Reverend Samuel Mosteller, longtime president of the Georgia Southern Christian Leadership Conference (which was founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) said that Black families should be exercising their Second Amendment right, in response to all the violent and tragic police shootings claiming the lives of several unarmed Black men and children.
“You know, the SCLC stands for nonviolence,” said Rev. Mosteller, “but nonviolence hasn’t worked in this instance.”
“You stand there, (police) shoot. You run, they shoot. We’re going to have to take a different tack,” Mosteller passionately claimed. “Nobody is protecting the Black community! I am going to have to advocate, at this point, that all African-Americans advocate their 2nd Amendment rights,” Rev. Mosteller said.
Mosteller’s angry request comes only a week after 23-year-old Nicholas Thomas was brutally shot to death by Smyrna police, who claimed the victim tried to run them over in his Maserati after they attempted to serve him an arrest warrant for his probation violation.
But not everyone agrees with Mosteller’s violent tactics. Janice Mathis, a lawyer with Rainbow PUSH Coalition said, “Arming the Black community is not Rainbow PUSH’s position.” The SCLC has been historically known for their lack of violence. In fact, if you can remember from Ava DuVernay’s Selma, members of the SCLC were criticized by younger members, who wanted to continue the civil rights movement with more force. Mosteller’s would-be tactics are a departure from the usual for the SCLC, but it’s not like his feelings aren’t warranted.
Watching the amount of Black death increase at rates we can’t keep up with hurts. We can protest and scream #BlackLivesMatter until we’re blue in the face, but until the world adopts humanity, we’re going to keep having to watch these deaths in horror.
According to reports, Mosteller also announced plans to organize recalls of the sheriffs of any county where an unarmed African-American is shot by police. These are the types of plans that should be implemented to help effect change in our world. If our ancestors have been able to do it, why can’t we?
Do you agree with Mosteller’s views? Should Black families get ready for war?
SCLC President Urges Black Families To Get Ready For War: “Nonviolence Hasn’t Worked!” was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
