Dave Lott
28 May 2020
ON THIS 52nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1968 REBELLION IN LOUISVILLE that saw police repression targeting black resistance, and the subsequent trial of the Black Six, this excerpt is from the Introduction to the pamphlet produced in 1970 by the Louisville-based SCEF (Southern Conference Education Fund) called LESSONS OF LOUISVILLE: A WHITE COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO BLACK REBELLION:
“In July 1970, in Louisville, KY., six black people – one woman and five men – were found not guilty in a state court on charges of conspiracy to destroy private property. The judge said there was not enough evidence against them, and he told the jury to turn them loose. The charges had been brought in the wake of a rebellion in Louisville’s west end ghetto in May 1968. The Six were charged with conspiring to dynamite west end oil refineries (which are still standing safe) and stores that were damaged during the 1968 outbreak.
The defendants had become known as the Black Six.Their case, starting in 1968, was believed to be the first in a rash of conspiracy charges against militant black activists in communities around the country. Many people feel that their victory can also set a precedent for other places.
The case began in a flurry of hysteria in the white community, as the power structure in Louisville sought to use militant blacks as scapegoats for a rebellion that obviously resulted from the conditions under which the city’s black population lives.
In the two years between the summer of 1968 and the summer of 1970, tremendous support built up for the Black Six The key to the final victory was solid backing that existed from the beginning of the case in Louisville’s black community.
An additional factor, however, was the support that also grew gradually in the city’s white community – as more and more people came to see that finding scapegoats does not solve social problems.”
AND FROM THE SECTION ENTITLED “SOME THINGS WE LEARNED”:
“And finally, remember that we’re in for a long struggle. You can build a beachhead in a week, as we did, but you can’t win in that period of time – and the repressive forces hover on all sides. Saving America from a police state at this point in history will require the sustained and tireless efforts of all of us – and there will be times when we feel defeated – but we must keep on, on every front where we have maneuverability. The frightened people who are trying to settle our social problems by repression are many and powerful. They are playing for keeps and the stakes are high – involving no less than democracy itself and the future of all of us itself and the future of all of us and of our children.”