Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Remember the Deacons for Defense

Why are these men forgotten?

In November 1964, a group of black American citizens in Jonesboro, Louisiana led by Earnest "Chilly Willy" Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded a militia to protect civil rights workers against the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. They called it the Deacons for Defense and Justice. Most of them were war veterans with combat experience from the Korean War and World War II, and they armed themselves with military pattern semi-automatic rifles, carbines and pistols. Ironically, these are the same types of firearms that liberal politicians (including Barack Obama) are seeking to ban today as so-called "assault weapons."

No comments: