Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

make decisions for himself and "if people wanted to `meet him,' he was `prepared
to meet them'." Watkins obviously grew up in an environment that armed self-
defense was an essential aspect of life . At the same time participating in the
nonviolent action at Woolworth's, Watkins never was philosophically committed
to nonviolence . Watkins actually doubted he could be nonviolent if physically
attacked at the Woolworth's sit-in or any other nonviolent action . As a result of
the Woolworth sit-in Watkins and his friend Hayes were arrested and incarcerated
34 days .25
After the direct action wing of SNCC organized a sit-in the local
Woolworth, a series of demonstrations took place in McComb. In the days follow-
ing the arrests of Watkins and Hayes, three other members of the Pike County
Non-Violent Movement were arrested including Brenda Travis, a fifteen-year-old
high school student, for attempting to desegregate a Greyhound bus terminal .
Travis and her co-defendants, Bobby Talbert and Ike Lewis, were also held for 30
days . After the arrests of Talbert, well over 100 students from Burgland high
school in McComb and other youth were mobilized to protest the arrests and
segregation . Organizers of the protest did not recruit students from the local
projects fearing they could not maintain the discipline of nonviolence. Over 116
students were arrested and three SNCC organizers, Moses, Chuck McDew and
Bob Zellner, were arrested. While the indigenous adult leadership of the McComb
Movement came to the support of the youth, some, including local NAACP
president Curtis Bryant, became disenchanted with SNCC and the demonstra-
tions. These leaders believed SNCC had come to McComb to organize voter
registration activities, not direct action. Other state and national NAACP officials,