“Blackness alone is not revolutionary.”
Iman Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin has returned to paradise. Al-Amin was born on October 4, 1943, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as Hubert Gerold Brown. In the late 1960s, he emerged as an effective, militant organizer with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, who became known as H. “Rap” Brown because of his incandescent loquaciousness and verbal dexterity. His voice was backed by a razor-sharp intellect and an uncompromised politics that linked the domestic struggles of African Americans with Vietnam, Cuba, and China. Local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI’s COINTELPRO, targeted Brown, leading to a decades-worth of false charges and unjust, political imprisonment.
Al-Amin converted to Islam while serving a five-year sentence in Attica and, upon his release, became a respected faith leader in Atlanta’s West End community. Yet the police harassment did not end. In 2002, Al-Amin was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, convicted on flimsy and contradictory evidence. Al-Amin passed away on November 23, 2025, at the age of 82 in the Federal Medical Center, Butner, North Carolina. A political prisoner, his death was hastened by the medical neglect of the state.
In 1969, as H. Rap Brown, Al-Amin published Die Nigger, Die! his political autobiography. We do not know how Al-Amin looked back on the book. We do know that it is a remarkable document of Black political thought in the era of Black Power whose attacks on racism, imperialism, capitalism, and genocide are as relevant now as they were half a century ago. We reprint an excerpt from Die Nigger, Die! below.
Die Nigger, Die!
H. Rap Brown
Our job is not to convert whites. If whites are dedicated to revolution then they can be used in the struggle. However, if they impede the struggle and are proven to be a problem then it is up to us to deal with them as with all problems. Our job now is to project what should be our common goal-the destruction of a system that makes slavery profitable.
Now there're a lot of people who say that the way you change laws is to destroy the power structure. I say you got to go beyond that. If you destroy the power structure, it can always be replaced by another power structure, whether it's white or Black. The power structure serves the system and the system is the thing which demands exploitation of people. You have to destroy the system. You can destroy the power structure and leave the system intact. But if you get the system, you got the power structure. That's the job which confronts us.
However we may twist our words and regardless of our personal, subjective feelings – the truth of the matter is that we cannot end racism, capitalism, colonialism and imperialism until the reins of state power are in the hands of those people who understand that the wealth, the total wealth of any country and the world, belongs equally to all people. Societies and countries based on the profit motive will never insure a new humanism or eliminate poverty and racism. However we may twist our words and regardless of our personal feelings – the stark reality remains that the power necessary to end racism, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism will only come through long, protracted, bloody, brutal and violent wars with our oppressors.
Liberation movements must be based upon political principles that give meaning and substance to the struggle of the masses of people, and it is this struggle that advances the creation of a people’s ideology. Liberation movements from the very beginning must be dedicated to principles that speak to the needs of the poor and oppressed, or must evolve into this type of movement with these principles while the fighting is going on, for it is not evident that those who fight will assume power and implement decisions that appropriate the wealth of countries for all people. Rather to the contrary: the absence of these revolutionary political principles relates to the fact that some new rulers have settled for a new flag, a new style of dress, a seat in the UN, and/or accommodation with former colonial powers. A negotiated independence.
We must draw from all ideologies those principles which benefit the majority of mankind. We cannot limit ourselves to just one concept or ideology that was relevant in some other revolution. Certain changes have made even some of the most advanced ideologies obsolete.
For example, socialism as it exists today ideologically may be impractical for certain oppressed peoples. But the political principles of socialism certainly have validity. This is why in Cuba and other liberated countries the principles of socialism are being incorporated into the ideologies of these countries.
This again goes back to Fanon’s observation that we must extend the Marxian analysis when we view colonialism. It is the political principles that make the ideology; as these principles are refined through struggle an ideology is created.
Many people have had these principles (principles that speak to the needs of the mass of humanity ) in mind as they were waging a struggle for independence, but having failed to win independence by defeating the enemy through armed struggle, it was necessary for them to negotiate with the colonial powers. In this process of negotiation, the colonial powers granted political autonomy but maintained economic influence, control and investments. The mere act of negotiating freedom means that the control necessary to appropriate the entire wealth of the country did not fall to the new leaders. We should have learned by now from history that the process of negotiating freedom and not winning it by armed struggle has built-in limitations. We must be prepared to fight to the death to destroy this system known as capitalism, for it is this system that oppresses the majority of mankind.
Vanguard groups must begin to reevaluate politics. What is known as politics in this country is meaningless. People have been told that politics means the Democratic and Republican parties; federal, state and local government; the vote. History shows that politics as it is defined by america is undesirable and dangerous to Black people, for the politics of capitalism has always been human oppression and exploitation. We must begin to relate to the politics of revolution. Chairman Mao says, “Politics is war without bloodshed and war is an extension of politics.” Every action that we are involved in is political, whether it is religious, artistic, cultural, athletic, governmental, educational, economic or personal. There is no separation between church and state, art and politics, or politics and individual beliefs. Everything is inherently political. The only division occurs around the question of whose political interest one will serve.
This country has always used negroes as a political tool against Blacks. Without a common Black political doctrine, america will use (and is using) Blacks against Blacks. Blackness must be political in our behalf. Individuals can no longer be immune to public political criticism because they are “Black and proud.” There must be revolutionary political criticism of counter-revolutionary positions and acts. Some individuals who gain popularity in Black america are later used as tools by white america. In most cases, white political interest comes as a result of the existing popularity of Black individuals. Understand, popularity does not reflect correctness. Blackness alone is not revolutionary.
This country has always used negroes as a political tool against Blacks. Without a common Black political doctrine, america will use (and is using) Blacks against Blacks. Blackness must be political in our behalf. Individuals can no longer be immune to public political criticism because they are Black and proud. There must be revolutionary political criticism of counter-revolutionary positions and acts. Some individuals who gain popularity in Black america are later used as tools by white america. In most cases, white political interest comes as a result of the existing popularity of the Black individuals. Understand, popularity does not reflect correctness. Blackness alone is not revolutionary.
If we examine Cleveland, Ohio, Gary, Indiana, Washington, D.C., and many other areas populated predominately by Blacks we can see a tactic being used that has often been tried in Africa, Vietnam and other oppressed countries. It is called neo-colonialism. In other words, when white structures and institutions are threatened, whites protect their economic and political interests and maintain control by using members of the oppressed people as their spokesmen. They set up puppet governments headed by individuals with white interests in mind. These people oppress their own kind for their personal gain. These puppet leaders are as dangerous as those whom they represent. Remember, it was Jews who began to remove other Jews for Hitler. Even if the flunky's interest is sincere, he is powerless against the system. Individuals do not mandate the action of the system; rather, the system demands certain actions of them. The only constructive thing a Black mayor can do is to organize Blacks to destroy the system that oppresses Black people. We must never permit anyone, white or Black, to destroy with impunity the product of a single drop of the blood and sweat of our people.
White folks realize now that they can concede Blackness and still exercise control. This country says, “Yes, you may be Black; but, you must be american,” which means we are as responsible for oppression as whites. This country says, “Yeah, you may have Black heroes; but, we must approve of them.” So, they publicize negroes who have been beneficial to this country. The tactic of co-opting is being used to its fullest. White folks will co-opt dog shit if it’s to their advantage. Today, niggers are tomming and don’t even know they’re tomming. We must say as Fidel Castro says, No liberalism whatsoever! No softening whatsoever! A revolutionary people, a political people — a strong people — this is what is needed throughout these years. . . . What do the dangers or the sacrifices of a man or of a nation matter when the destiny of humanity is at stake?
Our dream is one of liberation, a right of self-determination, a dream of denied freedom; no more, no less. Our fire says we are no longer dreaming of freedom, we are exercising our rights to be free ( at the expense of anybody who gets in our way). You see, freedom is absolute. You’re either free or you’re a slave. There is nothing in between freedom and slavery. There’s no such thing as second-class citizens. That’s like telling me you can be a little bit pregnant. Freedom is as absolute as truth. You’re either lying or telling the truth. We were born free. We must exercise our right to be free.
