Robert Franklin Williams Read online

  Americans if they expected the special concessions made

  possible through the taxation of us all. This amounted to

  taxation without representation and it was one of our biggest complaints.

  As a result of this racist policy, out of approximately

  3,000 Afro-Americans in Monroe, there are 1 ,000 unemployed-persons unable to obtain jobs even as janitors, maids, or porters. And maids and porters, when employed,

  earn at most $ 1 5 for a six-day week. One of the few kinds of

  work available, cotton picking, pays all of $2.50 for 1 00

  pounds of picked cotton; at breakneck speed it takes a long

  day, much more than eight hours, to pick 1 50 pounds. Virtually every Negro high school and college graduate in Monroe has to leave to find employment. This is not true of the white

  graduates. Negroes are even laid off in the summer so white

  college youth can work at home. Meanwhile, each summer

  our street corners are crowded with colored youths just out

  of school. They have no means of gainful employment or

  wholesome recreation.

  For reasons such as these we believe that the basic ill is

  an economic ill, our being denied the right to have a decent

  standard of living.

  The Freedom Riders Come to Monroe

  We had planned to put picket lines around the county

  courthouse to draw attention to our program and to apply

  pressure for its achievement. At this time seventeen Freedom Riders came to our support, perhaps the first time that they engaged in a struggle over such fundamental demands

  as our program presented. Hitherto, as I've said, the goals

  were peripheral and while important, amenable to small

  compromises. For example, we had won integration in the

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  NON-VIOLENCE EMBOLDENS THE RACISTS

  public library. On these peripheral matters, leaders of the

  Sit-In Movements can meet with city and state officials and

  win concessions. I believe this is an important part of the

  overall Negro struggle. But when these concessions are used

  for propaganda by Negro "leaders" as examples of the marvelous progress the Afro-American is supposedly making, thereby shifting attention from the basic evils, such victories

  cease to be even peripheral and become self-defeating.

  When we tackle basic evils, however, the racists won't give

  an inch. This, I think, is why the Freedom Riders who came

  to Monroe met with such naked violence and brutality. That

  and the pledge of non-violence.

  The Freedom Riders reflected an attitude of certain

  Negro leaders who said that I had mishandled the situation

  and that they would show us how to get victory without violence. With them came the Reverend Paul Brooks, sent by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to act as a "troubleshooter" for the Freedom Riders, should the need arise, and to work with the community, helping it to develop nonviolent techniques and tactics. I disagreed with their position but was more than willing to co-operate. The community

  rented a house for them which was christened "Freedom

  House" in their honor. They were joined by some of our militant youth who had participated in the picket lines around the swimming pool the previous month. Together they

  formed the Monroe Non-Violent Action Committee.

  Although I myself would not take the non-violent oath,

  I asked the people of the community to support them and

  their non-violent campaign. Monroe students took the nonviolent oath, promising to adhere to the non-violent discipline, which, along with other principles, prohibited selfdefense. I also stated that if they could show me any gains won from the racists by non-violent methods, I too would

  become a pacifist.

  At the same time, several observers were in Monroe to

  see for themselves what so-called democracy was like in

  Union County. We knew that people living in other sections

  of the country and other countries of the world would find

  it hard to believe that such vicious racist conditions, such

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  NEGROES WITH GUNS

  brutality and ruthlessness, existed in the United States especially in such a "progressive" Southern state as North Carolina was supposed to be. So we encouraged these visits.

  Julian Mayfield, the young Afro-American novelist and an old

  friend of Monroe, was there. A young exchange student, Constance Lever of Durham, England, was a guest at our house along with Mrs. Mae Mallory, who had been active in the

  movement for true integration in her own city, New York.

  When the Monroe Non-Violent Action Committee set up

  its picket line on the first day, the Freedom Riders seemed

  convinced they were making real progress. One Freedom

  Rider even returned from the line overjoyed. He said, "You

  know, a policeman smiled at me in town today while I was

  on the line." I laughed and told him not to pay that any attention because the policeman was probably smiling at the thought of how best to kill him. Constance, the English exchange student, had joined the picket line. She said, "Oh, I don't think these people are so bad. I just think you don't

  know how to approach them. I noticed that they looked at

  me in a friendly way in town today." I tried to explain to her

  that these people were trying to win her and the others over

  in the hope that they would leave Monroe. The day that

  these people realized that they couldn't win the Freedom

  Riders over, they would show their true nature. A few days

  later, Constance Lever was arrested by the Monroe police

  and charged with "incitement to rioL"

  The Racists Act by Violence

  It was on the third day that the townspeople started

  insulting the pickets and their politeness turned to viciousness. A policeman knocked one picket to the ground and threatened to break his camera. Another was arrested and

  all the time the white crowd heckled. When one of the white

  Freedom Riders smiled back at the hecklers, two of Monroe's "pure white flowers" spit in his face. Tensions continued to mount.

