Instead, when it comes to Black people, much of the narrative around guns is associated with gun violence in Black and poor communities. I empathize with people who have been traumatized because of gun violence. I feel for those whose only experience with guns has been violent or negative. It is tragic and it is painful. But the narrative around guns and Black people must include the full range of experiences.
I want to challenge my community to seek out responsible gun owners and talk to them about why they chose to arm themselves. Further, even as groups attempt to reduce gun violence, we should be careful not to villainize responsible and legal gun owners or people interested in gun ownership.
The last thing that any of us need is more laws that will criminalize us.
Further, when we talk about gun ownership, we should be clear about two things. First, gun ownership in the Black community is not a new or novel concept. In “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible,” Charles E. Cobb Jr. debunked the myth that all civil rights advocates were anti-gun.
Many carried weapons and openly questioned notions of non-violence at all costs. While beloved leaders faced threats on their life, families, and homes, and others were assassinated or faced assassination attempts, some advocates wanted to arm themselves. This is not a revolutionary response: it’s a rational one. You defend what you care about.
Additionally, in “Force and Freedom,” Kellie Carter Jackson offers a historical analysis highlighting the tactical use of violence among antebellum Black activists. Carter Jackson’s book details how African-American abolitionists contemplated the limitations of non-violence when it came to provoking social change. I am not suggesting that we become violent, but I am suggesting that there is a long precedent for considering arming ourselves.
My main point here is that the notion of gun ownership among blacks as “radical” is one that is advanced by people divorced from history and by people who benefit from Black people’s refusal to embrace all of our rights. Black people have always wrestled with how to protect themselves and their families. Today is no different.
– Michael Render in Black People Must Embrace the Second Amendment
Michael Render: There’s Nothing Radical About Black Gun Ownership
Marchelle Tigner, a firearms instructor, goes over a firearms safety tips during a class in Lawrenceville, Ga. Tigner’s goal is to train 1 million women how to shoot a gun in her lifetime. She is among the nation’s black women gun owners who say they are picking up firearms for self-protection. (AP Photo/Lisa Marie Pane)
Self defense is a fundamental human right.
Yep. As the Klan discovered, that 30-30 is every bit as accurate in the hands of a Black man defending his family as it is in the Klan guy trying to attack him and is family. The demise of the Klan began when Black citizens armed themselves in self defense.
….and DEMS have been rabid about gun control ever since… Not likely to change either.
That’s only natural since the Klan was started by DEMONcRATS.
What the hell is she talking about? I don’t have clue. I was born in 1955 and 2 of my best friends were black childreen my age, I really liked them. My dad really did hate black people but I didn’t ever know why. I’m now being blamed for a lot of things I don’t believe in, why? Did I spit on your mamas grave, call you a racist, call you a pedophilia, I don’t know. Anyway, grow up and watch what you say, you may be preaching up the wrong crek.
As the Black community continues to arm, they will discover they have less in common with the left-wing socialists and communists that think they own the Black vote. The left will soon discover there is no Black vote.
We’re human beings. There is no other race! Color is only skin deep and must be ignored. In healthcare I’ve seen horribly damaged and mutilated bodies and trust me, we’re all the same on the inside! End of rant.
Yetis don’t exist. They were part of an excuse thought up by a Sherpa when his wife caught himalayin’ in the wrong bed.
Boooo!
The Roots of Gun Control are in Racism and Genocide. The democRat Party concocted laws to deny Black Americans their Second Amendment Right. Today’s Gun Control is nothing new. It is the same old worn out democRat Party poo that has been sugarcoated, repackaged and sold to ivory tower busy bodies who think Gun Control is something honorable. The bottom line truth is democRat Party Gun Control is a Racist and Nazi Based Agenda…sugarcoating or no sugarcoating.
“Sugarcoated Party poo”.
My eyes (and digestive tract) are burning!
As always, sock it to ’em, Debbie!
The only nit I can pick is the use of the term “gun violence”.