Today I will talk about two things — colonialism and revolution. In other words, sickness and cure. The united states redefined colonialism. It not only went to Africa and exploited the land and its people ; it brought Black people here and continues its exploitation; and it drove the native American Indians by murder and wholesale genocide onto reservations (and now this is romanticized on t.v. as cowboys and Indians). America is the ultimate denial of the theory of man’s continuous evolution. This country represents everything that humans have suffered from, their every affliction.
The very fact that a place like this can exist appalls most of mankind. This country is the world’s slop jar. America’s very existence offends me. For Black people, it is not a question of leaving or separating — given our historical experiences, we know better than anyone that the animal that is america must be destroyed. Through capitalism, this country establishes colonies; but, not colonies in the old sense, but like franchises. The Philippines, Venezuela, Vietnam, Puerto Rico and other countries are to the united states what dope is to Harlem; bloods use it, but the Mafia owns it. It just goes to show you, you give the cracker an inch, he wants a yard, give him a yard, and he’ll BURN A CROSS ON IT, every time.
There is no difference between Harlem and Puerto Rico, or Harlem and Vietnam, except that in Vietnam people arc fighting for their liberation. (That is, armed struggle.)
Let's examine that war in Vietnam. My position, on that war, is that Black folks aint got no business shooting other Black folks for white folks. If we must fight, then our war is here at home. We can't let white folks decide for us who our enemy is. We must decide who our enemy is and how to deal with him. Black cats must say that if Lynch’em Burn Johnson can stay here and keep the Vietcong off Ladybird then we can stay here and keep the crackers off our women. We must refuse to participate in the war of genocide against people of color: a war that also commits genocide against us. Black men are being used on the front lines at a disproportionate rate. Forty-five percent of the casualties are Black. That’s genocide! We cannot let our Black brothers fight in Vietnam because we need them here to fight with us. If we can die defending our motherland, we can die defending our mothers. It is the Black man's will to be free that has made him fight for this country, not his love. This same will to be free will make him fight this country. The army is to kill people. We have to decide if we will be killers; when we decide, we have to decide who we are going to kill, and when.
We are the greatest victims of colonial rule. We are exposed to this country’s strongest institutions every day. We find that what is called “education” is not education at all.
What it is, is white nationalist propaganda. Black people are made to hate themselves. I saw a brother on the corner once, trying to figure out what was wrong with his skin it didn’t match his flesh-colored bandaid.
Media is used against us in total. The W.P.P. (white power people, or the white power press, or white people’s power-take your choice) all victimize Blacks. The rebellion's aftermath brought demands in the white press not for the resolution of historic grievances of oppressed Blacks but for the guillotining of Carmichael or myself. The negro press is no better. They wait for white folks to tell them what to say. The tactic of media is to make you an enemy of the people. Enemies of the people are always vulnerable. The reason Malcolm could be killed and Black folks didn’t revolt is that the press had made Malcolm an enemy of the people. More negroes were scared of Malcolm than whites. The reason they could give Muhammad Ali the maximum sentence and fine was because the press had made him an enemy of the people. T he reason Adam Powell could be politically lynched and Black folks didn’t revolt, was because Adam had been made an enemy of the people. Negroes believe anything the press says.
Anything you don’t control can be used as a weapon against you. Education is used as a weapon against us. News media is used as a weapon against us. Athletics. We dominate in athletics, but we don’t control them. Therefore the negro athlete is used as a weapon against us. This country realizes that the athlete has an image in our community. So they get some of bootlicking, shuffling, money-mad negro, who can run or jump, and they tell him, “Go control your people. If we can’t control athletes, we can sure cripple ’em.” Brothers ought to break him up so bad, until he’ll have to die to get well. The same thing goes for entertainers. Teach them that if they can’t say the right thing, then don’t say nothing.
