Julian “JAB” Brown, a 21-year-old inventor from Atlanta, made global waves after inventing Plastoline—a solar-powered, microwave‑assisted pyrolysis reactor capable of turning everyday plastic into clean-burning fuel. Independently tested across labs in Houston and Vancouver, his innovation held energy performance on par with traditional diesel and gasoline fuels. However, his disappearance has sparked conversation and suspicion that powerful industries are behind these occurrences, and society will no longer tolerate this for much longer.
As a young Black inventor pushing disruption in the fossil fuel industry, he quickly amassed social media attention—and in early 2025, his social presence just went dark. Brown vanished without explanation, missing scheduled interviews and appearances.
🔍 Major Concerns & Speculation
While authorities have not confirmed foul play, speculation has grown. Many question whether his disappearance is linked to corporate or institutional resistance to disruptive technology. Online communities note the long history of innovators vanishing or being discredited—particularly those threatening entrenched energy interests.
Some believe Brown may have stepped back intentionally to secure his work, but most fear darker possibilities—ranging from corporate sabotage to intentional silencing. His sudden absence has become a haunting reminder of how revolutionary Black scientists have sometimes disappeared when their work challenged the status quo.
🌍 A Pattern: Missing Black Inventors
There is a disturbing, documented history of entrepreneurs and inventors, and black ones in particular, going missing. Brown’s case echoes past and present concerns: throughout history and across continents—from Africa to the U.S.—Black inventors have frequently been sidelined, ignored, or had their innovations appropriated without credit or profit.
- In early U.S. history, the legally enforced denial of patent rights to enslaved and Black innovators meant many inventions were never credited or protected.
- While not missing, many Black inventors—Mary Kenner, Percy Julian, Granville Woods, Lewis Latimer, and others—faced systemic bias in patenting and commercialization of their inventions, or were outright erased from public memory.
In modern times, the lack of institutional support, media backing, or patent protection leaves many innovators vulnerable to having their ideas stolen—or worse, erased. Brown’s disappearances fits this pattern of innovation met with erasure.
🧾 Why It Matters
1. Tech Suppression as Power Play: When disruptive inventions threaten multi‑billion‑dollar industries, the innovators behind them can become targets—especially if they lack resources to protect their work.
2. Racialized Vulnerability in Inventive Fields: Black inventors, particularly in Afro‑descendant communities globally, often operate with fewer supports, legal protections, or public recognition, making their projects more vulnerable.
3. Symbolic Representation: Figures like Brown—not just as inventors but as young Black excellence in STEM—pose a symbolic threat to entrenched gatekeepers.
🕯️ Closing Thoughts
Julian Brown’s missing status is far more than a personal crisis—it’s a systemic alarm. It’s a reminder of how often innovators of color face erasure, exploitation, or disappearance when they dare to build technologies that disrupt established power structures. While his fate remains unknown, the spotlight on his story may serve as both a warning and a catalyst—for protecting new creators, demanding transparency, and honoring the legacy of Black inventors who shaped our world but rarely received their due.
There is a growing outcry on social media, letting the unprincipled gatekeepers learn that it is a new day; old systems are collapsing, and the people will not continue to allow this to happen anymore.
Leave a Reply