Newsflash:  HELL HAS OFFICIALLY FROZEN OVER!  Public Television is at this time broadcasting a grudgingly semi-pro gun program:  Negroes With Guns.

www.pbs.org/independentlens/negroeswithguns/images/home_front.jpg

NEGROES WITH GUNS: Rob Williams and Black Power tells the dramatic story of the often-forgotten civil rights leader who urged African Americans to arm themselves against violent racists. In doing so, Williams not only challenged the Klan-dominated establishment of his hometown of Monroe, North Carolina, he alienated the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, which advocated peaceful resistance. For Williams and other African Americans who had witnessed countless acts of brutality against their communities, armed self-defense was a practical matter of survival, particularly in the violent, racist heart of the Deep South. As the leader of the Monroe chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Williams led protests against the illegal segregation of Monroe’s public swimming pool. He also drew international attention to the harsh realities of life in the Jim Crow South. All the while, Williams and other protestors met the constant threat of violence and death with their guns close at hand.    View Trailer (3:49)   Freedom riders demonstrate in Monroe, North Carolina (August 1961) In August 1961, the Freedom Riders, civil rights activists trained by Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead non-violent resistance, came to Monroe to demonstrate the superiority of passive resistance. An angry mob turned on the protestors and, by the end of the day, the Freedom Riders had been bloodied, beaten and jailed, and Rob Williams was on the run from the FBI. Backed by a jazz score by Terence Blanchard (Barbershop and the films of Spike Lee), NEGROES WITH GUNS uses interviews, rare archival footage and searing photographs to chronicle Williams’ rise to notoriety, his eight-year exile in Cuba and Mao Zedong’s China and his much-publicized return home in 1969. Voices include historians, members of Williams’ Black Guard—armed men committed to the protection of Monroe’s black community—and Williams’ widow, Mabel. For eight years, Williams and his family lived in exile, first in Cuba and then in China. In Havana, Williams began to broadcast a 50,000-watt radio program called "Radio Free Dixie." Selected recordings are featured in NEGROES WITH GUNS. The radio show fused cutting-edge music with news of the black freedom movement and Williams’ editorials, which, among other things, urged blacks not to fight in Vietnam. In exile from 1961 to 1969, at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, Rob Williams and his accomplishments have been largely erased from the public consciousness. According to the filmmakers, NEGROES WITH GUNS helps to “restore Rob and Mabel Williams to their rightful place as important civil rights figures who defied the white power structure without the protection of large numbers or the attention of television cameras.”

Libtards seeing the light?  Discuss.

Well, if communists are involved.....

....then that makes it O-KAY!

Political Correct Guide Book Rule #53:

Everything that you evil right-wingers shouldn't have is okay for us .
----
EDITED so as to only make fun of communists...

It was a good docummentary.  Hopefully it'll make some folks "see the light".

So he flees to China?

Quoted: www.pbs.org/independentlens/negroeswithguns/images/home_front.jpg

There was no such thing as trigger discipline back then, either.

Pfftt.

Ida B. Wells championed that long before this guy did, during her anti-lynching campaign.

"A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give." -  Ida B. Wells, 1892.

The premise: Conditions were SO BAD in the racist south, blacks ACTUALLY HAD TO RESORT TO CARRYING GUNS (shudder!).

Nope, the station has to keep up an appearance that they are fair and  balanced, nothing more.  For every 10 anti-gun shows, TV station may air one that is pro-gun.  No the zebra hasn't change it's stripes, they are as anti-gun as ever.

Probably never told about the fact that the NRA had a hand in helping to arm some blacks agains the KKK.

In Williams case however, using a gun was probably a necessary move at the time , but when the revolution is over, you know, then the  masses will need to be disarmed.

Rob Williams was a useful idiot. I wonder how many starving Cubans and Chinese did he see while he was on exile? The commies played him for all he was worth, then the commie media dropped him into oblivion.