  On the fourth day a white Freedom Rider was attacked

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  NON-VIOLENCE EMBOLDENS THE RACISTS

  on the street in town and beaten by three whites. The police

  broke this up and promised to arrest the white people who

  had attacked this Freedom Rider. So the Freedom Riders

  kept on thinking there was a possibility that the law would

  be on their side because they had publicly proclaimed themselves to be non-violent. I told them it was all right for them to be pacifists but they shouldn't proclaim this to the world

  because they were just inviting full-scale violent attack. In

  the past we hadn't had any victims of the type of violence

  they were beginning to experience because we had shown a

  willingness to fight. We had had picket lines and sit-ins and

  nobody had successfully attacked our lines. But they said

  they were struggling from a moral point of view.

  On Friday a white Freedom Fighter was shot in the

  stomach with a high-powered air rifle as he was walking the

  line. This happened right in front of the police. And that day

  the city sprayed the picket line with insecticide, hoping to

  drive the students away from the line. Meanwhile, the city

  had passed special laws, ordering pickets to be fifteen feet

  apart at all times. They had to maintain this distance; they

  couldn't be too close or too far apart. Then
the police

  started using the tactic of stopping one picket and when the

  one behind continued walking on they would arrest him for

  passing too closely behind the other. Also that afternoon, a

  Negro boy, ten years old, was attacked in town by three

  white men because he had been seen on the picket line.

  None of the attackers was arrested.

  "Ain't You Dead Yet?"

  That night the Freedom Riders went for a ride into

  Mecklenburg County across the line and stopped at a restaurant. There they were recognized and attacked by white racists. In the scramble one of the Freedom Riders could escape only by running into the woods; the others had to flee in the

  car, leaving him behind. We notified the Monroe city police,

  our county police, the Charlotte police, and the Mecklenburg

  County police that a Freedom Rider was in the woods, miss-

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  NEGROES WITH GUNS

  ing, and the racists were trying to catch him. We were afraid

  he would be lynched. We asked them to intercede. The Monroe police refused. The Union County police refused.

  Rev. Brooks called the Governor's office. Governor

  Terry Sanford was out, they said. But Rev. Brooks got an

  opportunity to speak to the Governor's chief aide, Hugh B.

  Cannon, and complained to him about the lack of police protection for the Freedom Riders. The Governor's aide kept talking about Robert Williams. Rev. Brooks said he was not

  calling about Robert Williams; he was calling about a missing

  Freedom Rider. He said that they were pacifists, non-violent

  people, and wanted police protection. The Governor's aide,

  Hugh B. Cannon, replied, "If you're a real pacifist you had

  better get the hell out of Monroe, man, because there's going

  to be plenty of violence there."

  Rev. Brooks kept trying to appeal to him for police protection but finally gave up. He said, "Since you're talking about Robert Williams so much, he's right here. Do you want

  to talk to him?" The Governor's aide said, Yes.

  Cannon and I had talked about two weeks before when

  I had asked for state police protection. Instead the Governor

  had sent an Uncle Tom representative named Dr. Larkins,

  who is supposed to be the Governor's troubleshooter. He

  came and held a secret meeting with me to find out what it

  would take to quiet things down. I gave him the ten-point

  program and it shocked him. He said that it was too much,

  that the demands were too high, but he would take it up with

  the Governor anyway. And he said that, well, he understood

  I had been undergoing economic pressure and that this was

  wrong and that maybe I could get a job, that maybe the state

  could help me if we just didn't start any trouble around here.

  When I called back the Governor's office and told Hugh

  B. Cannon about this bribe attempt, he replied, "You mean

  to tell me that you're not dead yet?" And I told him, "No, I'm

  not dead, not yet, but when I die a lot of people may die with

  me." So he said, "Well, you may not be dead, but you're

  going to get killed." I kept telling him that we wanted protection, trying to avoid bloodshed. He said, "If you're trying to avoid bloodshed you shouldn't be agitating."

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  NON-VIOLENCE EMBOLDENS THE RACISTS

  The Governor and the FBI

  So this Friday night, when Rev. Paul Brooks finished

  talking to Hugh B. Cannon and he said he wanted to talk to

  me, I got on the phone and told him what had happened. He

  said, "Well, you're getting just what you deserve down there.

