Simpkins also was arrested after he told some black youth that they had a right to use the main public library and encouraged them to do so. When the boys attempted to use the library, they were beaten and Simpkins was arrested. At the police station the mayor and the police chief met with him. They told him that if he stopped his struggle for civil rights they would let him and his family use any public facilities that white people used. He refused to do this and he was left alone in the room with a police officer who told him “You are f___in up my life.” Simpkins replied “You are f___in up my life.” Then the police officer said to Simpkins “I ought to blow your goddamn brains out.” Simpkins said nothing. But he had a gun that looked like a pen with one bullet in it. Had the police officer tried to harm him he was going to shoot him. Nothing further occurred and Simpkins was released. However, on another occasion three police cars surrounded Simpkins' car as he was driving home one night. He knew they were going to assassinate him. He pulled out his German Luger and said he was taking as many of them with him as he could. There was a standoff and the police dispersed. Simpkins stated later that “Nonviolent tactics sometimes worked better when you were carrying a gun.”   (https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/06/03/an-absolute-truth-on-writing-a-life-of-coltrane/)  At the height of the civil rights movement a new family home Simpkins was building was bombed and another home on nearby Lake Bistineau was bombed and burned. He was placed on a "death list" by white-supremacist organizations. He and his family left secretly and flew to New York because he could not obtain malpractice insurance or insurance on his properties, and he feared for the safety of his family and that of the African-American community. Given the acquiescence and sometimes participation of the police force and the legal system in these acts of terror there was no significant option available to stop the violence against the African-American community. Other homes and institutions were bombed and African-Americans were being arrested for frivolous reasons and beaten. Simpkins and his wife, Dorothy, felt that if they left the attacks might be lessened and the community would not suffer as much.