Nonviolence is generally lauded as the cornerstone of the civil rights movement. Through peaceful civil disobedience, protestors drew attention to systemic injustices in the Jim Crow South and launched a movement for national change, symbolized by the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. But behind the nonviolence movement stood the threat of an armed response--a rear guard rarely mentioned and often controversial.
In This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed, civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb, Jr. (On the Road to Freedom) explores the relationship between the nonviolent civil rights movement and the willingness of some activists (like Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee field secretary Cynthia Washington) and their allies (like the Deacons of Defense) to carry and use firearms. Cobb, a field secretary for the SNCC in the 1960s, relies on his own experiences, as well as the memories of his fellow activists and a wealth of historical sources, to draw a distinct connection between the work of nonviolent activists and the armed response of their allies. He argues that without the protection of guns and of armed militias, the nonviolent movement's members would have found themselves much easier targets for violence and terrorism, from anonymous night-riders to state-sponsored suppression. In so doing, Cobb ties together two American traditions: the right to individual equality and the right to bear arms against a tyrannical government.
Cobb's account offers fascinating historical details couched in entirely accessible terms. Although he makes his case carefully and thoroughly, he never burdens the reader with academic prose or convoluted reasoning. Rather, Cobb's long-essay format brings the Freedom Movement to life in an unexpected way, shaking up conventional historical views and changing the conversation about individual freedom and personal protection that continues today. --Dani Alexis Ryskamp, blogger at The Book Cricket