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
talking about self-defense," Williams confessed in 1961, "I would walk through the streets and many of my black neighbors would walk away to avoid me'~ a Understandably, many of the black citizens of Monr+oe warmed slowly to his call to arms in the late 1950's . They were afraid, and rightly so : Williams posed a very real danger to them all . Repercussion for speaking out against the status quo, let alone taking steps to change it, could be swift in the South . In the past, some blacks had lost their jobs, while others had lost their lives, and those whites bent on "justice" were not discriminative in how they allotted it . Williams was inviting censure--or worse--by his words and deeds ; but, there was something appealing about his example, and many in the black community quickly saw him as more brave than insane . The respect he commanded from whites was empowering for the black people of Monroe . White Southerners lived their lives by the laws of tradition ; that is, the way things had always been was the way things should be~ Clearly, whites in Monroe, like other white Southerners, yearned for stability in their lives. They believed that change, if at all necessary, should take place gradually and peaceably within the existing laws and a3Williams, Negt+oes With Guns, 111 . `Andrew Myers has best illustrated the reticence of Monroe's white citizenry to embrace change . "Although Monroe whites took pride in their modernity," he has written, "they still happily regarded their town as an isolated, conservative, southern community. They feared the recent, rapid changes which had taken place . Their insecurity was reflected in the 1949 enactment ofan alcohol prohibition law . A year later, during the height of the Red Scare, thirty-five Monroe businessmen took out a four-column advertisement in the [Monroe] i entitled `Americanism and Christianity or Communism and Atheism?' Soon afterwards, they replaced the courthouse weather vane with a neon cross :' Myers, "When Violence Met Violence : Facts and Images of Robert F . Williams and the Black Freedom Struggle in Monr+oe, North Carolina" (M.A . thesis, University of Virginia, 1993), 12-13 . 5 0
folkways . Because they believed that assimilation by blacks would disrupt the existing social and political order, they feared it. This fear often manifested itself in strict adherence to tradition ; in this case, unyielding Jim Crow laws. Segregationists, racial supremacists, and those whites otherwise unsympathetic to the goals of the movement feared agitated "nigras;' running amuck. For example, when Williams formed a rifle club and spoke of the need for blacks to defend themselves, whites became alarmed. They ignored the fact that his club, the Union County Rifle Club, resembled the white rifle clubs already in existence in Monroe, just as they ignored that Williams had applied for a charter from the National Rifle Association (which he received, after passing off the organization as a white group)~ Apparently, they did not like the idea of Afro-Americans' responding to violence "with anything more vigorous than spirituals ."~~ White Monroeans became afraid, but whatever 4SFred Powledge has described the many faces of white-resistance by categorizing the different, oratorical rationales of white resistance, from "integration-will-close-ourschools" to "federal-government-as-ogre" to "outside-agitator" to "they're-going-to marry-your sister" to "our-colored-are-happy" to "we-must-protect-our-way-of-life." Perhaps most intriguing is the "blood-in-our-streets" rationale of southern politicians, who argued under the auspices of law and order that rapid desegregation would prompt violence by whites resorting to vigilanteism . See Powledge, Free at Last? : The Civil Rights Movement and the People Who Made It (New York : Harper Perennial, 1991), 151-152. ~fhe NRA was apparently unaware that its new chapter was primarily black because Williams aggrandized occupational data on his application . For example, on the NRA charter application, Williams listed brick masons as "contractors," and dishwashers as "rcstauranteurs." Williams, interviewed by James Mosby, July 22, 1970, transcript, Ralph J . Bunche Oral History Collection (Civil Rights Documentation Projat), Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University . ~~William McCord, et . al ., Life Stvles in the Black Ghetto (New York: W.W . Norton &Co ., 1969), 239 . 51
- Page 21 and 22: people customarily initiated it . F
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- Page 29 and 30: But while King defused the volatile
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- Page 35 and 36: Additionally, Bayard Rustin reporte
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- Page 39 and 40: available to the Negro in his strug
- Page 41 and 42: (toughmindedness) and love (tenderh
- Page 43 and 44: compelling arguments for the moral
- Page 45 and 46: and faggot. For example, in 1889, J
- Page 47 and 48: His first impulse when threatened w
- Page 49 and 50: aggravate ; that is, his politics o
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- Page 53 and 54: '~P~opk With StrenSth": Questioning
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- Page 61 and 62: NAACP had always appealed, he scour
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folkways . Because they believed that assimilation by blacks would disrupt the existing<br />
social <strong>and</strong> political order, they feared it. This fear often manifested itself in strict<br />
adherence to tradition ; in this case, unyielding Jim Crow laws. Segregationists, racial<br />
supremacists, <strong>and</strong> those whites otherwise unsympathetic to the goals of the movement<br />
feared agitated "nigras;' running amuck.<br />
For example, when Williams formed a rifle club <strong>and</strong> spoke of the need for blacks<br />
to defend themselves, whites became alarmed. They ignored the fact that his club, the<br />
Union County Rifle Club, resembled the white rifle clubs already in existence in Monroe,<br />
just as they ignored that Williams had applied for a charter from the National Rifle<br />
Association (which he received, after passing off the organization as a white group)~<br />
Apparently, they did not like the idea of Afro-Americans' responding to violence "with<br />
anything more vigorous than spirituals ."~~ White Monroeans became afraid, but whatever<br />
4SFred Powledge has described the many faces of white-resistance by categorizing the<br />
different, oratorical rationales of white resistance, from "integration-will-close-ourschools"<br />
to "federal-government-as-ogre" to "outside-agitator" to "they're-going-to<br />
marry-your sister" to "our-colored-are-happy" to "we-must-protect-our-way-of-life."<br />
Perhaps most intriguing is the "blood-in-our-streets" rationale of southern politicians,<br />
who argued under the auspices of law <strong>and</strong> order that rapid desegregation would prompt<br />
violence by whites resorting to vigilanteism . See Powledge, Free at Last? : The Civil<br />
<strong>Rights</strong> Movement <strong>and</strong> the People Who Made It (New York : Harper Perennial, 1991),<br />
151-152.<br />
~fhe NRA was apparently unaware that its new chapter was primarily black because<br />
Williams aggr<strong>and</strong>ized occupational data on his application . For example, on the NRA<br />
charter application, Williams listed brick masons as "contractors," <strong>and</strong> dishwashers as<br />
"rcstauranteurs." Williams, interviewed by James Mosby, July 22, 1970, transcript,<br />
Ralph J . Bunche Oral History Collection (Civil <strong>Rights</strong> Documentation Projat),<br />
Moorl<strong>and</strong>-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University .<br />
~~William McCord, et . al ., Life Stvles in the Black Ghetto (New York: W.W . Norton<br />
&Co ., 1969), 239 .<br />
51
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