Posted by [It] points to the fact that while most civil rights leaders decided to attack violent injustice in a nonviolent manner, they still believed in the right to possess and use firearms to protect themselves in the face of violence.
Khari Blasingame
All too often when we learn about the Civil Rights History in America, we are inundated with the images of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, SNCC and other entities that have fought valiantly to resist racist oppression. Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech is often touted for his vision of an integrated and peaceful society of white and black children walking hand in hand. However, the true nature of the Civil Rights movement is not discussed in popular culture or in the schools. With that being said, let’s talk about guns.
The face of The Civil Rights Movement nonviolent resistance to racist oppression, as most people would see it, Martin Luther King. In direct opposition to King’s Nonviolent movement is El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, formerly known as Malcolm X. Malcolm X, was known for his influence on the civil rights movement and his involvement with the nation of Islam. Unlike King, Malcolm X did not adopt the Christian theme of turning the other cheek and was a proponent of defending your family, your liberty, and your property by any means necessary. His view of armed self-defense coupled with the Nation of Islam’s view that the white man was the devil, which he later denounced after his pilgrimage to Mecca, was often used to sell the narrative that Malcolm X was preaching hate and violence. Armed self-defense became, in the eyes of the American media and most of the white American public, the wrong way for black Americans to defend themselves and fight for civil rights while Dr King became the face of the morally upright way to protest injustice.
However, this narrative that was pushed and is still used in modern struggles is a myth. Many of the civil rights leaders that America has pedestalized for their nonviolence simply did not completely deny themselves the right of the second amendment. After his home was bombed in 1956, Martin Luther King applied for a concealed carry permit, for which he was later denied. After being denied his second amendment right, armed supporters of King guarded his home. According to the Atlantic an advisor of King called his home an “arsenal” and a reporter almost sat on a loaded gun during a visit to his home.
Even as we move on from King and Malcolm X, we discover that a lot more civil rights leaders had a close relationship to guns and ammunition. Medgar Evers, a prominent Mississippi civil rights activist carried guns on him all the time because he knew the threat of violence was ever present in the landscape of the civil rights era Mississippi. Fannie Lou Hammer, a civil rights activist who registered thousands of Black Americans to vote once noted that she kept a shotgun in every corner of her home. This is likely an exaggeration, but it points to the fact that while most civil rights leaders decided to attack violent injustice in a nonviolent manner, they still believed in the right to possess and use firearms to protect themselves in the face of violence.
The history of the armed Black American struggle is too dense to be covered in one blog post. Honestly, you could have a whole college course on the subject. From the Stono Rebellion to the armed resistance of police brutality of the Black Panther Party there is a nuanced history of armed resistance that deserves to be told. You might be wondering what any of this means to you. My aim is not to convince you to own a gun, argue for or against gun laws, or incite any forms of violence. All too often in our historical imagination the heroes in the black American struggle are often painted as martyrs rather than warriors. I wanted to change that for you and assert that they were individuals who chose to be nonviolent agitators while armed and ready to protect themselves from tyranny. Additionally, during the pandemic and social unrest of 2020 we saw the rise of gun ownership, especially in the black community. More Black Americans began to see firearms as a symbol of liberty, a tool for self-reliance, and to defend themselves and their family. This is a sign that as we continue to fight against all kinds of oppression in this country Black Americans are abandoning the civil rights myth of non-violence.
This post was brought to you by Khari Blasingame
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