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

I have the greatest respect for Mr. Martin Luther King, but nonviolence
won't work in Mississippi . . .We made up our minds . . .that
if a white man shoots at a Negro in Mississippi, we will shoot
back. . .If they bomb a Negro church and kill our children, we are
going to bomb a white church and kill some of their children . . . We
are going to use the same thing against them that they use against
us .6
This type of statement greatly concerned the NAACP national leadership. It was
the same type of statement that caused the NAACP hierarchy to suspend and
censor Monroe North Carolina NAACP chief Robert Williams .
On, the other hand, Evers bold statements provided great enthusiasm
among many Movement people and supporters in Mississippi . Due to the fact
many had never heard a person ofAfrican descent making provocative public
statements, Evers won the respect and admiration of many Black Mississippians .
Large numbers ofthem were inspired to action and motivated to sacrifice for the
goals of their respective local movements under Evers's leadership . Evers could
not have made such provocative statements without the support of the Jackson
defense group and other paramilitary units springing up in Black communities
throughout the South . Charles Evers certainly welcomed the existence of para-
military Movement organizations. In a 1965 interview, he said: "These groups are
all over the state now, and I'm glad they're around.' 11 Certainly his effectiveness
as a leader was dependent on the development of paramilitary organization in the
Mississippi Movement. There is a direct relationship to the influence of Evers and
the advance of para-military organizations by movement workers and supporters
in the state, particularly in campaigns in southwest Mississippi towns like
Natchez, Port Gibson, Fayette, Woodville, and Crystal Springs . One associate of