January 13, 2006: Self-Defense in the Civil Rights Movement
Christopher Strain has powerfully argued in his new book Pure Fire: Self-Defense in the Civil Rights Era (University of Georgia, 2005) that "self-defense was more than a tactic used alongside nonviolence. It was an essential part of the struggle for citizenship itself" (p. 3). Strain also explains how self-defense ceased to be construed exclusively as a "personal and largely apolitical issue" and "morphed into a highly public and political issue for black Americans in the 1960s." He elaborates on this point:
"The increased politicization of self-defense by black Americans during this period paralleled the development of a heightened awareness of political, social, and economic deprivation. Must self-defense be self-consciously political for it to be considered activism? From a strictly prescriptive viewpoint, the answer remains yes; however, because the issue of self-defense was racialized from the earliest days of Americasn history, and because black persons were traditionally denied that right, one could easily argue that any assertion of self, or of self-protection, by black Americans represented a blow against racism and bigotry. Activism is usually characterized as public demonstration: marches, protests, boycotts, and the like. Similarly, self-defense is usually understood to be an apolitical act of resistance. However, it seems clear that, in the context of the struggle for black equality, self-defense assumed important constitutional and political roles in black empowerment--even though it was often an individual act of defiance, free from formal coordination, collective action, or overtly political aims" (pp. 6-7).
Here is a fascinating case of the personal becoming political in the construction of a new narrative of human dignity!
