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

(formerly known as Stokley Carmichael) remembers being handed a revolver by
Fannie Lou Hamer when staying at her home in Ruleville, Mississippi . Sundiata
Acoli (formerly known as Clark Squire), a young Black activist living in New
York, volunteered to come to Mississippi to participate in Freedom Summer after
hearing of the murders of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman . He was assigned to
Batesville, a small town in the Delta county of Panola. Squire was housed by "a
older sister" who was one of the Movement leaders in Batesville . When entering
his bedroom, which was in the rear of the house, Acoli noticed "a loaded 12-
gauge (shot gun) leaned against the comer and a box of shells on the bureau."',
In larger urban centers Black communities possessed a critical mass to
protect Movement leaders and Black institutions and businesses. One clear ex-
ample of this is the Mississippi city of Meridian . During the dominance of rail
transport, Meridian was a transportation hub and retail center for Mississippi . The
ethnic character of Meridian was more diverse than most Mississippi towns since
its population, besides African descendants and white Protestants, included a
Jewish community and a Irish Catholic community . Many in the Meridian Black
community, though experiencing segregation and the threat of white supremacist
violence, perceived Black life in Meridian as being better than other parts of the
state . Meridian Blacks cited the fact that their local Black businesses were not
segregated from the primary Meridian business district and the existence of two
four-year Black high schools in Meridian (prior to the late 1940's no Black com-
munity in east Mississippi had one) as proofof better conditions for Black people
in Meridian . At the same time that they had pride in their community and achieve-
ments, elements of Black Meridian were not satisfied with the restrictions on