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

Castro's Cuba was one source for obtaining "all the guns and ammunition we
needed."
Mississippi law allowed for civilians to openly carry loaded weapons in
public .Acitizen could also carry a loaded firearm in a vehicle as long as it wasn't
concealed. This allowed the Deacons to openly carry guns to protect demonstra
tions, mass meetings, and community institutions . The public display of weapons
by Black freedom fighters served to prevent attacks from white supremacists .
According to James Stokes, "we (the Deacons) used to walk up and down these
Mississippi streets with our guns in our holsters, day and night, and they were
afraid to bother us ." I The Deacons openly carried their weapons on marched
demonstrations to protect Movement activists and supporters from attack. James
Stokes described the Deacon security at a march and how racist violence was
prevented. Stokes stated :
They (white supremacists in a vehicle) would try to break through
the line (of demonstrators) . . .We would always have Deacons at the
block intersection . . .and at the end of the block . ..And if we saw a
car coming, he would see us with our guns on and he wasn't about
to come that way. This is how we protected people :"
On September 4, 1967, in Centrerville, a small town in the southwest Mississippi
county of Wilkerson, the Natchez Deacons, aligned with the Wilkerson County
chapter of the Deacons for Defense, scattered a mob of white supremacists . After
a member of the mob trained his weapon at participants in a demonstration for
Black voting rights, twenty-five armed Deacons responded with guns drawn to
prevent the demonstrators from harm.4 Deacon James Young described the