June 11, 2008 News+Opinion » Jack Hunter

Robert F. Williams and the Second Amendment 

Black Firepower

by Jack Hunter
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Russell Kirk, author of the landmark book The Conservative Mind, frequently described conservatism as the conservation of a particular people living in a particular place at a particular time. For one black man living in Monroe, N.C., in the mid-20th century, conservatism came through the barrel of a gun.

In 1925, Robert F. Williams was born into the nasty era of Jim Crow, a time when a man's skin color determined his place in the world; often he was barely even considered a man. The white establishment bullied and oppressed blacks as a matter of custom, and justice was anything but blind.

Despite this tragic existence, Williams said of Monroe, "My family roots were buried deep in the soil of the South. I couldn't extract them and bury them somewhere else." So Williams decided to do what past generations of patriotic Southerners had done — defend his soil against foreign aggressors, namely the Ku Klux Klan.

As head of the local chapter of the NAACP, Williams (who was also a World War II veteran) organized a militia unit he called the Black Armed Guard, trained black men and women to use rifles, and fortified his entire neighborhood by stacking sandbags and stockpiling weapons. It worked.

But not everyone approved. Wrote biographer Timothy B. Tyson, "Williams' advocacy of violence made him into an example at the 1959 NAACP convention. He had been removed from his post as Monroe NAACP president, and he listened at the convention as 40 speakers denounced him. He responded that he had called for self-defense, not acts of war: 'We as men should stand up as men and protect our women and children. I am a man, and I will walk upright as a man should. I will not crawl."

Damn straight. When faced with an imminent threat, Williams not only spat in the face of the political correctness of his day, but stood squarely in the tradition of the Founding Fathers. "Tom Paine, Washington, Jefferson, and Patrick Henry were all honorable men who are supposed to represent the true spirit of America. These noble men advocated violence as a vehicle of liberation," Williams said.

It's a safe bet that Williams understood the true meaning and importance of the Second Amendment more intimately than most contemporary conservatives, as the Founding Fathers believed that only an armed populace might be able to effectively resist tyranny.

Today, Ivy League politicians routinely talk about their love of sportsmen and hunting, and that is considered enough to satisfy the rednecks. But the cigar-chomping, gun-toting Williams — a black redneck if there ever was one — wasn't hunting quail. He was hunting Klansmen.

The KKK in the 1950s and '60s were encouraged and even supported by local governments; the "Invisible Empire" often claimed respected leaders as members. As far as the black community of Monroe was concerned, the hoods and robes of white terrorists were often indistinguishable from the uniforms and badges of the local constable.

Williams' example serves as an eternal reminder that the right to self-defense is indispensable to liberty, as sometimes men need to defend themselves from their government. Just ask Thomas Jefferson.

In his book Negroes with Guns, Williams explains, "I just wasn't going to let white men have that much authority over me." Indeed. Like my white ancestors in 1776 and 1861, Williams took the patriot's position. He stood for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness against those whose explicit intent was to deny those cherished rights to their fellow Americans.

Eventually hounded out of the United States by the FBI, Williams spent time in exile in both Cuba and China and made common cause back home with many of the leftists and black nationalists that littered the political landscape of the 1960s. These were relationships born of Williams' desire for black independence and liberty — particularly that of his own southern people. According to Tyson, "The NAACP leader from Monroe reached out to potential allies in all these camps while remaining committed to equal rights for all under the U.S. Constitution," adding that Williams "was neither a nationalist, a Marxist, nor a liberal."

Williams was a conservative. Better yet, a southern conservative whose unique roots gave him the courage and inspiration to stand tall and be heard when white men insisted that he sit down and shut up.

Tyson noticed that Williams had an "unmistakably conservative disposition." So did the Klan. And so did Williams' neighbors, as Monroe was done proud by a favorite son, who never asked for any favors but gave them aplenty, from the heart — and the holster.

Catch Southern Avenger commentaries every Tuesday and Friday at 7:50 a.m. on the "Morning Buzz with Richard Todd" on 1250 AM WTMA.

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I haven't read Russell Kirk's book yet, but intend to. I believe Mr. Hunter's intentions are pure, and are motivated by a sincere desire to make this nation's citizens aware of our Founding Father's original intent of extremely limited federal government, the sovereignty of each state, individual liberty and personal responsibility. I understand and concur with the necessity of Robert Williams' having to defend his homestead with arms against an unjust aggressor. I have also viewed Mr. Hunter's YouTube video advocating the Second Amendment. My question for Mr. Hunter is this: Do you think that the founding documents of a nation comprised originally of a few hundred thousand citizens is still valid in a country of over three hundred million? Let's say, for example, that every national gun control law was abolished in keeping with the Second Amendment and our Founding Fathers' intent of limited federal government. If every responsible citizen was allowed to tote one anywhere, wouldn't that increase the number of gun-related injuries and deaths of innocent people, accidental or otherwise? Would you trust that the total stranger sitting next to you on the bus toting would not be some psycho waiting to murder you when your back is turned? While I fully agree with Mr. Hunter's views concerning the true intent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, at the same time I question their practical application in our modern nation. I've not made up my mind yet about gun control laws, and really feel I need more information before making a stand one way or the other.

