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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
[illegible writing on masking tape], 2/23/68
Date Created
1968-02-23
Reel Format
16mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage filmed outside of the Richmond City Courthouse (known as the United States Post Office and Customhouse) from H. Rap Brown's hearing in regards to his $10,000 bond in Virginia on February 23, 1968. At the February 23 hearing, Brown's bond was revoked and he was ordered to return to New Orleans to face federal charges. This reel contains footage of individuals leaving the courthouse, as well as Brown's attorney William M. Kunstler giving remarks to the press. It ends with footage of Brown leaving the courthouse. This appears to be a group of majority Black participants, though the majority of journalists and news reporters appear to be white.
Timestamp Description
00:00:09 Footage begins. Footage filmed from the street of the courthouse, with approximately twelve individuals standing on the steps and sidewalk in front of the courthouse on the right side of the frame. A uniformed police officer on horseback is partially visible on the left side of the frame.
00:00:12 Footage filmed from the sidewalk of approximately six individuals standing on the courthouse steps and speaking with one another.
00:00:19 Footage taken from the courthouse steps of several individuals by a car, an individual is standing in front of the camera also filming the car.
00:00:23 Closer footage of the car. Two individuals who appear to be handcuffed get into the backseat while approximately three individuals look on. Another individual places a paper bag on the lap of the second handcuffed individual getting into the car.
00:00:32 Footage of a different car driving away, filmed from the rear.
00:00:38 Zoomed in footage of William M. Kunstler speaking with journalists, with individuals on all sides of him. The individual directly behind him on the left is likely Charles Mangum, another of Jamil Al-Amin's (H. Rap Brown) attorneys. This portion of the video has sound. A transcript of his speech is below. Whistles and car traffic can be heard consistently in the background of this footage.
00:03:36 Footage cuts off Kunstler speaking and shows the courthouse filmed from the street with individuals standing and walking outside, followed by footage to the right of the courthouse of individuals standing outside, with a film camera on the left side of the frame. This appears to be the press area.
00:03:52 Footage of the same area/gathering of press from the opposite side of the crowd, filmed from the courthouse steps.
00:04:00 Footage of a group of individuals walking towards the camera with the courthouse on the left and street on the right. Several members of the press appear to follow them. They stop to speaking with another individual standing in the center of the sidewalk.
00:04:15 More footage of individuals walking from the left to right of frame on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse.
00:04:22 Footage of a uniformed police officer on horseback riding from the right to left of frame, with individuals on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse visible in the background. One individual with a film camera films the officer and horse.
00:04:28 Footage of another group of individuals walking past the courthouse, with individuals observing them from the steps. At the front of this group is likely Charles Mangum. He passes the camera, which turns to follow him, and several others taking photographs and film on the courthouse steps. As the group approaches a large crowd gathered in front of the courthouse, an individual takes hold of Mangum's arm and directs him through the crowd and into the courthouse, along with the rest of the group walking with him. Two individuals can be heard speaking during this portion of the footage, but the speech is intelligible due to sound interference.
00:04:52 Zoomed in footage of Kunstler speaking with journalists, with individuals on all sides of him. This appears to be the same press conference as the footage at 00:00:38. The individual directly behind him on the left is likely Mangum. This portion of the video has sound. A transcript of his speech is below. Whistles and car traffic can be heard consistently in the background of this footage.
00:06:25 Footage of doors with a sign reading: "Private Entrance U.S. Marshals Only".
00:06:28 Footage of Al-Amin exiting the courthouse. He wears an olive green coat, black beret, and sunglasses. He is flanked by three officials, likely U.S. Marshals. When he sees individuals on the sidewalk, he raises both fists in their direction, perhaps demonstrating that he is not handcuffed. He is led to a car parked by the sidewalk, and gets into the backseat.
00:06:38 Another angle of the interior of the car, with Al-Amin in the passenger side rear seat, and another individual, likely an officer or marshal seated next to him. Another individual sits in the front passenger seat.
00:06:40 Footage filmed from the street of the car pulling out of its parking spot and driving away. It appears Al-Amin sits in the middle of the rear seat with two individuals on either side of him. Three other individuals sit in the front seat.
00:06:49 Footage ends.
Transcription
00:00:38
Unidentified individual: ...to come up with the money immediately, where will this money come from?
William M. Kunstler: I don't know, because the $10,000 to which the judge referred is being held in the Eastern District of Louisiana, and I don't think that the court there will apply it to any order of this court, but I'm not sure. I don't know what the legalities are at this moment of that money.
