Show Notes
In 1967, segregationist lawyer Jack Kershaw swore out a warrant against George Ware, an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. By the end of the week, a congressman was denouncing Ware on the house floor as an outside agitator. But what is an outside agitator? What do we mean when we blame unrest on these untrustworthy outsiders? Where does that idea come from? And is it even true?
Sources & Further Reading:
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ARCHIVE/kerner_commission_full_report.pdf
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html https://www.crmvet.org/docs/sv/670400_sncc_nyc-newsletter.pdf https://www.christcathedral.org/phase-to-history/st-anselms-liberation-school-and-the-long-hot-summer-of-1967/ https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/274/538/1574803/ https://www.phillytrib.com/obituaries/george-w-ware-jr-72-educator/article_0e1a1218-3c2b-51fa-b960-61094a1f6d98.html https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/GSB/id/10262/ https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal67-1311343 https://www.nytimes.com/1967/08/05/archives/us-aides-in-visit-to-negro-school-view-a-drama-at-institution-cited.html https://www.nytimes.com/1967/08/12/archives/nashville-panel-suspends-school-liberation-classroom-also-ousted.html https://www.nytimes.com/1967/08/09/archives/official-changes-testimony-on-antiwhite-school.html https://www.nytimes.com/1967/08/30/archives/sedition-charges-dropped.html https://www.wsmv.com/2025/02/25/former-nashville-assistant-police-chief-dies-while-custody-wifes-death/ https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/wife-former-mnpd-assistant-police-chief-found-shot-to-death-rutherford-county/ https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-07-12/race-troubles-109-us-cities-faced-violence-in-1967 https://www.nybooks.com/online/2020/07/27/a-brief-history-of-dangerous-others/ https://dailynorthwestern.com/2020/11/12/audio/defining-safe-defining-the-outside-agitator/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Weird Little Guys
A final look at the Pioneer Fund's attempt to use racist pseudoscience to overturn the Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
We're revisiting two classic Weird Little Guys episodes from last year about a white nationalist political party's attempt to get their candidate on the ballot. Third Position Original air date: 8/21/25 In 2012, a newly formed white nationalist political party tried to get their candidate on the ballot. The American Third Position Party wanted Americans to vote for Merlin Miller, but how did the party end up picking him? Sources: https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2012.pdf#page=11 https://irehr.org/2018/06/14/what-is-the-american-freedom-party/ https://www.ocregister.com/2009/09/04/two-time-felon-runs-pro-white-political-group/ https://rosecityantifa.org/articles/meet-the-oregon-chapter-of-the-american-freedom-party-part-one/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/will-la-elect-a-ron-paul_b_104053 https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2013/08/two-american-freedom-party-leaders-speak-out-about-their-party/ https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d284 https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/middle-east/six-day-war-liberty.html A Secret Third Thing Original air date: 8/28/25 After the 2012 election, the American Third Position Party rebranded. Not because their candidate lost, they expected that. But probably because their candidate didn't know what the party's name meant. Sources: https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2012.pdf https://politicalresearch.org/2016/12/19/what-third-position https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/neofascism-european-style/ https://www.alternet.org/2008/07/surviving_a_weekend_with_americas_premiere_pro-white_activist_group# https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2016/10/18/former-mpd-chief-drue-lackey-dead-90/92349168/ Winkler, Martin M. Arminius the Liberator: Myth and Ideology. Oxford University Press, 2016. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the first level of Knowledge Fight Country, Dan and his guest adventurer Molly Conger set out to understand the context around Tucker Carlson's interview with a welder who is mad about algebra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A closer look at one of the men on the Pioneer Fund's team of scientists for segregation reveals that he wasn't a scientist at all.
Last week, the DOJ's Civil Rights division announced they were moving to dismiss more than 50 desegregation cases against school districts all over the country. Like the weird little guys trying to overturn the Brown v Board of Education decision in the 1960s, the Trump administration is trying to take us all back to a version of America they think was great.