3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

point, the Deacons had ban quietly making their presence known : watching events from
a safe distance, formulating their policies, bolstering membership, and supplementing
their growing arsenal of firearms. After announcing the repeal ofcity segregation
ordinances, Mayor Cutrer warned in a veiled threat to the Deacons : "Anyone, white or
Negro, who attempts to violate the rights of another or cause bodily harm will be
promptly arrested, charged and prosecuted ." After Moore's murder, several Deacons, in
their first public display of arms, guarded the homes of local black leaders.~6
Moorc's death prefaced the Deacons' rapid acceleration to the forefront of the
movement in Bogalusa . Friends and family scheduled Moore's funeral for June 9, the
following wak, and James Farmer planned to speak at the service . He amved at the
New Orleans International Airport, where four state police detectives and four Deacons
met him . The detectives warned Farmer of a Klan plot to assassinate him in Louisiana,
and offered to provide protection for him, though Charles Sims, who did not fully trust
the detectives, insisted that FamKr ride with him . Sims, along with three other Deacons,
chauffeured Farmer from New Orleans to Bogalusa--a distance of approximately 65
miles--with a pistol on the car seat beside him . Upon safe arrival, Farmer praised the
Deacons . "CORE is nonviolent," said Farmer, "but we have no right to tell Negroes in
Bogalusa or anywhere else that they do not have the right to defend their homes. It is a
constitutional right ." An estimated fifty Deacons attended Moorc's funeral .~~
~6Cutrcr, quoted in New York Times (May 24, 1%5) : 1, 18 ; Facts on File (July 1-7,
1965): 246-7 .
~~Roy Reed, "Arnted Negro Unit Spreads in South,"New Yak Times (June 6, 1%S) :
25 ; James Farmer, Lav Bare the Hesrt : An Autobiog~y of the Civil Ri~h_ts Movement