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

On September 29, 1964, Governor Johnson and T. B . Johnson convened
with McComb and Pike County officials. Governor Johnson also warned he was
on the verge of mobilizing Mississippi National Guard to McComb . Local offi
cials appealed for forty-eight hours to resolve the situation themselves . Within
twenty four hours, Klansmen were being arrested for the bombings . One week
later eleven Klansmen had been arrested for participating in arson and bombing
of homes and institutions in the Black community. Nine of these men were tried
on October 23, 1964 . After pleading guilty and being sentenced to five years of
incarceration, Judge W. H . Watkins granted them probation, stating the bombers
had been "unduly provoked ."ss
The Black community felt betrayed again by the virtual release of the
white terrorists. While legal action proved to lead to a dead end, the commercial
leadership of the white power structure began to champion toleration and compro
mise . The white commercial elite of McComb realized in a changing climate, the
city be known as "the bombing capital of the world" was not good business . They
also realized the bombing and racist violence had not terrorized the Black com-
munity into submission, but if continued could potentially lead to a racial upris-
ing . The outrage and retaliatory violence of September 29, 1964, played a signifi-
cant role in forcing the federal and state governments to intervene and making the
commercial elite "blink ."
Armed self-defense and armed resistance played a role in virtually every
community that COFO projects were organized in during Freedom Summer.
Armed defense was organized depending on the nature of each community . The
organization of community patrols seemed to depend on the social organization