Run: Book One

“If you continue to work the white man up, the wrath of the white man will be on your shoulders. If you might become too…emotional, please, stay behind. There’ll be no catcalling, no responding if anyone hollers are you. Y’all ready?”

In this scene, the Ku Klux Klan has gathered outside the courthouse where voting rights activists have been arrested. This typically entails the risk of terrible violence, but while they still mouth the same slogans about white supremacy, there is a noticeable shift in their tactics. Instead of bludgeoning the protestors into cowed silence, they are co-opting their methods of demonstrative nonviolence, most likely to win the same kind of favorable press that the protestors had used so successfully.

“The only way to end this kind of protest is for local, state, and federal governments to bring about a true democracy in which all Americans, regardless of class and color, will have an equal stake and share in the economic and political life of this country.”

This excerpt from Julian Bond’s statement regarding the 1965 Watts riots signals a major shift in the civil rights movement. For years, the focus had been on the distinct institution of segregation, and now that that fight has been (mostly) won, it must tackle broader issues like police violence and severe economic inequality, focusing more on The Challenge Against Systemic Racism. This will require moving beyond the Jim Crow South and a much more ambitious political agenda.

“The students were determined to demonstrate, which caused hand-wringing among the older SNCC staffers who could empathize with the students’ desire to participate. It was in keeping with the principles of SNCC. But the SNCC staffers also knew that the students would likely be arrested or beaten, and that could jeopardize voter registration efforts.”

Disputes over tactics were a constant feature of SNCC work, and over time, one line of division was between the older, more experienced leaders of the movement and younger students just getting started. The latter were eager to prove themselves as activists, while the former were more concerned about preserving resources (especially human ones) in anticipation of a long struggle.