Ballots and Bullets

Black Power Politics and Urban Guerrilla Warfare in 1968 Cleveland

James Robenalt

• Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780897337038
• eBook ISBN: 9780897337168
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

On July 23, 1968, police in Cleveland battled with black nationalists.The dramatic shootout in the Glenville neighborhood left ten dead and over fifteen wounded. The event sparked days of heavy rioting and raised myriad questions. Were these shootings an ambush by the nationalists? Or were the nationalists defending themselves from an imminent police assault? Mystery still surrounds how the urban warfare started and the role the FBI might have played in its origin.
     Cleveland's story intersected with with some of the most important African American figures of the time. Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X both came to Cleveland, shaping the debate over how to address systemic racism. Should it be with nonviolence or armed self-defense? Malcolm X first delivered his iconic "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech in Cleveland. Three years later, in 1967, Carl Stokes, with King's help, became the first black mayor of a major US city. The ballot seemed to have triumphed over the bullet—and then Dr. King was assassinated. In the spring of 1968, while Mayor Stokes kept peace in Cleveland and Bobby Kennedy came to deliver his "Mindless Menace of Violence" speech, nationalists used an antipoverty program Stokes created in King's honor to buy rifles and ammunition. 
     Ballots and Bullets examines the revolutionary calls for addressing racism through guerrilla warfare in America's streets. It also puts into perspective the political aftermath, as racial violence and rebellions in most American cities led to white backlash and provided lift to the counterrevolution that brought Richard Nixon to power, effectively marking an end to President Johnson's "War on Poverty."
     Fifty years later, many politicians still call for "law and order" to combat urban unrest. The Black Lives Matter movement and continued instances of police misconduct and brutality show that the cycle of race-based violence continues. The root causes—racism and poverty—remain largely unaddressed.
 

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Praise for Ballots and Bullets
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• 1 “Watch Yourself, Willie”
• 2 “We Will Meet Violence with Violence and Lynching with Lynching”
• 3 “We Will Meet Physical Force with Soul Force”
• 4 “The Hate That Hate Produced”
• 5 “You Little Nigger Pickaninnies, Stay Out of Our Schools, This Is Our Neighborhood!”
• 6 “The Ballot or the Bullet”
• 7 “There's No Room for a Rifle Club Named After Medgar Evers”
• 8 “I Am on the Outside”
• 9 “The Black Stalin”
• 10 “Whatever You Fear Is What You Worship”
• 11 “Their Fight Is for Dignity and Work”
• 12 “A Daily Battle Against Depression and Hopelessness”
• 13 Hough
• 14 “Reliability and Discretion Assured”
• 15 “Blood Will Flow in the Streets”
• 16 “Life for Me Ain't Been No Crystal Stair”
• 17 “He Speaks My Views”
• 18 “He Desperately Needed a Victory”
• 19 “As Lambs for the Slaughter”
• 20 “You Should Establish Their Unsavory Backgrounds”
• 21 “The Voice of Madness”
• 22 Cleveland: Now!
• 23 “The Good News in American Cities Is Coming Out of Cleveland”
• 24 “Having a Gun Is No Crime”
• 25 “Tow Truck in Trouble”
• 26 “This Is Only the Beginning”
• 27 “A Lot of People Are Going to Get Killed”
• 28 “The Case Against Fred Ahmed Evans Is Weak”
• 29 “To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and Not to Yield”
• Key Figures
• Notes
• Index