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

ase for SNCCICOFO and the Mississippi movement. Part of Mileston's signifi-
cance 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 move-
ment 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