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

activists participated in and supported the development of para-military organiza-
tions as a clear alternative to non-violence . The use of the potential for retaliatory
violence by Charles Evers and other Black leaders demonstrated a new strategy to
win concessions from local governments . This potential became the "bartering
chip" as opposed to the threat of federal intervention .
The Black armed resistance tradition made the Mississippi Freedom
Movement more potent . As a compliment to non-violence, armed self-defense
helped non-violent activists survive and local people participate more safely in
non-violent marches and demonstrations . When Movement activists believed non-
violence was no longer effective, armed resistance became an alternative to non-
violence and reliance on federal intervention . Thus while non-violence was
employed and widely advocated in the Civil Rights crusade, the Movement was
not a "non-violent movement ."
Armed resistance, in the words of Amilcar Cabral, is a "factor of culture ."
In the Mississippi Freedom Movement, armed resistance on the part of Black
people helped to assert their humanity, to affirm they were not inferior . Commu
nity pride was enhanced when local Blacks relied upon their own resources to
defend themselves from aggressors and to assert their humanity.
Chapter Two describes the role of white supremacist violence in enforcing
segregationist caste behavior and maintaining Black people as a subject class in
Mississippi . The primary role of white supremacist violence was to intimidate
Black people to "stay in their places ." To effectively challenge white supremacy,
f