3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives 3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
Sims ignited the Deacons' rise to prominence. His charisma and leadership anchored the organization, and his persona symbolized the Deacons' no-nonsense approach to the struggle for black equality. Unlike many other civil rights leaders, Sims did not hail from a middle-class background . He was a part-time insurance salesman and a tough, hard-nosed man with a pre-movement police record that included assault and carrying a concealed weapon . If his pistol jabbed him in the ribs when he sat down, Sims would nonchalantly toss it-along with his car keys and cigarettes-onto the nesr+est table with a clatter, often alarming anyone near. With disarming forwardness, and mock intimacy, Sims called prominent civil rights leaders (as well as white reporters) by their first names, calling well-known black author Louis Lomax "Louis," and CORE national president James Farmer "Jim." Showing that he was not within the circle of accepted civil rights leadership, Sims mistakenly referred to SNCC's Julian Bond as "Julius," though he respectfully called King "Dr. King ." Stiff-necked and brooding, with a dark sense of humor, Sims did not take the civil rights movement or his role in it lightly. Under Sims' watchful eye, the civil rights movement in Bogalusa and the tension that accompanied it came to a head in July 1965 . During a civil rights march on a downtown street on July 8, a flying bottle struck seventeen-year-old Hattie Mae Hill in not target whites for retaliatory violence, or advocate disruption of the white community through violent means . The Deacons' guns were, in a sense, secondary to their promotion of personal self-defense. "I want to say [that] when I confront a white man," warned Sims, "I would be just as dangerous to the white man without a weapon as 1 would be with a weapon, if he didn't treat me right." Sims, quoted in Grant, Black Protest, 358 ; see also "Deacons Organiu Chicago Chapter," New York Times (April 6,1966) : 29. For Sims' misnomers, see Roy Reed, "The Deacons, Too, Ride by Night," Taw York Times Ma ine (August 1S, 1965) : 22 and Raises, My Soul is Rested, 420. 12 2
the head, causing a gash . Leneva Tiebeman, a white nurse, rushed Hectic to a car driven by two Deacons, Henry Austan and Milton Johnson, who monitored the march from their automobile . White toughs hassled the girl and the nurse, who sought to take Hattie to a first-aid station in the black community. Miss Tiebeman hustled Hectic into the bsckseat of the car. When Austan and Johnson leaned from the car window, twenty-five-year-old Alton D. Crowe, Jr. of nearby Pearl River struck them both repeatedly in the face . Austan shot Crowe in the chest and neck . Police yanked both Austan and Johnson from the car, cuffed them on the car's hood, and took the two men to an undisclosed locale for protection from angry whites, who shouted at policemen and attacked news photographers .2~ That same night, again, two rallies occurred: one held by the Bogalusa Civic and Voters League, which coordinated black protest in Bogalusa, and one held by the National States Rights Party . The latter rally featured J . 8. Stoner, an Atlanta attorney and outspoken racist who declared the "nigger" the "enemy" of his organization . "The nigger is not a human being," he told the crowd of 2,000 men, women, and children . "He is somewhere between the white man and the ape:' He observed that black people were taking white jobs . "Every time a nigger gets ajob," he cautioned, "that's just one more job that you can't have ." He urged whites to fire their black domestic help to speed black emigration from the South . Finally, Stoner played the trump card of southern phobias, saying, "You notice the niggers arc singing, `I Love Everybody.' They sure~love 2~Roy Reed, "White Man is Shot by Negro in Clash in 8ogalusa, La .;' New York Times (July 9,1965): 1, 13 . See also `"Tension in Boglausa, La.," Facts on File (July 7, 1965) : 255 . 12 3
- Page 93 and 94: Whatever his place in prevailing hi
- Page 95 and 96: thinking merit special attention by
- Page 97 and 98: The women propared food, and served
- Page 99 and 100: candidate for county representative
- Page 101 and 102: tide of nonviolent diroct action ;
- Page 103 and 104: the sheriff again and told him that
- Page 105 and 106: characterized by hatred or meanness
- Page 107 and 108: terms of "`violence' versus `nonvio
- Page 109 and 110: than as separate entities, seenKd q
- Page 111 and 112: The best descriptor of Malcolm X wa
- Page 113 and 114: qualities in themselves. Finally, a
- Page 115 and 116: someone is treating you in a crimin
- Page 117 and 118: "You can't take a black man who is
- Page 119 and 120: attacked . Now, fve never been the
- Page 121 and 122: have, he wondered, to stop the loca
- Page 123 and 124: precluded him from being involved.
