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

exposed the actions of some policemen to be excessive and discriminatory . What little
respect the typical ghetto dweller had for white cops ebbed in the riots of the mid- to late
1960s~
In Newark, New Jersey, on the other side of the country from the Black Panthers'
national headquarters, LeRoi Jones gave voice to this mistrust of law enforcement
officers in his one-act play Arm Yourselfor Harm Yourself: A Message of Self-Defense
to Black Men. The play, published as a pamphlet in the late 1960's, dramatized the new
mentality of self-defense in a concise, easily digestible form, meant for widespread
distribution .
The front cover of the play depicts a helmet-wearing policeman shooting an
unarmed black man in the back; the back cover depicts two policemen, revolvers drawn,
saying "Open up, or we'll shoot!" They stand at the door of a black man, who clutches a
small boy and replies, "I haven't done anything! Leave me alone!" The dialogue consists
of a conversation between two men, one of whom is trying to convince the other of the
merits of self-defense :
First Brother: Kill us off like crazy-ass animals . Nothin' but us on the ground
getting stomped and beat and shot down . Cain't do nuthin . Cain't do nuthin . . .
fm sick of this muthafuckin shit . . .
Second Brother. You ain't sick as I am, man [takes out his piece, pulls back the
hammerJ . Ain't no devil on this planet gonna put his bloody claws on me, brother.
Not no more, my man . . . not no more .
The literature concerning riots in the 1960's is too expansive to discuss in this
context . For an introduction, see the ReQOrt of the National Advisory Commission on
Civil Disorders (New York : Bantam, 1%8) and Robert Conot, Rivers of Blood. Years of
(New York : Bantam, 1%7) .
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