Civil rights organization asked blacks to arm themselves to stop BLM looters.
By Donald Jeffries
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has long been at the forefront of the civil rights movement. However, it doesn’t seem to support the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, which have often included violence and destruction of property. Untold numbers of small businesses have been burned or forced to board up and close because of rioting. Some of those businesses have black owners.
In Minnesota, about two-dozen black gun owners have formed the Minnesota Freedom Fighters. The armed group answered a call from the local NAACP chapter for residents in predominantly black north Minneapolis to offer protection to small businesses being torched and looted. “It’s important to have men from the community step up for the community,” explained Sasha Cotton, director of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention. “It’s their right to be out on the streets and it’s commendable. There are black residents who in the early days of the unrest felt vulnerable . . . and still do.”
The Minnesota Freedom Fighters met with Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo to express their concerns, though the police department refused media requests for comments about the group.
“These brothers were there in the beginning, when threats were being made by [alleged and mostly fictional] white supremacists,” noted Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP. “There is no doubt they stepped up for the community.” Redmond expressed her happiness over the men being armed and expressed hope that they grow further as community leaders. Freedom Fighter Romeal Taylor declared, “We are like any other American. . . . We have the right to bear arms.” Sounding like a typical Second Amendment activist, he said, “There is a lot going on out here in the world. I would rather have a gun and not need it than need it and not have it.” The Freedom Fighters’ mission statement reads, “Our objective is not to be the police, but the bridge to link the police and the community together.”
Many on the right have claimed that the protesters appear to be professional and are often not local residents of the particular community in question. Taylor confirmed this when he observed people from outside his neighborhood destroying the buildings there. “These weren’t black folks. These were outsiders truly intent on destroying this city.” Another Freedom Fighter, Randy Chrisman, who has had a concealed carry permit for nearly a decade and lives in the suburbs, stated the obvious truth: “You just never know when something is going to happen. As a black man, I have the same rights as others to also carry a firearm, and I do it.” Another member of the group, Minneapolis fire inspector Robert Sayers, said, “This is about filling the gap we see between police and community. . . . It’s really about harm reduction. We could not and still cannot allow destruction in the city.” A strong supporter of the group is Rev. Tim Christopher, who wears his concealed weapon while conducting church services, and has testified at the state capitol in support of the Second Amendment. “It’s been a breath of fresh air,” Christopher stated. “Seeing an armed black man—knowing he is here to take care of the community, nurture the community—is a blessing.”
The group is just one of dozens of armed black outfits that have formed all over the country. This includes patrols monitoring the protests in Kenosha, Wisc. The most extreme is probably NFAC, the Not F’ing Around Coalition. About 24% of blacks nationwide own a gun, compared to 36% of whites. Statistics show that gun ownership rates have risen since the enforced Covid-19 lockdown began, and this has been especially noticeable in the black community. Philip Smith, president of the National African American Gun Association, reported that his organization’s annual membership has increased by much as 2,000 new members per day, which used to be the annual figure, according to a story in “Politico.” “The days are over of African-Americans sitting around singing Kumbaya and hoping and praying that somebody will come and save them. We’re gonna save ourselves,” Smith declared. “And any politician that wants our vote moving forward, they better be on the side of our thinking; otherwise, you’re not gonna get our vote.”
“Whether it was fear of a food shortage, lack of a grocery store, the long response times for law enforcement or whether people were just fearful they were going to be attacked, I don’t know,” noted Derrick Morgan, national commander of the Black Gun Owners Association. “A lot of people are reaching out to us,
mainly new gun owners and people who wouldn’t have considered owning a gun or firearm for their protection, have been lining up to purchase firearms and access information from our website.”
Donald Jeffries is a highly respected author and researcher whose work on the JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations and other high crimes of the Deep State has been read by millions of people across the world. Jeffries is also the author of three books currently being sold by the AFP Online Store.
