Posted on 12/31/2001 10:15:58 PM PST by SteveH
'Negroes With Guns'
Dr. Michael S. Brown
Dec. 28, 2001
The year was 1957. Monroe, N.C., 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.
... (Please see link above for entire article.)
Just as the Northern Occupation varied greatly from one MILITARY DISTRICT to another( after the actual war ceased ), so to the Klan varied dramatically, county by county as well as state by state. It reflected the character of the men who formed each unit ( klavern ). My own father was six, perched on his father's sholders when he watched his grandfather address a meeting to DISSOLVE their county ( Lowndes,Ms ) unit when, in his words, it had become too politicized by the state officials ( these same men would later continue to enforce law & order, despite a crooked sheriff ) & my father has related at least one major kidnap of a BLACK man & summary capture, trial ( Judge John Stennis ) & execution of the SURVIVING white culprit ( the ransom was being delivered when they found the murdered black farmer & at least one kidnapper did not return that night-his trial may have occurred in the woods along the Tombigbee ). There is a great deal more therein, & i heard other reports ( as my father often selected a court case in lieu of school ), but suffice to say every living soul in that county either attended or tried to attend the funeral of that former leader of the Klan. My father commented that no movie scene or other event has eqauled the epic wave of grief from thousands of people, as he witnessed that day.
Since some on this thread seem confused, I point out the above to explain, in addition to the extreme variance during the Northern Occupation, area by area, the so-called Klan of today has absolutely no legitimate relation to the original-post the 1920's.
Oh how I do so heartly tire of persons using the Klan of Nathen Bedford Forest as a defense for the inbred fools and cowards that have choosen that name for themselves today.
Must be my age...when I was a kid the term Negro was considered respectful and black was not.
Must be my age...when I was a kid the term Negro was considered respectful and black was not.
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