“There’s Nothing Radical About Black Gun Ownership”
Not at all, EXCEPT in the context that it’s being driven…
I’ll never understand historically oppressed/targeted people who actively fight against the right to arm themselves. Jews, homosexuals, Irish, Polish, black, asian, hispanic, Protestants, Mormans, poor, whoever the fuck. Go back far enough everyone has been oppressed by everyone else.
For anybody to go around bitching about their oppression either current or centuries old and NOT arms up is absurd.
The first thing I’d do once I broke the chains is sharpen a stick or pick up a nice rock to make damn sure I never end up in those chains again.
But that’s not how they do it today. Today they go out of their way to make sure they’re punished for having sharp sticks and that the only ones who can have those sticks are the same people who chained them in the first place. Even Ghandi had militant buddies raiding and pillaging. If you think hugs and fasting have ever truly changed anything you’ve been brainwashed by people who wish to enslave you.
+1k Astounding is the level of cognitive dissonance, albeit it is irrespective of race, creed, etc. However, it is especially disconcerting of those who were oppressed not so long ago. The mental disconnect is real, and it’s very prevalent.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind everyone here, that we all are of the oppressed class in the modern day. Deplorable’s, as we were not so long ago disparagingly labeled. Best recognize, we all fall under that blanket term. That included all of us, regardless of color, no matter the religion or lack thereof. Regardless of gender, or sexual orientation. Not withstanding, where you’re from, what languages you speak, nor what accent you have. Physically whole, or disabled. What good (or not) you’ve done in life, neither your personal character or charisma. Whether for the hunt, printing targets, or for defense.
Deplorable. What we ALL are, in. their. eyes. The tie that binds is the gun. And for that, we are castigate.
And women in general. Ain’t nothing feminist about gun control. Or about calling an armed, male cop to save her when the bad ex comes around.
I remember the first day I went to my local range. Had no idea what to expect. I had always enjoyed the classic firearm magazines as a kid, but had parents that weren’t really firearms people. Not that they were against them, just not something they talked about. My first day at the range was enlightening. I had expected to see a bunch of white crackers (I can say that because I am from the south), but what i found was a range full of the most diverse races and backgrounds. ALL of which who were the most genuine, helpful people I have ever met. Everyone has a right to protect themselves and in light of what has recently happened in Minneapolis I am proud of all those folks I now call friends who train to protect themselves and to stand up to tyranny.
All good people must have the right to keep and bear arms. Unfortunately, some good people will sell out their rights — and yours — for a government check. Black people are not immune to this failure of character.
One of the things I’ve noticed over a long time is that blacks, in many ways, are their own worst enemies and that has been aided and abetted by the Democrat Party going back all the way to the days of Reconstruction. Democrats have been promising the moon and stars, and not delivering on any of it, for well over 100 years. It has gone on so long that they have bought into the idea that Republicans are evil and only Democrats can save them. Look at the way they treat blacks who dare to leave the Democrats and become conservatives. Get rid of the liberal Democrats (and the 150 year legacy of Democrat slave owners and Ku Klux Klan members) and blacks will fix their own problems, and the gun issues in the black community will take care of themselves.
AMEN, BROTHER, AMEN
I agree!
Anyone that can legally own firearms…should.
And anyone who is not behind bars should be legally able to do so.
Well, almost anyone.
This Pandemic has exposed the Liberal Democrats for what they really are. Tyrants in sheep’s clothing. If they ever get the power that they crave, we will lose all of our rights and the 2nd Amendment will be the first to go. They will stack the Supreme Court with looney liberal judges, change our election laws and rule us just like all the liberal democratic governors are doing this very minute. Look around people. Their true colors are showing. There is no excuse for you if you continue to vote for these liberal democrats. WAKE UP!
“There’s Nothing Radical About Black Gun Ownership”
Uh, did you think to ask the top echelon of the Democratic Party? They’ve thought that the notion of a black person having the right to own/bear arms to be rather worrying since, oh, 1857. They made rather explicit mention of this in the Dred Scott v. Sanford case.