  You've been asking for violence, now you're getting it." I told

  him that I wasn't appealing to him for myself. I was appealing

  to him for a pacifist. And I told him, "Besides, I'm not appealing to you for a Negro; this happens to be a white boy who's lost in the woods." He said, "I don't give a damn who he is.

  You asked for violence and now you're getting it, see; you're

  getting just what you deserved." So I told him, "Do you know

  one thing . . . you are the biggest fool in the whole world!"

  He became infuriated and started raging on the telephone

  and told me to shut up. I told him that he may be the Governor's assistant but he couldn't tell me to shut up. He said, "If you don't stop talking to me like that I'll hang up." And he

  finally hung up. No protection came.

  Each time the Freedom Riders would get ready to go on

  the picket line they would call the FBI in Charlotte and ask

  for protection. The FBI would say, "We're on our way." But

  they would never be there when anything happened. On Saturday when the Freedom Riders were picketing in town and the taxicabs that had been transporting them to the line had

  started out to pick them up, the local white racists gathered

  together and blocked the road. This meant the Freedom Riders had to walk back to the colored community which was almost a mile away. The mob followed the Freedom Riders

  along the streets, throwing stones at them and threatening

  to kill them. When they came into the colored community,

  the colored people who were not participating in the picket

  line became very upset that our community had been invaded by a mob chasing Freedom Riders. Many of the colored people started stoning cars and beating back the white racists.

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  Chapter S

  • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

  Self-Defense Prevents I Po.rom:

  Ilclsts En.lneer I

  Ildnlllln. 'rlmeUI

  • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

  Sunday morning the chief of police and his men drove

  through the county urging whites to come to town to fight

  the Freedom Riders. In addition, people were coming in from

  other counties and from South Carolina. An organization

  called the Minute Men had brought people in.

  By afternoon thousands of white racists had gathered

  in town, concentrating at the courthouse square. At 4

  o'clock James Forman, one of the picket captains, called my

  home requesting four taxicabs within the hour. He said that

  the racists were threatening to assault the line and complained of police indifference. Forman was to end up in jail with a split head one hour later.

  At 4:30 the Negro cab company called to report that

  they couldn't get through to the picketers because every entrance into town was blocked off. Minutes later a couple of cars driven by our people came racing into the neighborhood. They had just made it in from town to report that the mob had started to attack the picket line, shots had been

  fired and the town was in the grip of a full-scale riot.

  When the self-defense guard, which up to now had

  stayed away from the courthouse square, heard that the

  lives of the Freedom Riders and local non-violent youth were

  in danger, they jumped into their cars and rode into town,

  46

  SELF-DEFENSE PREVENTS A POGROM

  breaking through the mob's blockade to rescue the picketers. Julian Mayfield went with them.

  The white mob was already armed. The police disarmed some of the men attempting to rescue the Freedom Riders and turned these additional weapons over to the

  mob. Firing broke out at the picket line when the police and

  the mob tried to prevent the English exchange student from

  getting into one of
the rescue cars driven by three armed

  Negroes. The police held Negroes while white racists beat

  them up. At first the victims were all Freedom Riders and the

  local non-violent students, but soon Negroes were attacked

  indiscriminately as the mob fanned out all over town. They

  were massing for an attack against our community.

  We Aim for Self-Defense

  So many Freedom Riders and Negroes were arrested

  that many prisoners with legitimate charges against them

  were released from jail to make room. Many of these people

  who came out of jail reported to me that students were

  bleeding to death there without any medical attention. I

  called the chief of police and told him that I had reports

  that the students were not getting medical attention and that

  their lives were in danger. I told him I would give him just

  thirty minutes to get medical attention for them and that if

  they didn't receive medical aid within thirty minutes, we

  would march on the jail. About fifteen minutes later James

  Forman called from the hospital to let me know that they

  were receiving medical care. Just after that, Julian Mayfield

  returned and reported that members of the white mob,

  which now included some uniformed police, were near the

  railroad tracks and firing down at Negroes who had fled

  town. At the approach of darkness, white people started

  driving through our community, shouting and screaming.

  Some fired out of their cars and threw objects at people on

  the streets. Many of the colored people started arming, exchanging guns, borrowing ammunition and forming guards 47

  NEGROES WITH GUNS

  for the night to defend the community from the mob massing

  in town. On the block where I live there were about 300 people milling around the street.

  About 6 o'clock in the evening a white couple, Mr. and

  Mrs. Bruce Stegall, came riding through our neighborhood.

  They were recognized as people who had driven through

  town the day before with a banner on their car announcing

  an "Open Season On Coons." It meant that this was killing

  time.

  People have asked why a racist would take his wife into

  a riot-torn community like ours on that Sunday. But this is

  nothing new to those who know the nature of Klan raiding.