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
Southern laws, customs, and mores insured neither police protection nor assurance of pardon for blacks faced with the dilemma of defending themselves against violent attack. Then as now, using a weapon could bring as much harm to the defender as to the aggressor. For a black person, it could bring down the white power structure including the full weight of the judicial and legal systems, upon his or her head, as well as set into motion the extralegal mechanisms of repression such as mob vigilantism and lynching . It meant possible retribution not only to the person using the weapon but also to that person's household and community . But for many, the honor and self-esteem gained in self-defense counterbalanced these risks . As a fundamental right protected by the Second, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments, self-defense assumed a constitutional role seminal to the struggle for black equality . When self-defense entered congressional debates over these latter amendments and, in effect, became a privilege of whiteness during the latter half of the nineteenth century, it became a matter of principle concern for black Americans seeking the recognition of tirst- class citizenship . . °2 Many black leaders advocated self-defense during this golden age of rope 'ZSee Robert J. Control, Gun Control and the Constitution : The Courts . Con¢ress . and the Second Amendment (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc ., 1993) ; Stephen J . Halbrook,~ Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Riaht (Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 1984) ; and Clayton E . Cramer, For the Defense of Themselves and the State: The Orininal Intent and Jodcial Internretation of t_he Right t,~IC^ and Hear Arms (Westport, Connecticut : Praeger Publishers, 1994); see also Robert J . Control and Raymond T . Diamond, "`Never Intended to be Applied to the White Population' : Firearms Regulation and Racial Disparity-The Redeemed South's i.egacy to a National Jurisprudence?" Chicano-Kent Law Review 70 (1995): 1307-L33S, and Clayton E. Cramer, "The Racist Roots ofGun Control," Kansas Journal ofLaw and Public Policy 4 (1995): 17-25 . 2 2
and faggot. For example, in 1889, John E. Bruce, a prominent black journalist, articulated the need for self-defense when he wrote : Under the present condition of affairs the only hope, the only salvation for the Negro is to be found in a resort to force under wise and discreet leaders . . . The Negro must not be rash and indiscreet either in action or in words but he must be very determined and tenibly earnest, and of one mind to bring order out of chaos and to convince southern rowdies and cutthroats that more than two can play at the game with which they have amused their fellow conspirators in crime for nearly a quarter of a century. T . Thomas Fortune, the preeminent Afro-American editor of the early twentieth century, also urged blacks to use physical force to defend themselves and retaliate for outrages! s Similarly, Ida B . Wells-Barnett, whose anti-lynching campaign stemmed from the deaths of three of her friends in Memphis, advised in Southern Horrors (1892) that "a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home ." [I]t should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give . When the white man who is always the aggressor knows he runs as great risk of biting the dust every time his Afro-American friend does, he will have greater respect for Afro-American life Her first action after the Memphis lynchings was to arm herself. "I had bought a pistol the first thing after Tom Moss was lynched, because I expected some cowardly retaliation from °3AIso see August Meier, Negro Thou~t in America. 1880-1915 (Ann Arbor : Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1966), 73 . ''4Peter Gilbert, ed ., The Selected Writings of John Journalist (Ncw York: Arno Press, 1971), 31, 32. ~sSee Emma Lou Thornbrough, `"f . Thomas Fortune : Militant Editor in the Age of Accomodation," J. H. Franklin and August Meier, eds ., Black Leaders of the Twentieth Cep (LJrbana: University of Alinois Press, 1982), 22-23 . ~Ida B . Wells, Southern Horrors and Other Writings, Jacqueline Jones Royster, ed. (Boston : Bedford Books, 1997), 70. 2 3
- Page 1 and 2: CCVII. RIGHTS & SELF-DEFENSE : THE
- Page 3 and 4: Civil Rights and Self-Defense : The
- Page 5 and 6: It was not until the 1950's and 196
- Page 7 and 8: ights movement, including : redempt
- Page 9 and 10: unnoticed, unbeknownst, or simply i
- Page 11 and 12: nonviolence . It is not a complete
- Page 13 and 14: happen, and the time for defense is
- Page 15 and 16: during this period currently lie do
- Page 17 and 18: what is right, but Iam not sure how
- Page 19 and 20: could be argued that King's middle-
- Page 21 and 22: people customarily initiated it . F
- Page 23 and 24: "The Other Cheek" : ReUn9ubhing Sel
- Page 25 and 26: expressed an urge to "give as good
- Page 27 and 28: professionals and faculty members f
- Page 29 and 30: But while King defused the volatile
- Page 31 and 32: (FOR), and William Worthy, a black
- Page 33 and 34: practicability of his position: '~4
- Page 35 and 36: Additionally, Bayard Rustin reporte
- Page 37 and 38: the power structure."~ In other wor
- Page 39 and 40: available to the Negro in his strug
- Page 41 and 42: (toughmindedness) and love (tenderh
- Page 43: compelling arguments for the moral
- Page 47 and 48: His first impulse when threatened w
- Page 49 and 50: aggravate ; that is, his politics o
- Page 51 and 52: quantitative change in our lives."