- Page 125 and 126: Malcolm "proved" his detractors to
- Page 127 and 128: Malcolm reveled in ambivalence, and
- Page 129 and 130: While his views on integration, whi
- Page 131 and 132: He summed up his speoch by doclarin
- Page 133 and 134: journalist, labeled them "the South
- Page 135 and 136: shifted from Jonesbom to 8ogalusa,
- Page 137 and 138: cost. The struggle for black equali
- Page 139 and 140: point, the Deacons had ban quietly
- Page 141 and 142: Under the aegis of their charter an
- Page 143: them ; they were attuned to the law
- Page 147 and 148: One thing is apparent in this year
- Page 149 and 150: mistake" ; the presence of the Deac
- Page 151 and 152: done:' Sims said, "we walked like m
- Page 153 and 154: he waa killedj, but I believe he wa
- Page 155 and 156: Events picked up across the border
- Page 157 and 158: they were bound to precipitate a ca
- Page 159 and 160: goals of the movement. A year later
- Page 161 and 162: Sellers noted that while King was f
- Page 163 and 164: things," he said. "Everybody want t
- Page 165 and 166: the group . For example, an intervi
- Page 167 and 168: "Understand, the Deacons don't repl
- Page 169 and 170: quest for black equality, and chang
- Page 171 and 172: self-defense denotation from the of
- Page 173 and 174: Lowndes County lies in the heart of
- Page 175 and 176: "take over the courthouse" with sub
- Page 177 and 178: On Monday, November 7,1966, the nig
- Page 179 and 180: do anything violent ."~s But as the
- Page 181 and 182: To Carmichael, the Deacons for Defe
- Page 183 and 184: their perception in the media, and
- Page 185 and 186: considered the Panthers "a living t
- Page 187 and 188: legislator from Piedmont, specifica
- Page 189 and 190: Seale, the police were the enforcem
- Page 191 and 192: They also displayed a propensity to
- Page 193 and 194: Newton viewed violence as not simpl
Sims ignited the Deacons' rise to prominence. His charisma <strong>and</strong> leadership<br />
anchored the organization, <strong>and</strong> his persona symbolized the Deacons' no-nonsense<br />
approach to the struggle for black equality. Unlike many other civil rights leaders, Sims<br />
did not hail from a middle-class background . He was a part-time insurance salesman <strong>and</strong><br />
a tough, hard-nosed man with a pre-movement police record that included assault <strong>and</strong><br />
carrying a concealed weapon . If his pistol jabbed him in the ribs when he sat down, Sims<br />
would nonchalantly toss it-along with his car keys <strong>and</strong> cigarettes-onto the nesr+est table<br />
with a clatter, often alarming anyone near. With disarming forwardness, <strong>and</strong> mock<br />
intimacy, Sims called prominent civil rights leaders (as well as white reporters) by their<br />
first names, calling well-known black author Louis Lomax "Louis," <strong>and</strong> CORE national<br />
president James Farmer "Jim." Showing that he was not within the circle of accepted<br />
civil rights leadership, Sims mistakenly referred to SNCC's Julian Bond as "Julius,"<br />
though he respectfully called King "Dr. King ." Stiff-necked <strong>and</strong> brooding, with a dark<br />
sense of humor, Sims did not take the civil rights movement or his role in it lightly.<br />
Under Sims' watchful eye, the civil rights movement in Bogalusa <strong>and</strong> the tension<br />
that accompanied it came to a head in July 1965 . During a civil rights march on a<br />
downtown street on July 8, a flying bottle struck seventeen-year-old Hattie Mae Hill in<br />
not target whites for retaliatory violence, or advocate disruption of the white community<br />
through violent means . The Deacons' guns were, in a sense, secondary to their promotion<br />
of personal self-defense. "I want to say [that] when I confront a white man," warned<br />
Sims, "I would be just as dangerous to the white man without a weapon as 1 would be<br />
with a weapon, if he didn't treat me right." Sims, quoted in Grant, Black Protest, 358 ; see<br />
also "Deacons Organiu Chicago Chapter," New York Times (April 6,1966) : 29.<br />
For Sims' misnomers, see Roy Reed, "The Deacons, Too, Ride by Night," Taw<br />
York Times Ma ine (August 1S, 1965) : 22 <strong>and</strong> Raises, My Soul is Rested, 420.<br />
12 2
Change language