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

them ; they were attuned to the law, and would have done nothing tojeopardize
unnecessarily their organization or its mission u
Importantly, the Deacons did not advocate using their guns for anything other than
self-defense : they sought to use their guns defensively, not offensively . Sims assured
anyone who would listen that the Deacons would not start a fight, but would fight back
"in concert" if attacked by whites . `"They [whites] bring the fight to us ;' Sims
maintained . "We don't take it to them."~ One reporter noted that the Deacons practiced
"the kind of practical self-defense that Malcolm X advocated." u They used their guns
solely for self-protection, and for the protection of those working for the civil rights
cause, many of whom were pacifists . Given their menacing public image, it was
surprising for the public to learn that the Deacons reaffirmed the principle of nonviolent
dinxt action. Many Deacons participated in nonviolent protest without weapons .
Charles Sims felt that political and economic progress for blacks in America would be
achieved through negotiations, not violence . When asked in an interview in August 1965,
how activists could best advance the movement, or achieve its aims most quickly, without
the use of nonviolence, Sims said, "I believe nonviolence is the only way."~
uNew York Times (June 6, 1965): 25 ; Roy Reed, "The Deacons, Too, Ride by
Night," New York Times Magggjp8 (August 15, 1965) : 10-11 .
Sims, quoted in "Rights Activities Spread in South," New York Times (August 1,
1965) .
~`"Jonesboro `Deacons' Offer Example for Rights Forces," The Militant 29 no. 9
(March 1, 1965): 8 .
u'I'he Deacons never picked up their guns in the name of the civil rights movement ;
i .e., they never used their weaponry as official repmsentatives of the movement . They did