Download - Self-Defense and the Roots of Black Power
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The Roots of Black Power and the Tradition of Self-
Defense
Ansel HerzSept. 16, 2008
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A Militant Tradition
Black Power's “essential spirit was the product of generations of black people dealing with powerlessness” (119).
Tradition of armed self-defense dates back to slave resistance and Reconstruction militancy
Explicit calls for militancy originate with Ida B. Wells and DuBois at turn of the century
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Shotguns, pistols, and rifles
President of the Tuskegee Institute Sharecroppers Union in Alabama Medgar Evers Martin Luther King Jr. Daisy Bates
“Armed self-reliance” was “typical of the generation of southern blacks that launched the civil rights movement” (121).
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The Youth of Robert F. Williams
Born in 1925 Family history of activism Saw race riots in Detroit Drafted into WWII's segregated army 21-year-old returns to Monroe in 1946 Black veterans organize to block KKK
from disturbing compatriot's grave
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Gathering the Troops
1955: Reunites with black veterans to re-animate local NAACP chapter
200 members by 1959 Unique in its membership
among lower- and middle-class
Majority of members are women, domestic workers
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“The Kissing Case”
1958: Hanover Thompson, ten-year-old black boy, kisses white girl in game
White mobs threaten families; police detain and beat them, boys convicted in absurd trial
Williams and NAACP launch intensive media campaign, causing flood of letters
“If the government is so concerned about its image... let it create a society that will stand up under world scrutiny” (129).
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“Meet violence with violence”
Lynchings, rapes, and anti-black terror continue in South
Two racist trials in Monroe prompt black outrage
Williams speaks openly of need for self-defense (and revenge?)
NAACP, to immunize itself against red-baiting, condemns Williams in public show-trial
“I WILL NOT CRAWL” (133).
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Philosophy of armed self-reliance
Holistic black nationalism: cultural, economic, political, and conscious self-advancement
Self-defense under the rubric of the Constitution, but in solidarity with Third World struggles
Did not object to integration or nonviolent tactics, winning grassroots support for flexibility
Embraced growing sit-in movement in early on in 1960
Published The Crusader, a national newsletter
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Exile and radicalization
1961: Forced into exile in Cuba by FBI
Meets Fidel, Mao, communist leaders
Intensely radicalized, continues publishing newsletter
Returns in late 1960s, dies in 1996
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Southern self-defense coalitions
Deacons for Defense and Justice in Louisiana Protective force for Tuscaloosa Citizens for
Action Committee in Alabama “Haven communities” in Mississippi By 1968, decreasing necessity of armed
groups Shared characteristics: out-of-view,
paramilitary, working in concert or on behalf of nonviolent activists
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Williams' black nationalist successors
Black Panther Party Revolutionary Action Mov. Republic of New Africa Rejected nonviolence Drew heavily on Williams' legacy More aggressive, violent rhetoric
symbolized the importance of black manhood more than it served pragmatic ends
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5457524655277645843
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Discussion Question #1
What brand of militant black power in your opinion was more successful? The Deacon-style security apparatus for movement activists or the revolutionary paramilitarism of the Black Panthers?
Why? Is there a place for armed self-reliance by marginalized communities today?
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Discussion Question #2
How might Robert Williams' legacy be different had the (nonviolent) civil rights movement leadership of the day fully supported him? Why didn't they? What if he hadn't been forced into exile?
Might there have been more cooperation and less division between the armed and non-violent wings of the movement?