WEBVTT - Part Two: The Armed Nonviolent Civil Rights Movement 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:02.800 Clo and welcome to Cool People Did Cool Stuff, the 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:06.200 podcast that is totally not advocating for people to do crime, 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.319 despite being a podcast almost exclusively what people who did crime. 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:14.080 I'm your host, Margaret Kildoy, and our guest this week 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.280 is the one and only Jewa Minique. Well, how are 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:18.400 you doing on this day of the week That is 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:19.720 totally a different day of the week and not just 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:21.599 the same day that we recorded the previous It is 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.840 not still gray out, and then I guess that it's 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.560 colder because it's a week later into December, and I 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.280 will say I'm good, still bundled up in these sweaters 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:37.040 and under blankets, just making it through the winter time. Excellent, excellent. 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.400 And our producer Sophie is out this week because she's 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.600 on a top secret undercover mission into a land of evil. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.360 But our here, Ian is now our producer, Ian, how 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.920 are you. I'm doing good, Margaret, I'm just honored to 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.800 be on Mike. I'm just happy to be here. You know, 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.480 it's you know, sometimes people don't like to know how 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.440 the sausage is made, but here I am ruining this price. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.640 And our audio engineers, of course, Ian, and our theme 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.880 music was done for the show by the wonderful musician 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.679 on Woman, which sometimes people must hear me as saying 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:15.440 a woman, but no it is not. I mean, yes, 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.440 it is a woman, but her name is on Woman, 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.000 and you can find her music wherever you listen to music. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.399 I don't know whatever. So this is part two of 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:28.720 a two part series on the armed civil rights movement 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.520 of the nineteen sixty South, and it probably won't make 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:33.640 much sense if you don't listen to part one. I 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:35.920 would never tell you what to do, dear listener, but 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.440 you might want to consider listening to part one before 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.200 part two if you haven't done that yet. Where we 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:46.440 last left our heroes, they were organizers, just disaggregating places 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.440 and registering voters. But just as heroic were the armed 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:51.960 black families that kept guard over them as they slept 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.160 and drove back klansmen with rifles and shotguns and revolvers 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.800 and apparently molotovs. And some of these people are about 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.360 to get organized, and that's what we're gonna talk about today. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.640 You're excited, you ready, I'm thrilled. That is like a 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.640 boom moment for me, Like, let's hear about the start 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:15.000 of organization. Yeah. The first organized group of black defenders 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:16.600 of the civil rights movement that I was able to 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:21.040 find was paradoxically under the name the N Double A 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:25.600 c P. Amazing yeah, um, the National Association for the 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.359 Advancement of Colored People who show up sometimes on this show, 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.560 not just this episode, but other shows, because a ton 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.519 of RAT people have done work with the NA Double 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.079 a CP over the years. But during the Civil rights 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:37.680 era they were not known as one of the more 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.440 radical organizations. They still did. Really not trying to say 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.760 anything negative about them here, but like you know, they're 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.400 not known as like in the way that Snick and 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.800 Corps were, as like pushing the envelope, right, but a 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:56.280 chapter of them in Monroe, North Carolina went rogue. Yeah, 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.519 go on, go on, all right, So you can trace 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.160 this back to there was a black vet named Benny Montgomery, 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.280 UM who came home from World War Two. He does 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:08.239 steal plate in his skull because he got wounded while 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:12.240 you know, stopping the fucking Nazis. His white employer back 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.480 in North Carolina treated him like ship I presume was 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:17.360 a racist based on everything else that happened in this 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.800 whole thing. They got into an argument and Benny slid 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:25.560 his boss's throat in the resulting fight, So I don't know. 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:27.840 He stopped the Nazis and he killed a racist white boss. 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.280 I've got no problem with Benny Montgomery so far. Benny's 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.880 really aces for me. It sounds like a hero to 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.600 the state of North Carolina did not find Benny to 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:42.560 be a hero for this particular action, and they executed him. Um, 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.320 of course it should have been the end of it. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:47.960 And it was like God and the way it's sometimes 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:49.760 written about it presents us if it's like this, like 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.200 great justice because he didn't get lynched like they the 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.840 clan tried to before he was executed. They tried to 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.600 um drag him out of the jail. But it's like, 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.440 but justice prevailed and he wasn't lynched. He was instead 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:08.240 just as lynch by the state instead whatever. Like yeah, okay, people, 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.280 that is a wild thing that continues to happen today. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:13.920 We can look at Britney Griner's case where people are like, well, 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:15.880 she did a crime, so now she has to go 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.200 to jail. And I just if you hear people in 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.400 your circle, imagine if he lils into this podcast. You 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.240 hopefully don't have those thoughts. But if you, you know, 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.880 are surrounded by people who are like that, you know, 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:31.000 maybe just remind them we don't necessarily need prisons. Yeah, 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.560 I mean, just imagine a world where we don't have 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:37.040 to lock up people for petty fucking crimes like having 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:44.839 very small amounts of weed. It's ridiculous, ridiculous. So so Benny, yeah, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.000 gets executed. This should have been the end of it. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.720 But the clan they're salty that they They're also like, 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.039 this is grave injustice that the state is the one 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:58.520 who killed him instead of us. Um, okay, so they 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.440 try to lynch his dead body. Oh my god. They 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.040 tell the funeral home director that if they don't hand 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:10.280 the body over to them, they'll kill him. Um, this 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:12.760 doesn't have spoiler, This doesn't happen. That clan doesn't get 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.960 their way. A bunch of Black Vets met up at 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.640 a barber shop and they were like, no, we we 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:22.600 can't let that happen. So almost forty Vets with their 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.039 service rifles stood guard outside the funeral home. The clan 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.159 like drove by, ready to like go be evil, and 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.040 they took one look at the service rifles, which included 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:37.800 Benny's own rifle, which I think is yeah, and the 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.040 clan just noped out of there. They were like, we're gone, goodbye, 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:47.160 plan horrible people Westborough back is asked bitches like almost 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.839 like every time they face any kind of opposition, they're 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.680 just like, oh wait, never mind, they can fight back. 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:59.800 Oh sorry, yeah, suddenly uninterested, like I'm sure there's counter examples, 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:04.000 but I haven't found them yet. Um never find them, 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:11.600 I know. So the local Double A CP in Monroe 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:13.240 had started out like a lot of n Double A 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.400 CP chapters, a sort of a social club for middle 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.440 class black folks. But in the nineteen fifties, the clan 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.520 started fucking with them in Monroe, and most of the 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.120 Double A CP members left the organization because they're like, 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.520 oh this this is hard and scary. But a few 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:30.279 of them remained. Um, and two of them remained were vets, 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.120 and they immediately started recruiting the working class to the 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.960 Double A CP. And they did something that no other 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.200 U A CP was doing. And this one's kind of funny. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.360 They formed a chapter of the n r A. Officially, 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:43.919 they like wrote the n r A and we're like, 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:45.960 we would like to form a chapter called the Monroe 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.440 Rifle Club or the Blackguards as they called themselves or 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:55.239 get called. What is it? The only story I've found 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:56.840 so far at any of my research where the n 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:01.680 r A affiliated people did anything cool, but Wow, m 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:03.240 are allowed you to go back and look at your 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.960 history because you're not out here defending black people using 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.480 stand their ground, you know, like the girls who are 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.400 being trafficked and then shoot their abusers, you know, maybe 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.720 get back into your old hat. Amazing. Yeah, No, totally, 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:19.200 And I think there's like within the sort of a 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:24.520 political gun culture, there are people who are like, oh, 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.960 it's cool when people fight against depression, you know, but 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.280 they're not clearly the dominant arc of the n r 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.880 A or gun culture in the United States. So you 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:40.600 now have the Blackguards. In ninety seven in Monroe, North Carolina, 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.320 a kid drowned in the unsafe swimming holes that the 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.040 local black kids were forced to use because the pool 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.760 was segregated. So the vice president of the Double A 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.120 CP was a guy named Dr Perry. He was one 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.040 of the kind of holdovers from when it was middle class, 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:56.880 but he was one of the ones. Maybe he rules 0:07:57.400 --> 0:07:59.280 and he decides to stay to sit in at the 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.600 white only pool, and he organizes with a bunch of 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.320 kids who go and like wait in um in their 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.320 swim trunks and towels, like waiting to be let into 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.760 the pool. And of course they're not that into the pool. Um. 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.800 And the fucking bravery of those kids, Like it's hard 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:15.800 to wrap my head around how brave those kids are 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.720 to go stand there and there swim trunks and towels. