BY KARL CAMERON, Staff Writer
The events that Charles E. Cobb, Jr., former SNCC Field Secretary, writes about in his book titled, “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible” is a story as old as America itself.
Many notable names in the civil rights movement will jump out at the readers as he journeys through Mr. Cobb’s recollection of civil rights struggles of the 50’s and 60’s, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, John Lewis, Stokely Carmichael,, and James Farmer. But just as impactful in what is also referred to as the Freedom Movement are the names of C.O. Chinn, Hartman Turnbow, and E.W. Steptoe. Though these names are not well known in the movement, the commitment to self-defense kept many an organizer and protester alive.
These men believed in the time-honored American tradition of protecting hearth and home, and their efforts along with countless World War I and II black veterans played a major role in the success of the civil rights movement in the south.
“This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed” chronicles how self-defense played its role in what many mistakenly refer to today solely as a non-violent movement. Charles Cobb, Jr. in his book share both the history and the hard realities of what it took to overcome the Post Civil War White Supremacy of the South.
This is a must read for anyone wanting to get a true picture of the danger, and the courage that it took to finally “overcome.”