For eight years, Williams and his family lived in exile, first in Cuba and then in China. In Havana, Williams began to broadcast a 50,000-watt radio program called "Radio Free Dixie." Selected recordings are featured in NEGROES WITH GUNS. The radio show fused cutting-edge music with news of the black freedom movement and Williamsí editorials, which, among other things, urged blacks not to fight in Vietnam.

Not pro gun, just pro-black commie. Same poo, different smell.

Quoted: Probably never told about the fact that the NRA had a hand in helping to arm some blacks agains the KKK. In Williams case however, using a gun was probably a necessary move at the time , but when the revolution is over, you know, then the  masses will need to be disarmed.

That is something I haven't heard.  
I guess it's along the lines of how the Libtards never seem to mention how Charles Heston marched with MLK back in the day and was active in the civil rights movement of the time.

It's not so much a PRO GUN thing as it is a ANTI WHITE thing!

We need look no farther than Condoleeza Rice's account of what the value of gun ownership has meant to a black family in defending itself, and in this case, her own.

Run Condi, run!

Quoted: We need look no farther than Condoleeza Rice's account of what the value of gun ownership has meant to a black family in defending itself, and in this case, her own. Run Condi, run!

From the link:

"I also don't think we get to pick and choose from the Constitution," she said in the interview, which was taped for airing Wednesday night. "The Second Amendment is as important as the First Amendment."

Oh, Hell yeah!  This woman needs to be President!

I'll have to check it out if I can find it.

Just remember though, they (liberals) think we live in a more civilized age now. Guns are still bad. They were a tool for blacks to use for a time, but now that it's all "over", we don't need to defend ourselves. The .gov will handle that for us.

Nevermind that this all happened well within the lifespans of people alive today... How soon we forget.

Quoted: Probably never told about the fact that the NRA had a hand in helping to arm some blacks agains the KKK. In Williams case however, using a gun was probably a necessary move at the time , but when the revolution is over, you know, then the  masses will need to be disarmed.

If this is the guy I remeber from an interview on TV he gave the NRA credit for teaching his home guard militia to shoot. I am sure that this is the guy.

Quoted: Quoted: Probably never told about the fact that the NRA had a hand in helping to arm some blacks agains the KKK. In Williams case however, using a gun was probably a necessary move at the time , but when the revolution is over, you know, then the  masses will need to be disarmed. That is something I haven't heard.   I guess it's along the lines of how the Libtards never seem to mention how Charles Heston marched with MLK back in the day and was active in the civil rights movement of the time.

Yep.

Also often ignored is how many of the first gun laws in this country were passed to disarm blacks. Typically they'd get passed after somebody would run off a mob or Klan group with gunfire.  Naturally this self defense was viewed as a "crime" that had to be stopped. (This sort of thing is why Condi is so pro-2nd, also. She's seen it used.)

It illustrates why you should never trust somebody proposing gun control/banning legislation. They may say it's about crime or public safety, but I always wonder what it really is that they don't want me shooting at.

Dug up some more information from a non-leftist source.
If the PBS documentary said Mr. Williams was an NRA member, it must've been when I was attending to my boy, 'cause I never heard it.
BTW, Rob Williams never claimed to be a communist, but in the '60s, if the FBI is after your ass, where else where  ya gonna go?
I guess this is also a good learning point of what folks can expect if they attempt to use force to protect their civil liberties.

www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBPrintItem.asp?ID=2960



"NEGROES WITH GUNS"

by Dr. Michael S. Brown

December 28, 2001

The year was 1957. Monroe, North Carolina, was a rigidly segregated town where all levels of white society and government were dedicated to preserving the racial status quo. Blacks who dared to speak out were subject to brutal, sadistic violence.

It was common practice for convoys of Ku Klux Klan members to drive through black neighborhoods shooting in all directions. A black physician who owned a nice brick house on a main road was a frequent target of racist anger. In the summer of 1957, a Klan motorcade sent to attack the house was met by a disciplined volley of rifle fire from a group of black veterans and NRA members led by civil rights activist Robert F. Williams.

Using military-surplus rifles from behind sandbag fortifications, the small band of freedom fighters drove off the larger force of Klansmen with no casualties reported on either side.

