Greensboro massacre

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The Greensboro massacre occurred on November 3, 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. It was the culmination of attempts by the Maoist Communist Workers Party (CWP) to organize industrial workers, predominantly black, in the area. Five CWP marchers were killed. They were: Sandy Smith, a nurse and civil rights activist; Dr. James Waller, president of a local textile workers union who gave up his medical practice to defend workers; Bill Sampson, a Harvard University graduate in the school of divinity; Cesar Cause, an immigrant from Cuba who graduated magna cum laude from Duke University; and Dr. Michael Nathan, chief of pediatrics at Lincoln Community Health Center in Durham, NC, a clinic that helped children from low-income families.

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[edit] Rally and attack

On the day in question, a rally of industrial workers and communists against the Ku Klux Klan, then active in the area, was due to march in Greensboro. The Death to the Klan March was to begin in a predominantly black housing project called Morningside Homes.[citation needed] Most in the housing project did not know what would soon unfold in their residential community.[citation needed] Normally at such events, marchers carried firearms openly for self-defense, as allowed under North Carolina law. Greensboro Police had stipulated that the marchers on November 3rd be unarmed in order to receive their parade permit. However, several of the protestors brought guns to the march.

The generally accepted version of events is that a combined contingent of Klansmen and members of the American Nazi Party attended the rally. Accounts vary as to whether they were set upon by the demonstrators or not, but they were armed and opened fire at the demonstrators, killing several immediately and wounding others, some fatally. Incidentally, much of the armed confrontation was captured by four local news camera crews.

[edit] Role of the police

One of the most dubious aspects of the incident is the role of the police. Normally, the police would have been present at such an event, yet no police were present at the shooting, thus permitting most of the perpetrators to escape. One police detective and a police photographer followed the Klan and Nazi caravan to the site, yet did not intervene. This has unsurprisingly led to accusations of police collusion in the event.

The Klansman and Nazi party members involved were not from Greensboro, but came to the city in response to a challenge from the march organizers. Articles in the Greensboro News and Record at the time indicated that the police were not at the scene initially, because the march organizers gave them an incorrect address for the march on their parade permit. However, it has also been noted that the Klan caravan was organized by a man later found to be an informant for the police, using the parade permit to guide the caravan to the correct address, in radio contact with the police all the while the caravan was forming and proceeding to the site of the shootings, and that the police were on the scene early, but had been dismissed "for lunch," just prior to the shootings.

[edit] Aftermath

Two criminal trials resulted in acquittal of all defendants. A civil suit against the perpetrators and the city of Greensboro later resulted in a $300,000 settlement. These funds formed the basis of the Greensboro Justice Fund, an initiative which provides support to organizations in the south that fight against discrimination.

The British band Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark wrote the track 88 Seconds in Greensboro about the incident.

In 2005, Greensboro residents, inspired by post-apartheid South Africa, initiated a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to take public testimony and examine the causes and consequences of the massacre.

[edit] External links

[edit] Articles and news reports

[edit] Book reviews

[edit] Anniversary news reports

[edit] Websites

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Articles

  • Bacigal, Ronald J., and Margaret Ivey Bacigal. When Racists and Radicals Meet. Emory Law Journal 38 (Fall 1989).
  • Bryant, Pat. Justice Vs. the Movement. Radical America 14, no. 6 (1980).
  • Eastland, Terry. The Communists and the Klan. Commentary 69, no. 5 (1980).
  • Institute for Southern Studies. The Third of November. Southern Exposure 9, no. 3 (1981).
  • Parenti, Michael, and Carolyn Kazdin. The Untold Story of the Greensboro Massacre. Monthly Review 33, no. 6 (1981).
  • Ray O. Light Group. "Left" Opportunism and the Rise of Reaction: The Lessons of the Greensboro Massacre. Toward Victorious Afro-American National Liberation: A Collection of Pamphlets, Leaflets and Essays Which Dealt In a Timely Way With the Concrete Ongoing Struggle for Black Liberation Over the Past Decade and More pp.249-260. Ray O. Light Publications: Bronx NY, 1982.

[edit] Books

  • Bermanzohn, Sally Avery. Through Survivors' Eyes: From the Sixties to the Greensboro Massacre. 400 pages, 57 illustrations, index. Vanderbilt University Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2003). ISBN 0-8265-1439-1.
  • Waller, Signe. Love And Revolution: A Political Memoir: People’s History Of The Greensboro Massacre, Its Setting And Aftermath. London & New York: Rowman & Littlefield. 2002. ISBN 0-7425-1365-3.
  • Wheaton, Elizabeth. Codename GREENKIL: The 1979 Greensboro Killings. 328 pages. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8203-0935-4.

[edit] Publications

  • Remember Greensboro, death to the Klan!. Greensboro Justice Fund, Berkeley. [1980], Leaflet, 8.5x14 inches, printed on both sides, illustrated. Advertises two rallies, one in San Francisco, the other Oakland. Speakers included Wilson Riles Jr., and Dan Siegel.

[edit] Theses

  • Bermanzohn, Sally Avery. Survivors of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre: A Study of the Long Term Impact of Protest Movements On the Political Socialization of Radical Activists. Ph.D. diss. CUNY, 1994.

[edit] Video

  • Lawbreakers: The Greensboro Massacre The History Channel. Lawbreakers Series. Video Cassette. 46 minutes. Color. 2000. Broadcast October 13, 2004.
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