Another thing that is used effectively against Blacks is the court system. There is no justice in this country for Black people. Justice is a joke, and it stinks of hypocrisy. Lyndon Johnson is Hitlers illegitimate child and J. Edgar Hoover is his half-sister. Justice means “just-us-white-folks.” There is no redress of grievance for Blacks in this country. When the government becomes the lawbreaker, people must become law enforcers. What happened at the Algiers Motel must not be allowed to be repeated. The tribunal to be held must be made legal by the people. If the murderers are found guilty, and they should be, the brothers should carry out the execution.
When we begin to put all of these things together, we begin to understand what america is doing. Genocide can be seen in the mass removal of Blacks from the streets, by placing them in jails. Yes, the courts conspire to commit genocide. Black people are in the majority in most jails in this country. Concentration camps have been established and maintained throughout this country. They were established as a result of the McCarran Act of 1950. There is a book called Concentration Camps, U.S.A. that’s written by Charles R. Allen — who is white. (I say this because it usually bridges the credibility gap; you don’t believe what Black folks say but you believe white folks.) It is in your interest that you read it, because your not knowing what’s going to happen doesn’t make it any the less true. Me and Carmichael can’t fill all them camps. They must be planning on taking somebody else. This country is waging a genocidal war against people of color; domestic and foreign. This is a country that pays white farmers for not growing food and dumps surplus food in the ocean. Birth control, as it’s practiced by governmental programs dealing with the masses of poor, can’t be called anything else but an attempt at genocide. Birth control should be an individual decision. It should not be forced by a government.
Some of you are probably saying america wouldn’t do that kind of thing. Negroes like to believe that they are something special to this country. Well, let’s examine america’ s history. The American Indian — total genocide. And “the man ” shows it to you on t.v. The Japanese — america dropped the bomb on Japan and not on Germany, not because they didn’t have the bomb, but because the Japanese are yellow.
When this country fought Germany, the German-Americans were not put in concentration camps; however, when they fought Japan, Japanese- Americans were put into concentration camps, in this country. The Vietnamese and Latin Americans — america says that she’s in their countries to stop communist aggression. America has never moved to stop communist aggression in white countries by utilizing anti- personnel bombs and napalm ; in Poland, Hungary, Czech-oslovakia, she uses RADIO FREE EUROPE; never weapons of destruction. It is important to note here that all the countries with people of color are the ones militarily attacked by america. So why should we be immune to her racism? We experience it every day. We were brought here to do work, there is no more work. Machines do the jobs we used to do.
The Attorney General made a statement a few weeks ago; it was interesting in this respect; he said, “Within 20 years the entire population of this country will be a leisure class, with the exception of ten percent of that population, because of automation and cybernation.” Then when we look to see who they are training for those jobs, we find that they are training whites. So that lets me know that this country no longer needs Black people. America has a surplus of niggers. She then legitimatizes her program of genocide, by implanting into the minds of whites, and negroes, the idea that Blacks don’t do anything but “riot and get on welfare.” We put america on notice ; IF WHITE FOLKS WANT TO PLAY NAZIS, BLACK FOLKS AIN’T GOING TO PLAY JEWS.
We have not made any progress since we have been in this country. We are still slaves! Concessions are not to be confused with progress. Whites have made concessions only out of political necessity. This country only loosens its hold on Black people to get a better grip. Whites and negroes talk of progress, and point to Thurgood Marshall. He is a concession; white folks put him there, and can remove him when they get ready. James O. Eastland, a red-neck camel-breath moldy old cracker from Mississippi, subjected Thurgood to a ;evel of questioning that ivas unheard of before. What he was really saying was, “ You might be the top nigger in the country, but you are still a nigger to me ” They gave negroes an astronaut; but, I bet they lose that nigger in space. [Note: He was killed m a jet crash while landing.] We have not made any progress. Negroes go for anything white folks tell them or sell them.