Posted by Brad Bailey on June 16, 2008 at 9:44 PM | Report this comment

I might add that too many conservatives today make the mistake of defining the label by the company a person keeps instead of their actions.

For example, I know folks who will vote for Lindsey Graham simply because as a Republican, they believe he has to be more conservative than any Democrat.

Some are willing to dismiss my portrayl of Williams as a conservative simply because many of his friends and allies were not.

Yet Lindsey, the alleged "conservative," isn't in the least - in fact, the open borders, budget-busting Senator is an internationalist more concerned with pleasing corporations with cheap labor or creating democracy in Iraq, than the health of his country or state. Does the fact that he hangs around with plenty of other idiot Republicans (who mostly support and agree with him) make him conservative?

Likewise, Robert W. Williams got tired of the Klan harassing and terrorizing his family and friends, so he started firing back - using even military-style weapons. Jeffersonian in principle, Williams is closer to Right-wing militias, Bernie Goetz or even G. Gordon Liddy - even if Cuba and China offered him exile, which he would have been a suicidal fool not to accept.

I'm geting my haircut this week - by a gay man. Does this make me gay? Some Lindsey Graham supporters might think so, and I won't note the implied irony...

Or does the fact that I date women define my sexuality? My actions as opposed to my associations?

People get mad when I call Sean Hannity a "neocon," despite the fact that most of his guests are indeed neoconservatives (association). But ultimately, that Hannity promotes an "invade the world/invite the world" philosophy (pure neoconservatism) is why I label him as I do (his actions).

Just something to think about.

Jack

Posted by Jack Hunter on June 14, 2008 at 3:25 PM | Report this comment

Great column on Robert F. Williams. Too often the players of modern civil rights movement are scrunched under the identity of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and it's important for contemporary generations to understand the variety of experiences and resistance that forged our homeland after World War II and into the 1960s. Defending freedom abroad as a soldier while being denied it at home shaped Williams' struggle. Yet he never resorted to violence as a preferred tactic; where others preached from the pulpit, he published newsletters and reasoned over the radio.

Tyson's "Radio Free Dixie" is one of my favorite books. It was understandable that certain people condemned Williams during his life, but in retrospect he stands out as an American hero.

Posted by Craig S. Knowlton on June 14, 2008 at 12:48 PM | Report this comment

Williams actions perfectly described Russell Kirk's definition of conservatism, as I began my piece:

"Russell Kirk, author of the landmark book The Conservative Mind, frequently described conservatism as the conservation of a particular people living in a particular place at a particular time. For one black man living in Monroe, N.C., in the mid-20th century, conservatism came through the barrel of a gun."

Pat Buchanan has befriended Ralph Nader and on war, illegal immigration and trade they agree. Is Buchanan a liberal?

Throughout Tyson's book, the point is made repeatedly that Williams didn't agree politically with his Communist hosts (who were protecting him from certain imprisonment i the U.S. - who wouldn't have done the same?), and as I mentioned Tyson stresses that Williams "was neither a nationalist, a Marxist, nor a liberal." If Williams thoughts and actions resemble a political tradition, conservatim comes the closest.

If your argument is that Williams is an unconventional conservative, then I concede your point, because that was sort of my point - to make a conservative argument concerning the 2nd amendment in a different light.

Joe Sobran once said that "conservatism is where you find it." I've been finding it more, as of late, in decidedly non-Republican quarters - the Jeffersonian, armed resistance to tyranny aspects of black nationalism being just one.

Hell, Bill Kauffman, one of my favorite conservative authors, has written about the conservatism of the Black Panthers.

Jack

Posted by Jack Hunter on June 13, 2008 at 11:09 AM | Report this comment

Geez Jack.
William's a conservative? After dinner with Mao and a continuous broadcast from North Vietnam urging black US troops not to fight? Those are some pretty red lenses with which you read Radio Free Dixie – and you still totally missed the help that William’s provided Nixon to help open China. Next thing we know, you’ll be calling Fannie Lou Hamer a Nazi sympathizer.

Posted by Jeff Allen1 on June 13, 2008 at 8:58 AM | Report this comment

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