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.600 This is and this is three years before the sid 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:27.120 In movement. Yeah, that's uh, kids are I feel like 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:33.000 kids are aware but naive about end results, right, and 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.840 so they have this idea of like especially I think 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:40.199 you know, as a black kid for my generation. I 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.640 can't speak on this generation too much, but like the 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.280 idea of these are your rights and you should be 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.800 allowed allowed access to them is the thing that we 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.640 were taught a lot, and so you know, we would 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.560 do bold ass things as an adult you know I 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.600 may not do. And so can you can you tell 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:07.240 me any of those legally good stories? Um so, And 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.080 I tell you that story I will say in broad 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:16.760 in broad strokes, when properly eight was happening and we 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:22.520 were marching a lot. This is like my early college years. Uh, 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:28.359 you know, there may have been some verbal harassments against 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:33.240 some armed government officials as we were moving through the 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:37.720 streets that you know today I would not I would 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.600 definitely not do. But we were angry, and we were young, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:46.240 and we were absolutely willing to tell people about themselves 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:49.840 and what they should do with her. Granted, not as 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:51.680 brave as these kids, because we were surrounded. There are 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.600 thousands of us in the street. Um. I think it's 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:59.200 incredibly brave to be in the fifties standing outside of pool. Yeah, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.280 you know, without it sounds like any weapons are just 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.720 and there's one trumps and towels. It's amazing, an amazing 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:10.120 decision they made. Yeah, and I don't have any record 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.840 of anything bad happening to them as a result of it. Um. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.880 And so the clan they fucking hate Dr Perry. They 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:21.559 already didn't like him vice President a CP. He's black 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:23.960 and middle class and educated. He's throwing down with the 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.360 working class. He wasn't scared of them. And also he 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.600 was Catholic, and the clan has this whole thing against 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.800 the Catholics. Wow, that is a full plate of things 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.640 that the k k K is not about. No, no, 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.160 not at all. So they the clan got together their 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.960 show of force on October five seven. They had a 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.320 big old rally with a big old cross burning, and 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.040 then they drove ton our motorcade to Dr Perry's house. 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.320 They were going to stop Dr Perry once and for all, 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:59.040 but um Dr Perry and the Blackguards they didn't scare 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.600 and they knew the Clan was coming, and they were 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:09.400 they were vets. They're seeing combat before. Okay, so they 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.559 instead of a scared middle class doctor hiding in his house, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:19.720 they found sand bag fortifications with automatic weapons. Oh hell yeah, 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:29.920 like action. They wanted all the smoke. I love it. Yeah, 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.840 And so the clan shows up and they start shooting. 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.319 The Clan start shooting at the sand bag fortifications because 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.640 they're not known for their intelligence. The Blackguard fire back, 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.719 and they intentionally fire into the ground because they they 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.719 it was a defensive gesture, right, and it was meant 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.000 to scare the clan off, and it worked. The Clan 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.760 stopped their raids, not just on Dr Perry, but just 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:58.560 in the area. Just the Clan's just done. The next day, 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.760 the city council bans plan motor kids because they're like, 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.720 this is we can't have this this will go bad. 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:09.040 I love this news. This is a wonderful. That's one 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:15.360 thing about the clan. They're consistent and I know because 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.040 I mean, what is racism, But this ideology of fear, 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:21.360 it's this, I want to be in charge all the 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.600 time of everyone, and everyone has to do what I say, 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.320 and I'm afraid that that will change. It's like a 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:31.079 perceived threat to your power, your established you know, societal standing, 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.000 and that scares the ship out of people. It's also 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.960 it's weird, irrational. I want to stress that word, irrational, 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.600 fear that if there's equity, black people will try to 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:43.880 turn the tables and enslave white people, which is a 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.959 thing we hear them talk about all the damn time. 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.040 And it's just like, I just want y'all to know 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:52.719 that slavery sounds hard, like for both people. It's exhausting. 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.640 I'm not trying to force people to stay or brutalize 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.200 their body like nobody wants this except you, or trying 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:08.960 to make sure we do on backslide okay, black and 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:13.840 left alone. Yeah, And it seems, you know, it's very 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:18.720 obvious growing up, I mean, having decent politics like this 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.080 seems very obvious. To me, you know, I really struggle 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.439 to imagine the mindset of these like nineteen fifties white racists, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:29.760 and like, but yeah, they fucking you're talking. It's exactly 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:33.319 that they're afraid of fucking turning the tables, like whatever. 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:38.080 Fucking cowards. So the local leader of the Monroe and 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.120 Double A CP was a man named Robert Williams. He 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.319 later wrote a book called Negroes with Guns and as 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.360 influential on the Black Panthers. He wrote in ninety nine, 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.280 I wish to make it clear that I do not 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.959 advocate violence for its own sake or for the sake 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.079 of reprisals against whites, Nor am I against the passive 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.480 resistance advocated by Reverend Martin Luther King and others. My 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.600 only difference with Dr King is that I believe in 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:05.800 flexibility in the freedom struggle. Robert had a rough couple 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:10.439 of years as a result of his advocacy for armed defense, 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.960 as like one of the first prominent black people being like, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.400 we actually are completely fine with using violence as necessary 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.520 to defend ourselves. Then Double A c CP disavowed him, 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.240 like canceled the Monroe chapter over the issue of violence, 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.240 and then he was framed almost certainly by the FEDS. 