If “the man wanted to he could tell Black folks, “ Bring me all the rocks you can find, and for every rock you bring, I will give you a million dollars!” Bloods would bring rocks for days, little rocks, big rocks, rocks nobody knew existed. And, when the man got all the rocks, he’d tell Black folks, “We’re using rocks for money.’’ Ask the South what the North did after the civil war. This country operates on an annual budget of 800 billion dollars. These dollars are supposedly backed by gold. The International Monetary System is also based on gold. This means that foreign countries can demand gold for america’s paper dollars. France is now demanding payment in gold; america’s foreign debt exceeds her quantity of gold. Relying upon one of its old tactics, america changed the rules. Through pressure from this country, the International Monetary System changed from gold to what is paper gold. As the Chairman says, “Power comes from the barrel of a gun.” Freedom is not “for sale.” Freedom can only be bought with revolution.
There must be a re-evaluation of politics. What is considered politics in this country is meaningless to Black people. Politics, as defined by the geographical and influential boundaries of this country, is irrelevant to masses of people. The vote is used as a tool of oppression. Camus raises a very good point. He says, “ What better way to enslave a man than give him the vote and call him free.” In other words, what does it profit a man to be able to vote, and not be able to choose his candidates. Politics in this country is not bipartisan ; politics is very partial — partial toward whites with money. The only politics that should be relevant to us is the politics of revolution.
Everything must relate to the struggle as a political form. Culture must be political. Nationalism alone is not a political doctrine. Nationalism has to be a part of a political doctrine. Without vanguard political direction cultural movements bring economic and/or political liberalism, not revolution. We must move to define the difference between political nationalism and cultural nationalism. We must move from Black awareness to revolutionary motion. “To be Black is necessary but not sufficient.” Every negro is a potential traitor; and every Black man is only a potential revolutionary — with emphasis on potential. To be Black is not to be revolutionary. When you begin to stress culture without politics, people can become so hooked up in the beauty of themselves that they have no desire to fight. It becomes ego-gratifying just to be Black. Vanguard groups can’t afford to go around stressing culture without politics, the real test now is preparation for, and initiation of, struggle. Write me a novel about how to infiltrate the FBI and destroy it. Write me poems that say more than that you are Black and beautiful. Perform dances with guns to legitimize guns as a weapons of struggle. If you examine any country that has undergone a successful revolution, you will find that the cultural revolution has never come before actual armed confrontation, never before a contest for power was waged.
[Note: Today we see the Black world divided on the question of ideology. Throughout Africa the lack of common political motion divides people against people and insures opportunism by certain leaders. Inside the united states this is a paramount problem where groups of Blacks are struggling in various ways for liberation. This struggle is being checked through the lack of a common political objective. The concept of Black Power, for instance, has been diluted and prostituted to the point where even the most conservative negroes are now for Black Power. “Whitey” Young, dictator of the urban league, preaches for Black pride and acclaims that Black Power is attainable through Black capitalism. A lot of cats said the blood is coming home, but look again, he’s still following his master. Floyd McKissick, former director of CORE, who once argued for Black Power maintains that Black people need Black capitalism. The united states government is in the process of giving tax incentives to those who start Black businesses and invest in Black areas; and the unlimited Ford Foundation, which has been trying to buy up the Movement for years, and which funds every- thing from Black television programs to experiments in school decentralization, has recently declared that it will place some of its investment portfolio in developing Black capitalism. All Black folks considering revolutionary work must be aware of these pitfalls. We must study how revolutions are aborted, how independence movements are stifled, how people are cheated of the fruits of their efforts, how the foot soldier or the Man Man gets betrayed by the bourgeois nationalist — these are things that all revolutionaries must understand. (January, 1969)]
At this stage of struggle the greatest danger comes from within. It has become profitable, fashionable and even necessary to be Black. In that order. Militancy is second to Blackness. However, to be militant is not to be revolutionary. Upon close examination, I find the thrust of most militancy is toward reform, not revolution. A militant in this case is one who never stops talking. Militants will bust their balls, campaigning to get some cracker elected. Black militants grow naturals to appear on t.v. as cops shooting blacks for this country. There is not one negro on t.v. that has a politically meaningful role: I Spy is the logical extension of The Lone Ranger; my man is just Tonto. In Mission Impossible, the brother is a humanoid, a professional mechanic for the CIA. All of these shows play against Black people; they might help individuals but never the masses. They are designed to keep Blacks militantly happy. Black militants talk about revolution while seriously programming white people for money. This is the new hustle. Niggers running around with naturals on their heads and nothing on their minds. Some of the biggest and the prettiest naturals belong to the police. Black militant disc-jockies, militantly trying to convince white people they got “ blue-eyed soul." Militant negro magazines advising Blacks on which white man to vote for.
