File talk:H Rap Brown - USNWR.jpg

«Violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.»

It is right to presume this is a photograph from the conference when he said "Violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie."? I deduced it because of the informations in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations, 1989, p. 355

H. Rap Brown, press conference at the Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee headquarters, Washington, D.C., July 27, 1967, as reported by The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., July 27, 1967, p. 1.

P.s. Sorry for the "bad english", I'm not anglophone.--SunOfErat (talk) 22:30, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Seems reasonable to assume that. I don't have any other information on the photo beyond what the Library of Congress gives. There's a video of Brown making the statement at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scYQGiybJbY - I couldn't say 100% whether the video and this photo are from the same event, but they look pretty similar. If you want more verification, I'd suggest checking archives of U.S. News & World Report to see if they used this photo and gave more details. --dave pape (talk) 05:11, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

That's interesting. In the papers the quote is different.

Violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie. If you give me a gun and tell me to shoot my enemy, I might just shoot Lady Bird

— Quote in Riot Control: Hold the Street & Seize "The High Ground", TIME Vol. 90, Issue 5, 4 August 1967, p. 17.

I say violence is necessary. Violence is a part of America’s culture. It is as American as cherry pie. Americans taught the black people to be violent. We will use that violence to rid ourselves of oppression if necessary. We will be free, by any means necessary.

— Quote in the video

Maybe H. Rap Brown said the Lady Bird part later and is not in the video.

Apparently also Black Power advocate Frederick H. Brooks (who is he?) said a quote similar to the "I would shoot Lady Bird".

• Walter R. Mears, He'd Shoot Lady Bird, Black Power Aide Tells Senators, Schenectady Gazette, Washington, 23 nov 1967, p. 1 p. 5
• Would Shoot Lady Bird Too, Militant Testifies, Washington, The Tuscaloosa News, 21 nov 1967.

--SunOfErat (talk) 22:29, 25 January 2015 (UTC)