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.520 It's like not proven, but we've all read about co 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.440 intel prob and ship. He was framed for kidnapping a 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:35.320 white couple and he had to flee the country. Him 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.360 and his wife had to flee the country for about 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:41.200 a decade later, he was found innocent at trial, and 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.760 the white couple had been pressured, presumably by the FEDS, 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.640 to lie and claim that he had kidnapped them. So 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:50.080 that's the first organized black armed civil rights or defense 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:53.160 organization I know about. Wasn't the last, wasn't the largest, 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.360 but it was the first that I found. And they're cool. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:57.320 But I'm gonna tell you about another one, and this 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:02.560 one doesn't have a name. This one is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.680 The clan was running rampant, and so a group of 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.800 about a hundred or so local folks organized a nameless, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:13.560 militarily structured, semi secret society of armed Community Defenders. Okay, 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.280 can we just pause right there. Here's what I love 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.200 about everything you just said. They said, don't give it 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:20.320 a fucking name. Don't let them be able to search us. 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.040 They can't find us if they don't know who we are. 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.000 Keep it secret, don't talk about it in public. It 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.080 was definitely fight club rules. I feel I'm inferring. I 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:33.760 really appreciate this approach to it. That's amazing. No, yeah, 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.320 you're you're you're really onto what they were onto. Like 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.120 they and they came from all walks of life. Uh. 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.720 They were factory workers to businessmen to gang members. Which 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:45.880 is not the first time. There's two times I talked 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.160 about in the last episodes that I did about people 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.400 fighting the clan, about gang members versus the clan. All 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.160 of them had combat experience, all of them were picked 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.520 for being trustworthy and of good character. There's like this 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:00.560 like intense background check to join this secret society. Um, 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.000 I'm not going to be like these are the rules 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:03.680 that other people should use. But you had to be married, 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:05.880 you couldn't be a drunk, and you had to have 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:11.440 a reputation for keeping your fucking mouth shut. Um. And 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.520 I think I think this one was all men. Um. 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.160 We'll talk about later about when this wasn't wasn't And 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:20.240 the certainly the decentralized groups included a large number of women, 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.680 as like you know, a lot of the examples are 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:24.760 like the seven year old woman, the shotgun or whatever. Right, 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.440 But this nameless organization they avoided all press and publicity. 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.040 And what they did is they set up armed guards 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.800 outside of activists residents. Like basically, if someone would like 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.400 slow down they didn't recognize them, they'd be like keep 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:42.000 sucking driving, or sometimes they as people would drive up 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.560 to places, they would set up a checkpoint and stop 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.240 them and if the people couldn't prove why they were there, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:54.200 sometimes shoot at the car or whatever. Yeah, like and uh. 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.640 And then they would also act as bodyguards to the 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:00.120 like non violent. Once again, this is tied in to 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.440 the non violence movement. So one white activist talked about 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.960 how she didn't even know she was being protected until later. 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.359 People just followed her at a distance, concealed carrying, ready 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.720 to fight if need be, because people were getting killed 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.920 for this work. You know, before the Defenders, the clan 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.480 had run patrols outside of the activist meetings. They would 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.080 just like drive by and keep track of who was 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:23.439 there or whatever. They got faced down one time and 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:29.000 they never returned. On July, a few black teenagers went 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:32.800 to a movie theater to test desegregation, and over two 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.440 hundred white racists were there to attack these few black teenagers. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.680 So these secret defenders showed up with two cars full 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.240 of armed men, picked the teenagers up and drove them 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:46.160 away from the mob. But the klansmen were waiting at 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:48.760 the entrance to the black neighborhood where they knew that 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.720 these people would be going right, and they opened fire 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.000 on the cars. The combat vets open fire right, the 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.440 fun back, the clan went running, and the clan kept 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:02.240 its head down after that. You know what's interesting, Okay, 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:09.480 m So if we look at police shooting records, they're 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.479 all over the map, and if they're shooting against like 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:19.240 a lot of gangsters of all ilk like don't have 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:23.240 their terrible shooters because you're not going frequently. But police, 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:25.240 you know, they have to do target practice or whatever, 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.200 and then their police so they're used to drawing or 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.560 guns or whatever. But going up against military people is 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.919 an entirely different game changing scenario. Like you are not 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.280 prepared for battle the way that they are. And I 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.240 love the idea, man. This I think is something that 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.960 we're starting to talk about and seymore in our popular culture. 