Minority Gun Owners Share No "Stigma of Violence"
By David Codrea, June 20th 2014
JPFO writer contributor, © 2014.
Tanzina Vega
"Minority Gun Owners Face Balancing Act, Weighing Isolation and Stigma of Violence," Tanzina Vega wrote in a New York Times report on non-whites at the recent NRA convention in Indianapolis.
"We still culturally have a fear that we're going to be that lone guy out, and you don't want to be the lone guy out," Vega quoted "Black Man with a Gun" Kenn Blanchard, who figured blacks represented approximately one percent of the attendees. "The exposed nail gets hammered."
That hammer is not coming from the gun rights advocacy community, which welcomes all with open arms, no pun intended. Rather, it is coming from "progressives" both minority and "establishment," and at times exposed nails get hit quite hard.
Colion Noir
"NRA's Colion Noir Gets Racist Hate On Facebook, ThinkProgress Pens Hit Piece On His New Webshow," Dan Cannon demonstrated in an article giving graphic examples for The Daily Caller. Noir, now an NRA video star who had already developed a wide and enthusiastic YouTube following before coming on board with the gun group, is known for his witty, insightful and entertaining commentary. That make it all the more outrageous that he was on the receiving end of ugly insults, reminiscent of the vilest things screamed at Civil Rights marchers in the heyday of their activism, along with a pathetic attempt to dismiss and diminish his efforts by the media arm of the powerful and connected Center for American Progress Action Fund.
No one who has been a longtime follower, supporter and member of JPFO will be surprised to read that guns -- and the one-time lack of them -- played a major role, first in enabling slavery and discrimination, and then in helping to protect African Americans determined not to be disenfranchised by bigots.
Most anti-gun people are unaware of the slave codes, which maintained "Slaves cannot use any weapon, even in self defense." Most anti-gun people are unaware that laws passed in the late 19th Century were specifically written to discriminate, with language like "The statute was NEVER intended to be applied to the white population." Most anti-gun people are unaware of the brave stand taken by groups like the Deacons for Defense and Justice during the civil rights struggles of the 20th Century. Without a sense of history, and without a clear understanding of the motivations employed today to ensure continued and expanded citizen disarmament, most anti-gun people do not have perspective to challenge deception-based assumptions, ones that purposely omit any reference to the implications for freedom that guns in moral private hands represent.
That's why, in 2009, JPFO, under the visionary guidance of its founder, the late Aaron Zelman, produced a landmark video that needs to be seen by all, but especially by those who have not been exposed to the truth. "No Guns for Negroes," featuring commentary by Ralph W. Conner, Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)-Chicago, and Donna Major, Boston Field Coordinator for Second Amendment Sisters, guides viewers through history up to the current day, to expose the evil of "gun control" and the particular harm it subjects minority communities to. At 20-minutes long, it is easy to view and absorb, and even easier to share.
Take the time right now to watch it, or if you can't, bookmark the link to return and watch it later. I just did again, having first viewed it five years ago, and it not only still plays well, it actually seems to play better. If you agree, you can do something else: You can purchase a DVD copy, allowing you to conduct showings in your home and to loan it out, and helping JPFO continue with its unique and vital work.
After playing it, the evil, racist put-downs coming from the anti-gun crowd will seem even more monstrous than before, if that's possible. There is no stigma associated with any human being exercising his or her unalienable right to defense of self, family, community and country. And brothers and sisters in arms are just that first: Brothers and sisters.
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David Codrea is a field editor at GUNS Magazine, penning their monthly "Rights Watch" column. He provides regular reporting and commentary at Gun Rights Examiner and blogs at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. David Codrea's Archive page.
