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

spirit. s ~
Meanwhile, Williarns had begun stockpiling arms. Circulation of The Crusader
grew . In April 1%1-in the wake of the unsuccessful U .S . invasion of Cuba at the Bay
of Pigs-he sent a telegram to the United Nations that read:
Now that the United States has proclaimed military support for people willing to
rebel against oppression, oppressed colored people in the South urgently request
tanks, artillery, bombs, money, use of American airfields, and white mercenaries
to crush racist tyrants who have betrayed the American Revolution and Civil War.
We also request prayers for this noble undertaking.s2
Relentlessly, Williams continued to needle the sensibilities of those around him by trying
to
promote change . News of his efforts, and of the tense atmosphere between blacks and
whites there, slowly seeped out of Monroe. One white man wrote to Williams from
Syracuse, New York : "If it comes to violent defense against the attacks of the
segregationists, there will be many of us with you, just as there were in the time of John
S ~Clayborne Carson has provided the most comprehensive and insightful analysis of
SNCC to date in U Swa¢le : SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (Cambridge :
Harvard University Press, 1981).
s : "Robert Williams asks U. S . To Support War on South,"~[Baltimore]~
(April 29, 1%1) : 1 .
5 4