Hatman Turbow once said to Martin Luther King Jr., “This nonviolent stuff ain’t no good. It’ll get ya killed.” (Cobb 7). Dispelling the notions held by numerous individuals, groups who had guns to protect non-violent protesters during the American Civil Rights movement. Moreover, pronounced in both Charles Cobbs, activist and author interview and book, This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible is that particular viewpoint. Indeed, the typical narrative force-feed to many people of leaders not practicing self-defense is false and deeply problematic as it prevents a true understanding of one of many dark chapters in American history.
A point that Cobb established early in the interview is that some individuals who practiced non-violence when faced with terrible violence practiced self-defense too. It harkens back to a point made in his book when he gives an example of Martin Luther King Jr., the person most associated with nonviolence during the American Civil Rights Movement also held guns for not only his self-defense
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Baker famously stated, “strong people don’t need strong leaders”. Relating to a point brought up in Cobb’s book, “nonviolent direction actions” (90) brought upon real change in the South with SNCC leading at the forefront of voter registration drives for African-American beliefs. Done in the early 1960s, during the latter half of decade other Black groups would empathize political power spurred by African-Americans as a key ingredient to ensuring their rights increased as citizens in the country. The early grassroots organizing done by groups such as SNCC played a crucial role in the success of the