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.520 But the return of World War two vets is a 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:51.360 huge impact in the civil rights movement. Strictly because like, 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.760 when you understand what it is to be liberated, you 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:58.960 actually have helped liberate cities. You're treated with respect um, 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.000 and then you come home and expected to you know, 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:03.600 for lack of a better word, go back to being 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:07.200 a nigga. Like it's really I think empowering to then 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:08.879 say you know what, no, we have all of the 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.480 tools and skills because white America didn't want to go 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:15.399 fight this war. Like that is bananas, Like you made 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.160 the problem worse. You made the problems by not going 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:23.280 to fight it yourself. I love this story, this is beautiful. Yeah, no, totally, 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.840 And like it's not a coincidence to me. I mean, 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.280 like obviously, like most of the wars the US has 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:33.919 gotten involved in have not been good, right um, And 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:35.480 like I know this is like the critique to be 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:37.240 made of the good war or whatever. Like overall, it 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.480 is good that people wouldn't stop the fucking Nazis, right 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.399 Whereas yeah, and they had a good time to a stop. 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.240 The current US wars are not ones that I would 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.359 be like, oh, that's cool, right, But it's still not 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:51.399 a coincidence that some of the people, one of the 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.640 people who stop the Colorado. Maybe two of the people 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:57.080 who stop the Colorado Spring shooters wells, both of them 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:01.439 were vets, Yeah, and complicated feelings about all of it, 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:07.400 but learning how to engage in bad situations is a 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.720 skill that is useful within our communities. And we've seen 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:16.280 a lot of vets become vocal about over policing and 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.720 the fact that the police haven't describe themselves as being 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.800 in combat zones when they're like, you are not, and 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:24.639 he's if you were, this is not how you'd be 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:26.720 allowed to behave if you were part of the military. 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:28.919 Get the hell out. And I hope Welly continue to 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:34.520 see arise in that because it should be different. And 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.439 you know, I don't like people playing military like you 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:39.720 either are or you aren't. But to be out here 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.480 and regale you talking about how you're in an armed 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:44.560 force when you've never served a day in your life 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.800 is pathetic. Yeah, totally, you're in an armed And then 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.800 also just like talking about that being like, so you're 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.639 in a war against the American people, great, awesome, cool, 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:57.080 if you're in a war against the American people, Well, 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.040 I'm one of the American you know, Like, I guess it. 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:03.400 I don't even want to say that out loud. But yeah, yeah, 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.800 well this actually next one will tie into policing in 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.960 a little bit interesting way. The group from this era 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:13.240 that actually, wait, maybe it's time to tell you instead 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.120 of about this group from this era, maybe it's time 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:20.480 to tell you about capitalism and how you can engage 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:24.679 in it. And all of us who are on this 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:29.320 podcast like routinely eating food. I'm just going on a limb. 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:31.600 You speak for you, but like I like eating food 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.760 every days, addicted to food, and I like eating it, 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.040 and I use money for most of my food. My 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:41.679 gardening skills are not quite there yet. Yeah, they haven't 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.639 made it free yet. Yeah, I will say here's the 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:47.360 secret though, I get paid whether or not you buy 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:59.520 the things from the supposed to know. Yeah, by it 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:09.080 out all right? Ads back from ads, Welcome back from ads. 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:13.119 Those are some good services. It's usually pot When I 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.680 listened to cool Zone shows, I mostly hear ads for 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:18.959 other podcasts, which is actually fine by me. I like podcasts. 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:25.600 There's a reason past. Yeah, big fan. So we have 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:28.440 the unnamed Defenders and now we're going to talk about 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:30.480 the group from this era that did all of this 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:32.879 most famously into grades effect, we're gonna talk about the 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.160 Deacons for Defense and Justice. And it's funny too because 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:38.800 I'm like, oh, the most famous group about this, Like, 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:41.560 I didn't know about this group until very recently because 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:45.000 I just didn't hear much about the armed component of 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:48.960 the non violent struggle because when I was in school, 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:53.639 they just taught me about pacivism, and then when I 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.920 was like getting into you know, political radicalism or whatever, 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.120 I would just mostly hear about the Black Power era, 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:04.240