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

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SNCC activists .`3 Tumbow's successful defense of his life and his inspirational leadership has made him a legendary figure within the Holmes County Black community and the Mississippi movement . Similar to grassroots leaders like Steptoe, Dahmer, Greene, and McGhee, Turnbow won the admiration and respect of young SNCC activists . It was widely known within the Movement that Turnbow did not practice or advocate nonviolence . According to Charles Cobb, Turnbow would joke about his act of armed resistance in defense of his family and home, "I wasn't bein' non, nonviolent . I was just protectin' my wife and family." In one interview, Turnbow took pride in the fact he publicly disagreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. in response to King's advocacy of nonviolence on two occasions . At a meeting during the 1964 Democratic Convention, Turnbow replied to statements by King "[T]his nonviolent stuff ain't no good. It'll get you killed." The same day Turnbow told a young female activist: "[E]very what the Mississippi white man pose with, he got to be met with . . . Meet him with ever he pose with. If he pose with a smile, meet him with a smile, and if he pose with a gun, meet him with a gun." Turnbow generally came to SNCC/COFO meetings with a briefcase which concealed his .38 handgun . Hollis Watkins remembered Turnbow commenting about his .38 ,"'This (his handgun) is for folks who might try and come in here and do something to us . They ain't gonna come up in here and take us, not as long as I'm here and alive." In spite of white violence and intransigence, Tumbow and the Black community of Holmes would continue their fight for basic civil and human rights . Holmes County, particularly the village of Mileston, would become a significant
ase for SNCCICOFO and the Mississippi movement. Part of Mileston's significance was its ability to provide a protective ring around its community. The armed presence of Black farmers in Holmes County was greatly appreciated by activists committed to nonviolence, who from their experiences in Pike and Leflore coun- ties were realizing federal law enforcement could not be relied on for protection . CQRE in Canton : Being Protected by "Badass" C-0. Chinn CORE's experience in the rural Deep South was very similar to SNCC's, in terms of contact with Black Southerners who practiced armed self-defense as a way of life . As earlier stated, CORE was the first organization to apply Gandhian principles of nonviolence in the struggle for Black civil and human rights in the U.S . The heart of CORE's initial leadership group in the Deep South would actually come from urban New Orleans . From the New Orleans student movement emerged the first CORE workers to go to rural Louisiana and Mississippi . This group included Rudy Lombard, who would become National CORE's vice- chairman ; George Raymond, Matthew Suarez, Dave Dennis, and Jerome Smith, a former longshoreman. The group became well grounded in Gandhian philosophy . One member of the group, speaking on its commitment to nonviolence, stated "The chapter had a deep Gandhian philosophy. ..All the members were prepared to die if necessary. In fact we spent hours talking about Gandhian philosophy and willingness to give our lives . We would not eat and talk for days as a means to acquire discipline ." In 1960, the New Orleans CORE group would takes its first political steps by participating in lunch counter demonstrations . In its sit-ins, New Orleans CORE utilized "hit and run" tactics . Demonstrators would disrupt white
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Eye for an Eye: The Role ofArmed Re
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This is an authorized facsimile, ma
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ABSTRACT Although, the Civil Rights
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Light and Power on their spirits Mo
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Eye for an Eye: The Role ofArmed Re
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Ch
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armed resistance in Black struggle
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Review of the Literature The Litera
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from advocates of armed self-defens
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the Movement. Each of these authors
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whom were committed to and practice
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and enforced against Black humanity
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transcript" of insurgency that has
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Chapter One: Historic Armed Black R
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to Kongolese armies. The use of arm
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people who were antagonistic to the
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nation, and to promise Africans fre
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coons to chattel status. Rather tha
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South legal . The Seminoles prepare
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more than slaves or mercenaries . A
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maroons, calling themselves the "Ki
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Adams county, Mississippi, in 1861
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The same year abolitionist and fugi
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separate Black army with its own "c
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soldiers defended their sisters and
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Southern whites were not willing to
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die where they stood before they wo
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teers throughout Hinds county. Real
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supremacy was not secure without th
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hours . While in each case there we
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of Alabama, to be armed at their me
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initiated gunfire after hearing rum
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apists . In February of 1948, Mrs.
