Negroes with Guns

This is a short book about how armed resistance against reactionaries is necessary and can be more effective than nonviolent resistance. Violent resistance was erased from US history by liberals who don't want real material change and by reactionaries who think they invented it.

This book was cited a lot in the book I read last year about the subject “In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action” by Vicky Osterwell (2019), which I highly recommend.

Robert F. Williams' thesis was that in societies where the state does not protect victims of oppression, violent resistance may be needed in order to achieve equal protection under the law. Is it always necessary? No. Does it always work? No. But to take it off the table is to fight injustice with one arm tied behind our backs. We must learn our history. We must not fall for the whitewashed propaganda. Reactionaries, conservatives, fascists, they all understand this. They are ready for mass unrest. They are ready for civil war. We must not go looking for violence but we must be prepared in the event of violence. We must not assume the state will protect us from itself or our fellow man.

Short book. Pretty good.