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

According to Natchez activist James Stokes, the Natchez para-military
group decided not to affiliate with the Louisiana Deacons . While Sims offered
advise on how to set up a para-military organization, the Natchez group felt they
had little to gain from a formal affiliation with the Deacons . Stokes remembered
Sims offering no significant material aid to the Natchez para-military group other
than the use of the name of the Deacons for Defense and Justice . Sims stated in
order to use the Deacons name, the Natchez group had to pay a percentage of
their dues to the Louisiana Deacons . The Natchez group rejected Sims offer and
politely asked him to leave town .'
While the Natchez paramilitary group decided not to officially affiliate
with the Louisiana Deacons, they had no problem using their name. The Natchez
group was known throughout the Movement and the state, as the Natchez Dea
cons for Defense and Justice . As they began to assist other para-military affiliates
established across the state, the Natchez group helped form the Mississippi Dea-
cons for Defense and Justice . By early October 1965, a little over a month since
the attack on Metcalf, the Natchez Deacons were visible on the streets of Natchez
providing security at marches and demonstrations . Visible members of the
Natchez Deacons wore overalls and a white shirt while conducting the
organization's business of protecting the Movement and the Black community.'
Officially the Natchez Deacons were chartered in the state of Mississippi
as the Sportsmen Club. On the surface the Sportsmen Club sounded like an
apolitical hunting association, but conciliatory language in its charter reveals a
broader purpose. While the Sportsmen Club's charter stated the organization was
"non-violent" this hunting group pledged, according to Stokes, to "abide by the