Former Black Panther leader H. Rap Brown dies in prison hospital at 82

[moniss]

3. A few months back I posted a few of

the things from Carmichael and Brown (Jamil Abdullah al-Amin) during that period. SNCC was started long before them and was more on the spectrum of non-violent resistance, voting rights, desegregating lunch counters, access to facilities etc. The other major civil rights organizations wanted SNCC to be under their umbrella but SNCC wanted to maintain independence. As things wore on in the '60's the activists who wanted to take a more forceful approach took hold in SNCC. Basically the people like Brown, Malcom X, Carmichael etc. were of the school of thought that people shouldn't have to "wait" for the rights that are supposed to be theirs and they felt that the Ghandi approach was taking too long.

Which way was right or wrong is not for me to say because I wasn't being oppressed and beaten. I do know that the white reactionary bigots held up people like Brown as an excuse for increasingly violent actions by police. I believe the murder of Fred Hampton is an example of that heavy reaction. They painted Hampton as though he was Castro and the devil rolled in to one and that the Chicago Black Panthers were going to be rampaging through the streets.

I don't condone any bad things the activists of that time did later on but during that time they spoke truth to power and for that I will always remember them. RIP Jamil Abdullah al-Amin.