The story of the armed community organizers

The Volokh Conspiracy ^ | February 22, 2010 | David Kopel

[neverdem]

A few weeks ago, I linked to a picture of civil rights activist John Salter being attacked by a mob during a lunch counter sit-in during the 1960s. I also linked to a newspaper op-ed in which Salter explained how he and other civil rights workers used firearms for protection from Klansmen and other terrorists—when Klansmen knew that a homicide would not be witnessed by the news media. Since that blog post drew great interest from the readers, I thought that some persons might be interested in the longer version of Salter’s history of the role of armed self-defense in the Civil Rights Movement.

The longer version is John R. Salter, Jr., “Social Justice Community Organizing and the Necessity for Protective Firearms,” which is chapter 2 of The Gun Culture and Its Enemies , pp. 19–23 (William R. Tonso, editor, Merril Press, 1990.) (Merril Press is the press for the Second Amendment Foundation.) The chapter was first published as an article by Salter in Against the Current, July/August 1988. The magazine describes itself as an “analytical journal for the broad revolutionary left.” Since neither version is available on-line, I will provide a summary.

In the mid-1960s, Salter was a full-time community organizer for the Southern Conference Educational Fund, in the very poor and highly segregated North Carolina black belt. Klan activity was heavy, and “Local law enforcement was almost completely dominated by the United Klans of America.” Klan dues were collected at the police station in Enfield...

[2ndDivisionVet]

Related thread:

What Good Can a Handgun Do Against an Army.....?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/backroom/2312894/posts?page=242

[ansel12]

One day while Salter was at work and his wife was at home, some men with knives came to the home, but a vigilant neighbor with a revolver frightened them away.

Wonder why knives? Even as a youth in the 60s a dozen or two of us could show up with trunk loads of guns when word got out that trouble was brewing on our main drag.

[Mariner]

And the 2nd Amendment served it’s purpose well.

[Solitar]

Such is the history which Condi Rice’s father shared in and why she has said she is a 2nd Amendment purist.

[DuncanWaring]