Armed Self-Defense Against Racism
Robert Williams’s book, Negroes with Guns discusses and justifies the approach of armed self-defense against racism among Black-Americans. His argument that armed self-defense is necessary in fighting racism ridicules and berates nonviolent strategies to liberation. In this book, Williams states that it is reasonable for the “Negroes” to arm themselves because the Ku Klux Klan community and other racist organizations fighting them are also armed. The argument here is that it is irrational to fight an armed enemy with mere words and bare hands. However, as much as Williams emphasizes that armed self-defense is necessary in fighting racism, he does not mean that social injustices and mistreatments should be revenged with violence.
Williams’s argument is a call for self-defense for the oppressed Black-Americans. He argues that the easiest way to create a racist-social system is to desist from meeting violence with violence. Paradoxically, the act of being armed sends a message to the white supremacists that the blacks are ready to counter any form of provocation. Williams calls for a flexible struggle wherein the situation determines a response tactic. The non-violent protestor has been attacked and abused, a situation that has led to the struggle to end the injustice. Williams says that “The existence of violence is at the very heart of a racist system. The Afro-American militant is a “militant” because he defends himself, his family, his home and his dignity” (Williams 76). In this assertion, Williams means that the new tactic of being armed will be known by the white supremacist, and this influences them to start being careful with their open discrimination towards the Negros. This is due to the fear that any provocation will be met with fire and fury.
Being an activist for anti-black racism, Williams’s sentiment is a strategy geared toward promoting a worrier spirit. The benefit of a worrier spirit is that it will motivate the Black-Americans to fight for their rights. According to Williams, “When Afro-Americans resist and struggle for their rights, they also possess a power greater than that generated by their will and their hands” (76). In this case, fighting for rights will include demanding that they are respected as other normal human beings who live in the country. In essence, Williams believes that no human is superior to the other. Besides, the fact that an individual is black is not a good reason to justify discrimination. So to say, the complex of sexual and racial dynamics had created a jungle where one group is subservient and dehumanized. Consequently, the creation of the own deterrent was necessitated by the fact that the Ku Klux Klan after rallies “Would drive through our community in motorcades and honk their horns and fire pistols from the car windows” (Williams 17). Insofar as the blacks have no regard for the life of Black-Americans, the struggle for physical survival is the only viable option to give them their humanity.
Since violence is ubiquitous, armed self-defense against racism helps build self-confidence among Black-Americans. Walking with real arms, for instance, will prevent the Black-Americans from fearing that they may be confronted with firearms by the racist groups. In this case, the confidence will be derived from the reasoning that any attack with a firearm will be reciprocated with defense using firearms (Williams 33). The danger of not being armed is that it makes the African Americans fear that they will lose any war waged against them to the white supremacist groups. As such, arguing that armed self-defense is necessary in fighting racism is true because it influences racist individuals to respect Black-Americans. Additionally, this kind of response showcases that the Negros are also capable of doing something worse just like them. For instance, if it is killing, the white supremacist organization will realize that the Negros can also kill since they are armed. So to say, the idea of seeing Negros as animals starts to disappear since animals can effectively use firearms to fight for their liberation.
When Williams’s argument is analyzed from a stereotypical perspective, it is clear that self-defense is rooted in the pursuit of rights and justice. Liberation is the end-product of a struggle that seeks to understand and respect another person’s rights. Thus, “When an oppressed people show a willingness to defend themselves, the enemy, who is a moral weakling and coward, is more willing to grant concessions and work for a respectable compromise” (Williams 4). Moreover, this assertion alludes to the idea that armed self-defense against racism influences positive talk hence preventing the spread of stereotypes against Black-Americans. An excellent example of a common stereotype is that Black-Americans are criminals. In response, Williams opines that it is surely wrong to paint everybody with the same brush regarding crime (45). Whereas Black-Americans are viewed as criminals, whites are viewed to be people with integrity. This biased view has made many Black-Americans be imprisoned for crimes that they did not commit, and so the war against negative stereotypes cannot be taken for granted.
In nutshell, there is a reason to believe that armed self-defense is necessary in fighting racism. The struggle for justice is a punitive process that seeks real progress as it is neither constructive nor radical. It is with this proposition that Williams’s argument applies to both the most cultured and the most primitive societies in the world. Violence exercised in self-defense is simply fair, legal, and moral. It promotes a worrier spirit that motivates the oppressed to come out and fight for their rights. Perhaps, such a response will be a social lever to confidently demand their rights from segregationists.
Work Cited
Williams, Robert Franklin. Negroes with Guns. Wayne State University Press, 1998.