- Page 53 and 54: '~P~opk With StrenSth": Questioning
- Page 55 and 56: united behind him:'s Comparing his
- Page 57 and 58: paratroopers from the 101" Airborne
- Page 59 and 60: Williams respected what he called "
- Page 61 and 62: NAACP had always appealed, he scour
- Page 63 and 64: Montgomery was buried without incid
- Page 65 and 66: motorcade with gunfiro when the car
- Page 67 and 68: slavery and oppression . Tire Negro
- Page 69 and 70: S-6 . at the heart of his nonviolen
- Page 71 and 72: act : anyone who would utilize nonv
- Page 73 and 74: folkways . Because they believed th
- Page 75 and 76: the South, found themselves spearhe
- Page 77 and 78: Brown ." sa That same month, Willia
- Page 79 and 80: pumping hundrr~ds of thousands of d
- Page 81 and 82: making better men either of themsel
- Page 83 and 84: He likened racism to a disease, a m
- Page 85 and 86: escalated . Rioting broke out. Then
- Page 87 and 88: Williams' ideas came to fruition in
- Page 89 and 90: When juxtaposed with the ideas of M
- Page 91 and 92: But if Willisms "made just as much
- Page 93 and 94: Whatever his place in prevailing hi
<strong>and</strong> faggot. For example, in 1889, John E. Bruce, a prominent black journalist, articulated<br />
the need for self-defense when he wrote :<br />
Under the present condition of affairs the only hope, the only salvation for the Negro<br />
is to be found in a resort to force under wise <strong>and</strong> discreet leaders . . . The Negro must<br />
not be rash <strong>and</strong> indiscreet either in action or in words but he must be very determined<br />
<strong>and</strong> tenibly earnest, <strong>and</strong> of one mind to bring order out of chaos <strong>and</strong> to convince<br />
southern rowdies <strong>and</strong> cutthroats that more than two can play at the game with which<br />
they have amused their fellow conspirators in crime for nearly a quarter of a century.<br />
T . Thomas Fortune, the preeminent Afro-American editor of the early twentieth century, also<br />
urged blacks to use physical force to defend themselves <strong>and</strong> retaliate for outrages! s<br />
Similarly, Ida B . Wells-Barnett, whose anti-lynching campaign stemmed from the<br />
deaths of three of her friends in Memphis, advised in Southern Horrors (1892) that "a<br />
Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home ."<br />
[I]t should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give . When the white<br />
man who is always the aggressor knows he runs as great risk of biting the dust every<br />
time his Afro-American friend does, he will have greater respect for Afro-American<br />
life<br />
Her first action after the Memphis lynchings was to arm herself. "I had bought a pistol the<br />
first thing after Tom Moss was lynched, because I expected some cowardly retaliation from<br />
°3AIso see August Meier, Negro Thou~t in America. 1880-1915 (Ann Arbor : Ann Arbor<br />
Paperbacks, 1966), 73 .<br />
''4Peter Gilbert, ed ., The Selected Writings of John<br />
Journalist (Ncw York: Arno Press, 1971), 31, 32.<br />
~sSee Emma Lou Thornbrough, `"f . Thomas Fortune : Militant Editor in the Age of<br />
Accomodation," J. H. Franklin <strong>and</strong> August Meier, eds ., Black Leaders of the Twentieth<br />
Cep (LJrbana: University of Alinois Press, 1982), 22-23 .<br />
~Ida B . Wells, Southern Horrors <strong>and</strong> Other Writings, Jacqueline Jones Royster, ed.<br />
(Boston : Bedford Books, 1997), 70.<br />
2 3
Change language