WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this clip dated June 12, 1967, H. Rap Brown, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), reads from a prepared press statement condemning recent racial violence against SNCC members in Prattville, Alabama, and responds to a question about the rumored death of former SNCC chairman Stokely Carmichael.The clip is divided into two segments. In the first segment, H. Rap Brown, chairman of SNCC, speaks to a group of reporters in front of a warehouse in Atlanta. The first few seconds of the clip contain no audio. The audio begins with H. Rap Brown saying "foul play already. We don't know how accurate that is. We have a statement prepared here that I am going to read." Reading from the statement, Brown announces that "it appears as if Alabama has been chosen as the starting battleground for America's race war." Brown says that it is "both fitting and appropriate," for "next to America and its Vietnam action, Alabama polls highest in the death toll of black men." He continues by announcing "we will no longer sit back and let black people be killed by murderers who hide behind the sheet or who hide behind the badge of the law. It is clear that the law cannot and will not protect black people. This is no accident." Referring to an incident in Prattville, Alabama, where former SNCC director Stokely Carmichael was imprisoned and SNCC members, including SNCC executive secretary Stanley Wise, were trapped inside a house and shot at by...

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia