Pro-Gun Movies: Deacons for Defense, 2003

http://www.nathanielturner.com/images/New_Folder4/deacondefend.jpg

Today I saw a made for TV movie, Deacons for Defense, on Starz. While the movie started slow, it gets really interesting quickly.

Today anyone can be accused of racism, just not liking Obama is enough to get you the dreaded R-label. But back in the 60s, racism was real, it involved spitting on a black pastor, segregating a workforce, even beating the crap out of black man for signing his name on a piece of paper for employees seeking managerial positions.

Marcus, the main character played by Forest Whitaker, learns that living afraid of the Klan is not going to keep you or your family safe, so instead of joining some nonviolence movement, he decides to arm himself and his followers, some of them WW2 veterans. At first they get common weapons, handguns, hunting rifles, later on they manage to get tactical rifles, machine guns, even grenades.

When the Klan shows up to burn the Civil Rights office, just pointing their guns at the Klan is enough to make them change their mind. When a Judge orders the racist cops to protect the protestors, the presence of black men with guns makes them realize that they will either have to do their or the Deacons will fire their weapons.

Now it would be a great mistake to confuse the Deacons with the Black Panthers, the Panthers were and continue to be communist, the Panthers committed crimes against their own people. The Deacons were church-going men, hence the term Deacon. They were for self-reliance, they’re not asking for redistribution or slavery reparations, just equality under the law.

It’s sad that at the end of the movie we’re told that the Deacons have been mostly forgotten by history, that it’s hard to find the actual members. Since people are more likely to see a movie than read a book, I’m glad this movie was made. This film is far better than 12 Years a Slave or Mississippi Burning, I don’t question the accuracy of those films, but the message. In Deacons the victims fight back, in the other films they’re rescued by the government.

If you’re tired of being called racist, being questioned for your insistence in judging people by the content of their character, then I urge you to watch this film. Let me be clear, I judge people only for their political views. I don’t care if they’re Christian, Atheist, Black, gay, I don’t give a rats ass, just let me keep my guns and support my freedoms and we’ll get along.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>