On 3 November 1979, the Greensboro massacre took place in North Carolina when five anti-racists at an anti-Klan demonstration were murdered and others wounded by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party.
A KKK member who was also an FBI informant, Eddie Dawson, encouraged white supremacists to confront the anti-racist protest, and advised them that if they were going to bring guns, "you better have damned bond money".
Local police had also cooperated with the Nazis, giving them a map of the anti-racist demonstration. Dawson told the police about the fascists' plans, and warned them that large numbers of the Nazis had guns.
On November 3, white supremacists attacked the march at 11:22 AM, before any police had arrived. One of the anti-racists, a doctor called Jim Waller, tried to retrieve his shotgun from his car to defend the protest. But a Klansman lept on him, and grabbed hold of the weapon.
As the struggle ensued, other Klansman and Nazis opened fire on the crowd. Mike Nathan, a paediatrician, was shot dead, Waller was shot in the side, then shot in the back as he lay injured.
After 88 seconds of gunfire in total, three others were killed, Cesar Cause, William Sampson, and Sandra Smith, and ten injured. Four of those killed were members of the Communist Workers Party.
The killers claimed that they were acting in self-defence, and trying to "defeat communism" to protect America.
They were all acquitted by an all-white jury state court. They were then tried in federal court on civil rights violations, but argued that they were motivated by political hatred rather than racial hatred, and so were all acquitted once more by an all-white jury.
The incident solidified bonds between home-grown white supremacists in the KKK, and pro-Confederate groups, and those who were inspired by German Nazis. It also cemented opposition to communism as a defence for racist violence.
Greensboro massacre - WCH | Stories
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