Posted on 09/03/2002 6:36:27 PM PDT by vannrox
FROM:Dr. Michael S. Brown of Vancouver, WA The year was 1957. Monroe, North Carolina, was a rigidly segregated town where all levels of white society and government were dedicated to preserving the racial status quo. Blacks who dared to speak out were subject to brutal, sadistic violence. It was common practice for convoys of Ku Klux Klan members to drive through black neighborhoods shooting in all directions. A black physician who owned a nice brick house on a main road was a frequent target of racist anger. In the summer of 1957, a Klan motorcade sent to attack the house was met by a disciplined volley of rifle fire from a group of black veterans and NRA members led by civil rights activist Robert F. Williams. Williams, a former Marine who volunteered to lead the Monroe chapter of the NAACP and founded a 60- member, NRA-chartered rifle club, described the battle in his 1962 book, "Negroes With Guns," which was reprinted in 1998 by Wayne State University Press. It is important to note that the guns were not used offensively. They were part of an overall strategy that relied primarily on peaceful protest like picketing or entering whites-only establishments. Williams demonstrated that the dignified and responsible use of firearms for self-defense was an important method to achieve justice for those denied fair treatment by all institutions of government. The civil rights movement was deeply divided between those who espoused a pacifist, non-violent approach and those who believed that human beings had a right and a duty to use force in self-defense. Williams was the most influential leader of the self-defense wing of the movement. "In the early 1960's, I taught at Tougaloo College, a black school in Jackson, Mississippi. I was a member of the statewide board of the NAACP and was Chairman of the Jackson Movement. No one knows what kind of massive racist retaliation would have been directed at grass-roots black people had the black community not had a healthy measure of firearms within it." "During most of the 1960's I did civil rights work in various parts of the South and almost always had with me a .38 special Smith and Wesson 2-inch-barrel revolver - what you would now erroneously call a "Saturday Night Special."
TOPIC:"NEGROES WITH GUNS"
12/29/01 12:22:27
Using military-surplus rifles from behind sandbag fortifications, the small band of freedom fighters drove off the larger force of Klansmen with no casualties reported on either side.
According to Williams, the Monroe group owed its survival in the face of vicious violence to the fact that they were armed. In several cases, police officials who normally ignored or encouraged Klan violence took steps to prevent whites from attacking armed blacks. In other cases, fanatical racists suddenly turned into cowards when they realized their intended victims were armed.
Oddly, it appears that the organized armed blacks of Monroe never shot any of their tormentors. The simple existence of guns in the hands of men who were willing to use them prevented greater violence.
His effort to provide guns and training to African-American civil rights supporters was alarming to white politicians. Most state gun control laws, not just in the South, were blatantly designed to keep guns out of the hands of blacks and other minorities. Those with racist beliefs were not pleased when blacks claimed the right to keep and bear arms that is guaranteed to all Americans.
The connection with the NRA might surprise some people who portray the organization as a haven for racist rednecks. Former NRA Executive Director Tanya Metaksa spoke with Williams before his death. She recalls, "He was very proud of being an NRA member and that the NRA sanctioned his club without question."
The civil rights organizations of today bear little resemblance to the deadly serious armed activists of Monroe. African-American leaders generally support the liberal white line that guns are evil and have no place in modern society. On the other hand, small numbers of responsible black gun owners continue to honor their heritage by practicing their marksmanship and joining gun rights organizations. The tradition of the black gun club still lives on in the Tenth Cavalry Gun club, led by Ken Blanchard in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
While researching this column, I contacted Don Kates, a civil rights attorney who went to North Carolina in 1963 to participate in the movement. I asked if he ever carried a gun during those days and he responded with a list of a half-dozen that were always within reach. Kates also suggested that I read a letter written by an old friend of his from those days, John R. Salter, Jr., who is now Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota. Here are two brief quotes:
In 1962 the Monroe freedom fighters were overwhelmed by a huge mob that converged on the town. The Justice Department and the state police ignored calls for help. The rabid racists were aided by law enforcement who branded Williams a communist and a dangerous schizophrenic.
Rob Williams eluded an FBI manhunt and fled to Cuba, which he erroneously believed to be totally free of racism. Within five years he realized that Cuba was not as he had imagined and moved on to China. There he was treated as a celebrity and returned to the United States in 1969 with the quiet blessing of Richard Nixon.
Williams worked as a China scholar at the University of Michigan and reportedly advised Henry Kissinger on Chinese affairs. He died in 1996.
--Dr. Michael S. Brown is an optometrist and member of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws, www.dsgl.org. He may be reached at rkba2000@yahoo.com
References:
http://www.lexis-nexis.com/academic/2upa/Aaas/bpower2.htm
http://www.natcom.org/roc/one-one/hope.htm
http://www.blackmanwithagun.net/intro.htm (Ken Blanchard)
http://www.saf.org/pub/rkba/general/GunsVersusKKK.htm
(John R. Salter, Jr.)
Guns are one reason why this Black woman doesn't vote for that party.
I'm betting you're thinking of the Sweet trials...
Personally, I've always liked the (probably apocryphal) story about Darrow's trick cigar ;)
EXACTLY correct, my brother (in Christ, which is more important than any "blood").
"My Pointy Head" is (I think) trying to make the point that the term "Negroid" is no more scientifically demeaning than the term "Caucasoid".
Well, yeah, that's true, "Pointy Head" -- and, yeah, it sure would be nice if we were all "scientifically neutral" in our use of language... but respectfully, only a fool would ignore the fact that the Left (and, indeed, all those who seek to de-value the essential moral equality of Men) do in fact seek to dehumanize by the use of "clinical" language.
This is the very reason why the Right seeks to use the term "Pre-Born Baby" or "UnBorn Baby" when discussing Abortion... it's not that the term "Fetus" is scientifically incorrect, it is the fact that we exercise common sense to recognize the Left's use of clinical terminology for the purpose of dehumanization.
It is true that "Fetus" is a scientifically-correct use of terminology, but I prefer the term "UnBorn Baby" for the deliberate purpose of emphasizing the human moral equality between us all.
The term "UnBorn Baby" may be less scientific than the term "fetus", but it enjoys the virtue of emphasizing the essential human dignity of the UnBorn Human.
In like manner, while "Caucasoid" and "Negroid" may be clinically correct ethnographic terminologies, I prefer the terms "White Guy" and "Black Guy" when it comes to common parlance. To me, it serves as an unconscious reminder that, aside from the clinical racial ethnography, when the shinola hits the fan ...we all bleed the same shade of red.
There's something to be said for common-sense aphorisms, and I've said my piece.
After thinking about it, I decided to use the term "Pre-Born Baby" because, unless there is interference with the natural process, the "Pre-Born" will proceed to be born, a very high percentage of the time. "Un-Born" seems to imply not born - an aborted baby is "un-born".
I agree. Or blacks would have been singled out for terminal retaliation. Or the matter would have been misrepresented to cause more whites into sympathy for the Klan. Or whatever.
What they did served the purpose and left them on a higher moral ground than who they opposed.
Pretty much a universal truth.
Just a correction.
Thanks for posting it.
Does that make you a fifth wheel among other black friends and family?
I only know two black men pretty well and they are both middle class and conservative. From my experience that seems normal but from watching what happens to the likes of Clarance Thomas and J. C. Watts, I wonder if my experience is the exception to the rule.
FReegards
Pleasantly suprised I might add.
FReegards
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