now
	...

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