Williams, a former Marine who volunteered to lead the Monroe chapter of the NAACP and founded a 60-member, NRA-chartered rifle club, described the battle in his 1962 book, "Negroes With Guns," which was reprinted in 1998 by Wayne State University Press.

According to Williams, the Monroe group owed its survival in the face of vicious violence to the fact that they were armed. In several cases, police officials who normally ignored or encouraged Klan violence took steps to prevent whites from attacking armed blacks. In other cases, fanatical racists suddenly turned into cowards when they realized their intended victims were armed.

Oddly, it appears that the organized armed blacks of Monroe never shot any of their tormentors. The simple existence of guns in the hands of men who were willing to use them prevented greater violence.

It is important to note that the guns were not used offensively. They were part of an overall strategy that relied primarily on peaceful protest like picketing or entering whites-only establishments. Williams demonstrated that the dignified and responsible use of firearms for self-defense was an important method to achieve justice for those denied fair treatment by all institutions of government.

The civil rights movement was deeply divided between those who espoused a pacifist, non-violent approach and those who believed that human beings had a right and a duty to use force in self-defense. Williams was the most influential leader of the self-defense wing of the movement.

His effort to provide guns and training to African-American civil rights supporters was alarming to white politicians. Most state gun control laws, not just in the South, were blatantly designed to keep guns out of the hands of blacks and other minorities. Those with racist beliefs were not pleased when blacks claimed the right to keep and bear arms that is guaranteed to all Americans.

The connection with the NRA might surprise some people who portray the organization as a haven for racist rednecks. Former NRA Executive Director Tanya Metaksa spoke with Williams before his death. She recalls, "He was very proud of being an NRA member and that the NRA sanctioned his club without question."

The civil rights organizations of today bear little resemblance to the deadly serious armed activists of Monroe. African-American leaders generally support the liberal white line that guns are evil and have no place in modern society. On the other hand, small numbers of responsible black gun owners continue to honor their heritage by practicing their marksmanship and joining gun rights organizations. The tradition of the black gun club still lives on in the Tenth Cavalry Gun club, led by Ken Blanchard in Prince Georges County, Maryland.

While researching this column, I contacted Don Kates, a civil rights attorney who went to North Carolina in 1963 to participate in the movement. I asked if he ever carried a gun during those days and he responded with a list of a half-dozen that were always within reach. Kates also suggested that I read a letter written by an old friend of his from those days, John R. Salter, Jr., who is now Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota. Here are two brief quotes:

"In the early 1960's, I taught at Tougaloo College, a black school in Jackson, Mississippi. I was a member of the statewide board of the NAACP and was Chairman of the Jackson Movement. No one knows what kind of massive racist retaliation would have been directed at grass-roots black people had the black community not had a healthy measure of firearms within it."

"During most of the 1960's I did civil rights work in various parts of the South and almost always had with me a .38 special Smith and Wesson 2-inch-barrel revolver — what you would now erroneously call a 'Saturday Night Special.'"

In 1962 the Monroe freedom fighters were overwhelmed by a huge mob that converged on the town. The Justice Department and the state police ignored calls for help. The rabid racists were aided by law enforcement who branded Williams a communist and a dangerous schizophrenic.

Rob Williams eluded an FBI manhunt and fled to Cuba, which he erroneously believed to be totally free of racism. Within five years he realized that Cuba was not as he had imagined and moved on to China. There he was treated as a celebrity and returned to the United States in 1969 with the quiet blessing of Richard Nixon.

Williams worked as a China scholar at the University of Michigan and reportedly advised Henry Kissinger on Chinese affairs. He died in 1996.

Dr. Michael S. Brown is an optometrist and member of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws, www.dsgl.org. He may be reached at [email protected].

References:

http://www.lexis-nexis.com/academic/2upa/Aaas/bpower2.htm

http://www.natcom.org/roc/one-one/hope.htm

http://www.blackmanwithagun.net/intro.htm (Ken Blanchard)

http://www.saf.org/pub/rkba/general/GunsVersusKKK.htm (John R. Salter, Jr.)

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Racism & Gun Control Archives