Who is H Rap Brown’s wife? What we know about Karima Al-Amin as convicted Black Panther activist dies at 82

Ex-Black Panther Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, is no more; his son, Kairi Al-Amin, has announced on Facebook. Kairi shared about his father’s demise, while asserting that “he’s free,” after over two decades of incarceration. The civil rights icon had been serving a life sentence after being convicted of murder in 2002. 

H. Rap Brown, who emerged as a prominent activist in the 1960s, was married to Karima Al-Amin, an attorney. She was a daughter of a Canadian immigrant mother and an American father. Karima Al-Amin told Pan-African News Wire that her mother worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund after spending 30 years as a housewife. 

In a 2010 conversation with Pan-African News Wire, Al-Amin claimed to have been a babysitter for “Thurgood Marshall and various African American judges and attorneys of the Legal Defense Fund.” She was a graduate of the State University of Oswego, having majored in English with the intention of teaching children. 

Karima met H. Rap Brown, who later became Jamil Al-Amin, in 1967

The daughter of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund met the future Minister of Justice for Black Panther Party in July 1967, according to her 2010 interview. Karima recounted that it was her first day of work in Harlem, as she said: 

“Imam Jamil walked into the job. He was staying with my supervisor. The job was on 135th Street, in Harlem. It was with Job Corps. I thought I'd keep the job a while. The Imam walked in. At the time, he had a cadre of bodyguards.” 

She added: 

“He was meeting Minister Farrakhan, so he asked the supervisor ‘See if she'll go to lunch with us.’ I was the only female at a big table of only brothers. I remember it was a big, big table, and we got back to the job at 5 PM.”

Karima recalled: 

“That evening [July 31, 1967], Nina Simone was performing. She had invited Imam Jamil. In later years, he kept in touch with her. She autographed a photo for him that night, which I still have.”

According to Time, Jet magazine announced Karima and Jamil Al-Amin’s marriage in 1968. While the then-civil rights activist was imprisoned between 1971 and 1976 after being convicted of attempted robbery, following his release, he moved to Atlanta to live with his wife. 

H. Rap Brown had converted to Islam in prison, and became an Imam, and continued to live with Karima, until his 2000 arrest. Following his conviction, Karima, along with their family, remained involved in advocating for his freedom, while also raising concerns over his health struggles. 

According to The Baltimore Sun, Jamil Al-Amin was also married to another woman, Tamesha Goudelock, whose name was later changed to Amira Habibah Al-Amin. Amira had also converted to Islam, according to the newspaper. 

Jamil Al-Amin dies in federal prison, over two decades after conviction in deputy’s murder

The civil rights activist-turned-Imam, passed away nearly a decade after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells. Kairi Al-Amin announced his death in an emotional video on Facebook: 

“The message this morning was not. However, my father, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, has since returned to Allah. Please give us a little bit of time just to process this thing.”

Kairi Al-Amin added: 

“He wins either way. I might have taken an L today, but he won either way, so Alhamdulillah, they don’t have him anymore. He’s free. I’ll get back with you with details about his Janaza in the near future, but to everyone that fought with us, I appreciate you. Assalamu Alaikum.” 

Kairi captioned his post and wrote: 

“Inna Lilahi wa Inna Ilayhi Raji’un 🤲🏽 from Allah we come, surely to Allah is our Return. I lost my father today.” 

He continued: 

“Ya Allah please accept my father, Imam Jamil Al-Amin as a shaheed, a martyr, a dedicated servant to You ya Allah please make his grave spacious and reserve for him the most beautiful spot in your paradise, please grant him peace, Ameen. It’s no longer free my father, my father is Free” 

Jamil Al-Amin was charged with shooting two Fulton County Sheriff’s deputies in March 2000, one of whom succumbed to his injuries. They had reportedly gone to the Imam’s home to execute an arrest warrant in connection with a 1999 case of a stolen car. Al-Amin was supposed to appear in the court, but failed to do so, prompting a visit from the deputies. 

The duo was reportedly shot at by an occupant in a Black Mercedes near Jamil Al-Amin’s home, whom the surviving deputy identified as the Imam. While Al-Amin was arrested a couple of days later without any injuries from the shootout, he faced conviction on multiple charges, including murder. 

Over the years, Jamil Al-Amin and his family maintained his innocence, while regarding him as a “political prisoner.” They organized a campaign for his release, while appealing his conviction, but to no avail.