Unidentified individual: Mr. Kunstler, what comment do you have on the fact that the judge said today he didn't believe you when you said that Mr. Brown went to California to consult you?
William M. Kunstler: Well, that's the judge's prerogative. I didn't say or hear him say he didn't believe me. He found as a fact that Mr. Brown went to California for purposes other than consulting with me, which is a different thing than saying he didn't believe me.
Unidentified individual standing to the right of Kunstler: Did he take advantage of your order, or your suggestion, Mr. Kunstler, by making that speech, for example, in Los Angeles?
William M. Kunstler: No, I felt, and the judge and I will have a different opinion on this, but I felt that an incidental speech, when he was not scheduled to be a speaker, when he was out consulting me, was not prohibited by the order, and that if it were prohibited by the order, that would so violate his First Amendment rights that it would be a mockery of the Constitution.
Unidentified individual standing to the right of Kunstler: Do you feel that he would have been brought to court here had he not made that speech and just visited with you?
William M. Kunstler: No, I don't know. I can't really tell, but it's my feeling that it was the speaking that brought him here and that the fact that the same witnesses were used in Louisiana and in Virginia indicates that the agents who were present there reported the speech and that the speech was the instigating factor that resulted in all of these situations. I don't know, I'm just speculating as to what motivated, not from Judge Merhige's part, certainly, but from the U.S. officials who arranged to bring him back here.
Unidentified individual: How do you react to the judge's suggestion at the end that you fooled him?
William M. Kunstler: I don't know if he said that I fooled him. I thought he said that he had been fooled once and he wasn't going to be fooled again. And I thought he referred to Mr. Brown's conduct going to California as fooling him, in that he had issued the order on the premise that Mr. Brown would not travel. However, he had put certain areas in his order, which I thought permitted certain travel, and Mr. Brown had not abused that. This was only the first time since the order, which goes back four months, I believe, was issued that Mr. Brown has traveled to see me.
Unidentified individual standing to the right of Kunstler: Do you have the money?
William M. Kunstler: At this moment, we do not have the money. There is $10,000 up in New Orleans. He has $100,000 total. So he has $90,000 to raise. However, we have asked for an emergency hearing before the Fifth Circuit, the court above the Louisiana court, for a hearing next week on whether...
00:04:52
William M. Kunstler: I would say so, I think that this is a very serious step today and coupled with the others, I have great fears about Mr. Brown. He's on a hunger strike and a water strike, and I personally feel for his health and his well-being under the weight of that and these court decisions.
Unidentified individual standing to the right of Kunstler: Will he elect now to stay in New Orleans? If he comes back here, he just goes to jail.
William M. Kunstler: Well, I don't know how the charges will be. We're going to take necessary appellate steps with this order. And as you know, Judge Merhige's basic order is going to be attacked in the Supreme Court on Monday morning when a petition will be filed against him. So if that basic order falls, I guess this would fall as well. But we have to take each step as it comes up and just hope that we hit the right combination.
Unidentified individual: Do you foresee the day when Rap Brown is going to be out of court and out of jail?
William M. Kunstler: At this moment, I really can't see that day where we've been in with him for a long time. It will be going on almost a year soon, and his troubles are deeper and more profound today than they were before.
Unidentified individual standing to the right of Kunstler: As summer approaches, do they become more trouble, so do you think this is part of a plan to keep them off the streets this summer?
William M. Kunstler: Well, I've suggested that in the court in Louisiana. I think there's a definite connection, and I'm, we're making it very specific. I'm not saying from Judge Merhige's part, because I don't think that that is so as far as the judge is concerned. But I am saying that there is a concentrated effort, I believe, by state and federal governments to keep him from speaking.
Event Description
This series of reels centers around various court hearings in Richmond, Virginia related to Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) chair Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) from 1967 to 1969. Read more about Al-Amin via the SNCC Digital Gateway. During his incarceration from 1971-1976, Al-Amin converted to Islam and changed his name from H. Rap Brown to Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. For the narrative below, and materials related to these events, the name Jamil Al-Amin will be used.
