Based on my very, very unscientific poll of 14 black youth ages 15 to 18, I would say that gun control advocates have their work cut out for them.

I facilitated a peace circle yesterday at a local school. I was invited to keep the circle as part of an ongoing “Peacemaker” after-school program. When the circle ended, I engaged the young people in a conversation about recent school-based shootings. First, I asked if they had been impacted by gun violence. All of them had. This isn’t surprising because as a recent report (PDF) by the Children’s Defense Fund suggests: “Gun homicide continued as the leading cause of death among Black teens 15 to 19.” More specifically:

1. Black males 15-19 were eight times as likely as White males of the same age and two-and-a-half times as likely as their Hispanic peers to be killed in a gun homicide in 2009.
2. The leading cause of death among Black teens ages 15 to 19 in 2008 and 2009 was gun homicide. For White teens 15 to 19 it was motor vehicle accidents followed by gun homicide in 2008 and gun suicide in 2009.

Next, I asked how many of them supported stricter gun laws. Specifically, I asked if they would support banning assault weapons. The answer was a resounding NO from all of them. All 14. The adult sponsor of the program appeared stunned at their answers.

I asked why they opposed a ban on assault weapons and got various responses. Some of the young people suggested that banning things just made some folks more likely to want them. One young man said: “It’s like when my mom tells me I can’t have that extra slice of pizza. All I can think about is how much I want it.” Others suggested that the government wouldn’t be able to stop the flow of the assault weapons since they couldn’t do anything about drugs which were already illegal. Another young man said that guns weren’t the problem but rather people’s mindsets were. Finally, one young woman spoke about the need for people to be able to protect themselves from the police. She thought that having an assault weapon would even out the odds with law enforcement if they were to come after you “for no good reason.”

There is obviously a long tradition in the black community of invoking the right to armed self-defense. In the modern era, Robert F. Williams was a vocal proponent of this idea.

In 1955, Williams joined the NAACP in his hometown of Monroe, NC after having served in the Marine Corps. He quickly became the President of the Chapter and rebuilt it to include many veterans, farmers, and working-class people. In 1956, the Monroe NAACP started a campaign to integrate the only swimming pool in the city. It had been built with federal funds and yet blacks were barred from access. City officials not only refused to let blacks swim in the pool, they also turned down requests to build a pool that they could use. Williams and the Monroe NAACP took the city to court. This engendered massive backlash from local white community members including members of the KKK. The KKK held rallies, drove around black neighborhoods intimidating residents, and shot guns at people out of moving cars.

When ministers asked local politicians to intervene to prevent the KKK from driving through black neighborhoods and terrorizing residents, they were told that the Klan had “as much constitutional right to organize as the NAACP.” Williams and the NAACP petitioned the Governor and even President Eisenhower for support and assistance. They received no help.

Williams and other members of the NAACP decided then that it was time to take matters into their own hands. If the government would not protect their communities, then they would arm themselves. The Monroe NAACP applied for and received a charter from the National Rifle Association. By the end of one year, their NRA club had over 60 members.

During the summer of 1957, an armed motorcade of Klan members got into a firefight with Williams and other NAACP members. The Klan had opened fire on the home of Monroe NAACP Vice-President, Dr. Albert E. Perry. Williams & his colleagues successfully turned the Klan motorcade back. The incident would make national news & begin to bring more attention to Williams.

In his book “Negroes With Guns,” Robert Williams clearly lays out his rationale for advocating armed self-defense. Below is a key passage:

The stranglehold of oppression cannot be loosened by a plea to the oppressor’s conscience. Social change in something as fundamental as racist oppression involves violence. You cannot have progress here without violence and upheaval, because it’s a struggle for survival for one and a struggle for liberation for the other. Always the powers in command are ruthless and unmerciful in defending their position and their privileges. This is not an abstract rule to be meditated upon by Americans. This is a truth that was revealed at the birth of America, and has continued to be revealed many times in our history. The principle of self-defense is an American tradition that began at Lexington and Concord.

Williams was an inspiration to Huey Newton who founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1966 about a decade after Williams had taken over the Monroe NAACP. So the young woman who spoke of needing an assault weapon to protect from the police is part of a long tradition in political thought. As we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday this week, it’s important to remember that his non-violent resistance was book-ended by others who advocated the use of violence in response to being attacked.

In our conversation yesterday, we also spoke about the President’s proposal for more police in schools. The youth were unanimously opposed to this idea. I was particularly struck by one young woman’s response: “Why more police? So they can peep more young girls?” It was a reminder to me that the voices that are lost in most political conversations are those of the people most impacted by policy. I have of course heard from young women in schools that they have been sexually victimized by security guards and police. However as I have been railing against more police in schools, I did not remember to foreground this concern that I have often heard mentioned by girls and young women. Because certain voices are not represented in the conversation, the school-to-prison pipeline is often gendered male. On Thursday, I am organizing a community event to talk about the need to oppose more police in our schools. Several young people will participate in the conversation. If you are in Chicago, you are invited to attend.

As I drove home last night, I thought that the NRA had a natural constituency in Englewood among black youth under 20 years old. This is especially true with respect to their opposition to banning assault weapons. In terms of the NRA proposal of armed guards in schools though, the young people were universally opposed. It would be interesting if someone would scientifically poll black youth’s attitudes about guns and violence. I am certain that the results would be both fascinating and instructive.

What I learned in my conversation last night is that some black youth are deeply suspicious of government & state power, that they mistrust and are hostile to the police, and that they believe that they must secure their own lives by protecting themselves.