Militancy, too, must be political. We must begin to see ours as the struggle of oppressed people. We are not the only oppressed people in this country. We are a vanguard force in the revolution because we have been the most dispossessed. The Mexican-American, the Puerto Rican, the American Indian, Japanese- American, poor whites ; all these groups have reason to fight. Repression will force them to fight. However, it is doubtful that poor whites can overcome racism. We hold the key to liberation around the world. The freedom of people around the world depends upon what we do. This is true,because this country is the chief oppressor around the world. If we view this country as an octopus, then we see that her tentacles stretch around the globe. Like in Vietnam, Africa, Latin America. . . . If these countries cut off a tentacle, it can be replaced. But we got his eye; we live in the belly of the monster. So it’s up to us to destroy its brain. When we do this not only will Africa be free but all people oppressed by the man. It is because of americas racism and greed that Black people and people of color around the world are oppressed.
The question of violence has been cleared up. This country was born of violence. Violence is as american as cherry pie. Black people have always been violent, but our violence has always been directed toward each other. If nonviolence is to be practiced, then it should be practiced in our community and end there. Violence is a necessary part of revolutionary struggle. Nonviolence as it is advocated by negroes is merely a preparation for genocide. Some negroes are so sold on nonviolence that if they received a letter from the White House saying to report to concentration camps, they would not hesitate. They’d be there on time! If we examine what happened to the Jews, we find that it was not the Germans who first began to remove Jews. It was other Jews! We must be prepared to fight anyone who threatens our survival. Black and white. The rebellions taught Blacks the value of retaliatory violence. The most successful rebellion was held in Plainfield. It was successful in the sense that white violence was minimized. The only death that occurred in Plainfield was that of a white racist cop. We know how sensitive america is about the killing of policemen — especially white policemen. But both National Guardsmen and local police were afraid to shoot up the Black community because the brothers had just stolen two crates of guns. Each one of these guns would shoot seven times before you load it, which makes it hard to hold it; eight times fore you cock it, and it takes a man to stop it. The very fact that white folks fear guns shows the value in being armed. Power, indeed, must come from the barrel of a gun.
We can no longer allow threats of death to immobilize us. Death is no stranger to Black folks. We’ve been dying ever since we got here. To all the brothers and sisters who are here, ours may be to do and die, but for the little brothers and sisters, theirs should be but the reason why. This country has delivered an ultimatum to Black people; america says to Blacks: you either fight to live or you will live to die. I say to america, Fuck It! Freedom or Death.
Power to the People.
H. Rap Brown, excerpt from Die Nigger, Die! (New York: Dial Press, 1969).
In this week’s segment, we hear about events in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, a disputed election, and a so-called coup that was actually carried out on behalf of the president. But first…
Margaret Kimberley was a guest on the Jamarl Thomas YouTube Channel. We present excerpts of the discussion of her contribution to the new anthology China Changes Everything. Her chapter is entitled "…
The West African nation of Guinea-Bissau recently experienced an aborted electoral process followed by what was called a coup d’etat. But the reality differs from the narrative presented by the neo-…
Ajamu Baraka, BAR Editor and Columnist, joins Dimitri Lascaris to discuss the potential US attack on Venezuela and its regional impact. The conversation explores the legality and morality of recent…
U.S. sanctions, violence, threats, and theft are war crimes waged against Venezuela for decades. A scandal about a “double tap” killing should not be the focus of attention.
