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

also considered armed self-defense . Generally Mississippi Blacks utilized armed
self-defense as a compliment to non-violent direct action, voter registration
campaigns and economic boycotts . Black armed self-defense was considered
insurgent violence in the South since it was often utilized to defend the lives,
institutions, and property of a subject community and their activists efforts to
challenge the authority and mores of the (local) ruling group .
Armed self-defense was the most pervasive form of the armed resistance
practiced in the Movement and in Black communities in the South in the 1950's
and 1960's . To only speak of armed self-defense, however, denies that other forms
of insurgent violence were important tools of local Movements and communities .
Also that were utilized in the Southern freedom movements were retaliatory
violence, spontaneous rebellion and terrorism . Retaliatory violence is the orga-
nized use of force to avenge an act of abuse, particularly, an act of violence .
Retaliatory violence was often utilized to respond to white supremacist violence
and abuse . On several occasions, Blacks would respond, or threaten to counter,
with violence to return white violence . Since retaliatory violence goes beyond
protection of the lives, institutions and property to an actual (counter) offensive
attack, it must be distinguished from armed self-defense . In some cases terrorism
was utilized .
"Spontaneous rebellion" is an unplanned violent response by an ag-
grieved group or community after an act of abuse by the dominant group or its
agents . These acts are often called riots in scholarship and mass media. The term
"riot" often diminishes the intentionality of the rebellious group or community .
No matter how unorganized, spontaneous rebellions often reflect a "hidden