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

making better men either of themselves or their adversaries ."~ For him, and others who
accused Williams of vigilantism, it was a question of means versus ends .
If what he advocated was vigilantism, Williams countered, then it was of a sort
justified by the absence of protection for all segments of the American population,
namely blacks . "Self-defense is not a love of violence," he explained . "It is a love of
justice ." 6 ` He disagreed with the notion that any form of violence is immoral . He both
"used and approved" nonviolent resistance as a tactic : however, he also believed that "a
man cannot have human dignity if he allows himself to be abused ."~
He later argued that the Monroe sit-ins "proved that self-defense and nonviolence
could be successfully combined:' To support this argument, he pointed out that there
had been less violence in the Monroe sit-ins than in any other sit-ins in the South and,
indeed, Williams could substantiate this claim . In March 1960, the Monroe NAACP had
attempted to integrate the lunch counters at Jones' and Secrcst's dnrg stores . Secrcst's
agreed to the protestors' demands "without incident;' though the manager of Jones' had
Williams arrested for trespassing . No violence occurred. Furthermore, while he had not
been openly armed, Williams had made his "meet violence with violence" speech in May
63Ernest R . Bromley, `"I'wo New Publications: Pacifist, Nonpacifist," The Peacemaker
1 S n12 (September 8, 1962) : 3 .
~Williams, "U.S.A . : Revolution Without Violence?," Revolution (March 1964), 112 .
~Williams, Ne¢roes With Guns, 121 .
'~I~, 68 .
5 9