Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms

This was a dark read. No pun intended.

This is a demonstration that self and group defense, employing firearms, was instrumental in the emancipation, rise to nationwide respect, and achievement of civil liberties by black folk in America. It is simultaneously a considered, even passionate argument for the absolute necessity of our second amendment for the retention of civil liberties for all.

Its methodology, and this is where the dark aspect resides, is an exhaustive history of the long suppression, under slavery and later, of people who, enslaved from Africa, however interbred they became, were subjected to denigration, night-riding terrorists, prejudicial “law” enforcement, and legalized discrimination.

Detailing various incidents during slavery, resistance to slavery, and the convoluted political mash surrounding that disgusting institution, the book goes on to Reconstruction in the South

When congress and the president caved to the South, Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow began. During all of this, self-defense was essential. It was still essential as a shield for non-violent demonstrators during the civil rights struggle. Recent NAACP anti-gun rhetoric is shown to be toadying to a Democratic establishment which has tried to disarm the Negro for over two centuries, and which continues, using the excuse of a thin minority of violent, economically desperate inner city black males.

At some point I will reread this. I will not enjoy doing so, but it is an immensely valuable teaching.