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U .S . Army, was known as a sharpsh
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11 . Kenneth Wiggins Porter, The Ne
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31 . Edwin S. Redkey, AGrand Army o
Page 73 and 74: North Carolina Press, 19903, 44-45
Page 75 and 76: in the Age of Jim C,Eow, states tha
Page 77 and 78: S 1,614 for whites . Close to two-t
Page 79 and 80: ers his father would not allow him
Page 81 and 82: ist mob continued their intimidatio
Page 83 and 84: unit designed after the Mau Mau of
Page 85 and 86: the 1954 U .S . Supreme Court decis
Page 87 and 88: he refused to persuade the thirty r
Page 89 and 90: Meredith to "Ole Miss." Because of
Page 91 and 92: eturned home around midnight . Myrl
Page 93 and 94: 11 . C.O . Chinn, interview by the
Page 95 and 96: crime . He was abducted by a mob of
Page 97 and 98: Chapter Three: The Non-Violent Move
Page 99 and 100: as the popular leader of this new o
Page 101 and 102: ments for protest based on moral an
Page 103 and 104: ticed some form of self-defense cov
Page 105 and 106: and NAACP organizer. Moore had assi
Page 107 and 108: On Moore's recommendation, Moses fi
Page 109 and 110: house, under pillows, under chairs
Page 111 and 112: lacks to challenge Amite's white po
Page 113 and 114: including Medgar Evers and Roy Wilk
Page 115 and 116: practice of self-defense . To warn
Page 117 and 118: Mississippi officials, charging the
Page 119 and 120: Anyone participating in the march h
Page 121 and 122: and harassed, local police did not
Page 123: Blacks alike were amazed that the g
Page 127 and 128: with its own identity in the state
Page 129 and 130: military soured after Chinn openly
Page 131 and 132: Besides this group of protective gu
Page 133 and 134: for younger activists to challenge
Page 135 and 136: 9, 1984, 1-B- 10B ; Chuck McDew int
Page 137 and 138: 47 . Ibid, 178-179 ; Dennis, interv
Page 139 and 140: demonstrate that disenfranchised Mi
Page 141 and 142: franchised Black voters, the organi
Page 143 and 144: themselves and advising SNCC activi
Page 145 and 146: massacre as implied by Hall . Other
Page 147 and 148: to be a force in the Southern movem
Page 149 and 150: CORE also was engaged in debate con
Page 151 and 152: Schwerner, and one Freedom Summer v
Page 153 and 154: Goodman . Another element of this c
Page 155 and 156: Black history, Movement politics, a
Page 157 and 158: Harmony school and bused Harmony's
Page 159 and 160: economic arena was also displayed i
Page 161 and 162: on, in Brown's words, the "organiza
Page 163 and 164: There was a fine line . There was a
Page 165 and 166: (formerly known as Stokley Carmicha
Page 167 and 168: Union Baptist Church, led by its pa
Page 169 and 170: terrorist violence was initiated by
Page 171 and 172: Reeves family had a history of bein
Page 173 and 174: and Movement activists of McComb .
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friend by pretending he was only pa
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and cohesiveness of each community.
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lenge the credentials of the segreg
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5 . Hollis Watkins, interviewed in
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28 . Dovie Hudson, interviewed in B
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56 . Bob Moses, interview by the au
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turn followed a different posture t
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cials were uneasy about Charles bec
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Cooper stated " We had 30.06. We ha
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Charles Evers's stated: He encourag
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the boycott. Arange of coercive tac
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thereby silenced and neutralized by
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crushed when a police car led a Kla
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Robert Williams . Thomas had read a
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of the Deacons in Bogulusa. The lea
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McKeithen also called for negotiati
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settlers . Natchez was the hub for
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would spark an acceleration of acti
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Even though the police officers wer
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U.S . Constitution [including the S
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e known, you better figure on dying
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situation that day: These pecker wo
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of the Deacons capabilities, provid
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unless City government acted favora
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Black community to enforce its deci
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claiming victory , announcing the m
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teams to enforce the boyott1 In Cla
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argument between Shields, and a whi
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Jackson also led to near uprising b
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implementing the Natchez model, Rud
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Okolona, Tupelo, and Byhalia. The U
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18 . Porter, Interview with Deacon
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44 . Ibid ; Young, interview by aut
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73 . Ibid. 74 . James Scott, interv
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CONCLUSION ". . ..the armed liberat
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existence of armed resistance in th
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Some may argue that the evidence pr
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ofthe Movement and doesn't apprecia
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it was necessary for the Black comm
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the white power structure but also
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Significance of "Eye forAn Eye" It
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4 . Comel West, Progb= Deliverance
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Herman Leach, July 30,1994, Yazoo C
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Correspondence Letter from Sundiata
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Carson, Clayborne, et al. The Eyes
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Jordan, Winthrop, Tumult and Silenc
Page 267 and 268:
Payne, Charles, 1've Got the Light
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DissertationslTheses Barksdale, Mar
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