Deacons For Defense and Justice...the real deal!

Sun Ship

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Aug 31, 2003
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Here is an informative excerpt about this extraordinary group of brave, dedicated and courageous Brothers:



Deacons for Defense

By Dustin Langley


"My name is Charles Sims. I'm 43 years old and I fear no man. Some of you may leave disappointed. I'm a fighter, not a speechmaker."

These are the real words that the founder of Deacons of Defense used to introduce himself in 1964 as he spoke about the struggle in Bogalusa, La. These words, backed by weapons and the determination of the African American community to defend themselves against racist attacks, won a powerful victory over the status quo of the Jim Crow South in the mid-1960s.


'You have to meet force with force'

In describing the actual struggle of his organization, Ernest Thomas, the vice president and national organizer for the Deacons for Defense, has stressed: "We teach that you have to meet force with force. The only thing the Klan respects is force. It is also the only thing understood by the others who battle Negroes, such as the John Birch Society, the Minutemen, and the American Nazi Party."

Many of the Black men who took up arms with the Deacons were military veterans who had fought overseas in the name of "democracy," but then returned home to continued denial of basic civil rights and economic opportunity.

Their determination to defend themselves put an end to night riding in Bogalusa and inspired others to take up arms to defend themselves. By 1965, there were 62 chapters of the Deacons throughout the South, and they helped to inspire the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.



Reprinted from the Feb. 26, 2004, issue of Workers World newspaper
 
The really real deal...!!!

This is article from the MIT newspaper The TECH, from 1966, also link to this page to see other events that were going on at that time...interesting


THE TECH - page 11


Deacon’s president offers talks;
Civil Rights group explains cause



Friday, October 14, 1966

By Richard Sims


Charles Sims, the National President of the Deacons for Defense and Justice spoke at the Student Center October 11. The Deacons are an armed civil rights organization dedicated to preventing violence in the South and elsewhere.

Mr. Sims was quick to define the objectives of the Deacons, an organization that is often denounced as a "black Ku Klux Klan." He emphasized that the purpose of the Deacons is to teach citizens to defend themselves. Although the Deacons' charter also provides for teaching the responsibilities of citizenship, the value of the ballot, and proper use of spending power and leadership, he explained, Southerners often respect nothing short of the gun. Therefore the Deacons frequently have to teach defense by brute force.

Sims has lived all his life in Louisiana. He served as an Army weapons instructor and ran a successful real estate practice in Bogalusa. He established the Deacons early in 1965 after numerous Negroes and civil rights workers had been terrorized and attacked by Klansmen and night riders.

Sims says he and the Deacons have no use for fear tactics or night riders, black or white. "I do not like to talk about using. A gun. We are not teaching potential killers; the Deacons are only trying to teach people to defend themselves." Sims does not fear the Klan even though he claims to be the target of many assassination attempts and to have been shot several times.

The Deacons, nevertheless, are well-armed and close knit. They worked hard in the recent march thru Mississippi begun by James Meredith. Sims is proud of the fact that the Deacons haven't lost a single civil rights worker since their formation.

Sims voiced frustration towards the Southern system of justice, citing numerous instances in which Klansmen are serving in administrative positions. Because of the presence of violence in the South he does not consider the defeat of the recent rights bill a significant setback to his organization.

The Deacons for Defense and Justice are an integrated national organization and have set up a chapter right here in Boston.

Sims is gratified by the success of the Deacons thus far. The Deacons are looking forward to the day when they will be able to move into the heart of the
Mississippi delta.

http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_086/TECH_V086_S0390_P011.pdf



The Tech is MIT's oldest and largest newspaper. They have provided MIT faculty, staff, and students with continuous news service since 1881. They publish on Tuesdays and Fridays during the regular school year, weekly during the month of January, and monthly during the summer. The Tech is published daily during MIT's Orientation period, which begins the last week of August.

The Tech is published by the students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their staff is composed of undergraduate and graduate student volunteers….

 
The "real" Civil Rights story

Here is a recent book written on these brothers:


7399040.jpg


Product Details:
ISBN: 0807828475
Format: Hardcover, 400pp
Pub. Date: May 2004
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, The


The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement


FROM THE PUBLISHER

Lance Hill offers the first detailed history of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, who grew to several hundred members and twenty-one chapters in the Deep South and led some of the most successful local campaigns in the civil rights movement. In his analysis of this important yet long-overlooked organization, Hill challenges what he calls "the myth of nonviolence" - the idea that a united civil rights movement achieved its goals through nonviolent direct action led by middle-class and religious leaders. In contrast, Hill constructs a rich historical narrative of a working-class armed self-defense movement that defied the entrenched nonviolent leadership and played a crucial role in compelling and federal government to neutralize the Klan and uphold civil rights and liberties.



Note: you can also order the complete FBI files on these brothers for about $10.00
 
Sun Ship said:
Here is a recent book written on these brothers:


7399040.jpg


Product Details:
ISBN: 0807828475
Format: Hardcover, 400pp
Pub. Date: May 2004
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, The


The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement


FROM THE PUBLISHER

Lance Hill offers the first detailed history of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, who grew to several hundred members and twenty-one chapters in the Deep South and led some of the most successful local campaigns in the civil rights movement. In his analysis of this important yet long-overlooked organization, Hill challenges what he calls "the myth of nonviolence" - the idea that a united civil rights movement achieved its goals through nonviolent direct action led by middle-class and religious leaders. In contrast, Hill constructs a rich historical narrative of a working-class armed self-defense movement that defied the entrenched nonviolent leadership and played a crucial role in compelling and federal government to neutralize the Klan and uphold civil rights and liberties.



Note: you can also order the complete FBI files on these brothers for about $10.00

Brother Sun, I'm 'bout to cop this book in another week...(smile!) I've been salivating over it for about 4 months now, and I aint tryna hold out on it no longer! Thanks for the scan, man, it's a real CONVINCER, brother!(smile!) BTW, I started another thread on the Deacons some time back...

Peace!
Isaiah
 

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