According to a August 22, 1967 article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Al-Amin did not need to appear in person for an extradition hearing in Virginia, where officials had charged him on July 26th of "unlawful flight from Maryland." Maryland sought him on charges of "incitement to riot and arson" in Cambridge, Maryland. More information on the Cambridge incident is available via Wikipedi here and here. Virginia Assistant Attorney Reno S. Harp III told the paper that the hearing was requested by Al-Amin's attorneys. The following day, the RTD (August 23, 1967) reported that the hearing had been delayed by request of Al-Amin's attorneys due to another legal situation in New York. The hearing was postponed to September 5 (per the RTD, September 5, 1967), and Al-Amin would not be in attendance. His attorneys William M. Kunstler, Philip J. Hirschkop, and Charles Mangum represented him at the hearing. Al-Amin remained in New York. Kunstler argued that Al-Amin's arrest in July in Alexandria was unlawful, and his federal fugitive warrant was "a direct derivative...of the Fugitive Slave Act." (RTD, September 6, 1967.) His lawyers also argued he would not receive a fair trial in Maryland, where he was shot by a police officer after giving a speech on the evening of July 24th. On September 7, Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin Jr. signed the extradition order (RTD, September 8, 1967). It was believed his attorneys would file habeas corpus proceedings to block the extradition. On September 13, Al-Amin was transferred from Alexandria city jail to Richmond City jail as Judge Franklin P. Backus on the habeas corpus petition believed he could not set a bond for Al-Amin. However, Judge Backus was not made aware of the transfer (RTD, September 14, 1967). On September 15, Al-Amin was transferred from Richmond to a state prison farm in Powhatan County, and Richmond Mayor Morrill M. Crowe stated the city requested the transfer "based upon the desire of the City of Richmond to maintain tranquility within our community by avoiding all circumstances potentially disruptive to that tranquility." Three individuals protested in front of the jail on September 15. (RTD, September 16, 1967). An emergency habeas corpus hearing was held on September 16 (RTD, September 17, 1967). On September 18, Al-Amin was released on a $10,000 bond and ordered to not leave New York other than for court appearances. A full habeas corpus hearing was scheduled for October 3 (RTD, September 19, 1967). On October 3, the Corporation Court judge Backus turned down the motion for a writ of habeas corpus, but the decision was appealed to the Virginai Supreme Court (RTD, October 4, 1967). In February 1968, Al-Amin was ordered to appear in Richmond on charges of breaking the bond, allegedly having given two speeches in California, per the testimony of three FBI agents. (RTD, February 20, 1968). Al-Amin arrived at Hanover County jail on February 22 (RTD, February 23, 1968). At the February 23 hearing, Al-Amin's bond was revoked and he was ordered to return to New Orleans to face federal charges (RTD, February 24, 1968). His lawyer William M. Kunstler stated that he believed Al-Amin was allowed to travel to meet with him in California, and that his speeches were coincidental (Film Reel #8). On March 1, 1968, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the previous granting of extradition of Al-Amin to Maryland (RTD, March 2, 1968). Just days after the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Al-Amin had another hearing in Richmond on April 8, 1968 (RTD, April 8, 1968). Judge Robert R. Merhige denied bond at this hearing (RTD, April 9, 1968). The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the bond request on April 11 (RTD, April 12, 1968). On March 10, 1970, the Bel Air, Maryland courthouse where Al-Amin was to be tried on the incitement charges was bombed. The previous day, two SNCC officials (Ralph Featherstone and William “Che” Payne) died in a car bombing--some activists believed it was an assassination attempt on Al-Amin, police claimed a bomb was being transported to the court house and went off accidentally (RTD, March 11, 1970). After the bombings, Al-Amin disappeared for 18 months, ending up on the FBI's Most Wanted List. After being arrested in 1971, the charges in Maryland were dropped on November 6, 1973 due to lack of evidence. (RTD, November 7, 1973).
Runtime
00:07:00
Note
This reel has sound.
Personal Name Subject
Al-Amin, Jamil, 1943-; Kunstler, William M. (William Moses), 1919-1995; Merhige, Robert R.; Hirschkop, Philip J.; Godwin, Mills E. (Mills Edwin), 1914-1999;
Corporate Name Subject
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.); United States. Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
Topical Subject
Al-Amin, Jamil, 1943---Trials, litigation, etc.; Students--Political activity; Extradition; Trials; Civil rights movements; Civil rights movements--United States; Civil rights demonstrations; Civil rights workers; Student protesters; African American student movements; Student movements; Demonstrations; Black power; Black power--United States; Black militant organizations; Courts; Courthouses; Mounted police; Police horses; Animals in police work; Police; Police patrol--Surveillance operations; Electronic surveillance; Video surveillance
City/Location
Richmond (Va.)
Genre
color films (visual works)
Local Genre
moving image
Type
Moving Image
Digital Format
video/mp4
Language
eng
Rights Statement URL
Rights
This material is in the public domain in the United States and thus is free of any copyright restriction. Acknowledgement of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is requested.
Collection
Richmond Police Department Surveillance Collection
Source
Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) Trial in Richmond Film Reel #07, 1968 February 23
File Name
VCU_M571_017.mp4