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Abstract
One of the most tragic examples of extreme racial violence occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina, on November 3, 1979, when the multi-racial Communist Workers Party (CWP) planned a demonstration to protest against the notorious Ku Klux Klan (KKK). As protestors gathered for the “Death to Klan” march, a group of Nazis and Klansmen drove through the protest site in a nine-car caravan. The Nazis and Klansmen unloaded eighty-eight seconds of gunfire into the crowd killing five Communist Workers Party members. That same hatred and violence in Greensboro perpetuated by neo-fascists appeared again on August 12th, 2017, in an eerily identical fashion when Heather Heyer, a thirty-two-year-old, White woman, was killed in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heyer lost her life after white supremacist, James Fields, Jr., plowed his car into demonstrators protesting at a “Unite the Right” rally that had been orchestrated by white nationalists. In an instant following Heather Heyer’s murder, Charlottesville became reminiscent of Greensboro and 2017 blatantly mirrored the dawn of the 1980s, a troubling period of racial conflict and frayed politics. The case study of Morningside Homes illuminated a disregard and invisibility that black communities often suffered at the hands of law enforcement, city officials, white supremacists and other community members. The tragedy of Charlottesville illustrated not only the continuation of that invisibility, but also the traditional hindering of political organizing as a result of trauma, fear, and distrust of those sworn to protect the communities in which they serve. Despite how progressive America attempts to position itself, local histories continue to reflect national divisions of race and politics that relentingly facilitate rage, violence, and white supremacy in an alleged Post-Racial Society.
Notes
1 Institute for Southern Studies, “The Third of November,” Southern Exposure 9 (1981): 62.
2 Manning Marable, Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 3rd ed. (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2007).
3 Jeffrey Haas, The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther (Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books, 2010).
4 Louis P. Nelson & Claudrena N Harold, Charlottesville 2017: The Legacy of Race and Inequity (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018), xv.
5 Mab Segrest, “Flagged Up, Locked, and Loaded: The Confederacy’s Call, The Trump Disaster and the Apocalyptic Crisis of White People,” South: A Scholarly Journal 50, no. 1 (Fall 2017): 23.
6 Carol Anderson, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016), 3.
7 W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Civilizing Torture: An American Tradition (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2020).
8 Eugene Scott, “Trump Denounces David Duke, KKK,” CNN News, March 6, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/donald-trump-disavows-david-duke-kkk/index.html.
Rick Klein, Trump Said ‘Blame on Both Sides,’ Now the One Year Anniversary Puts Him on the Spot,” ABC News, August 12, 2018, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-blame-sides-charlottesville-now-anniversary-puts-spot/story?id=57141612
9 Sasha Ingber, “Neo-Nazi James fields Gets 2nd Life Sentence for Charlottesville Attack,” NPR Online, July 15, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741756615/virginia-court-sentences-neo-nazi-james-fields-jr-to-life-in-prison.
10 John Early and Chris Markham, “White Supremacist Group Members Sentenced in Charlottesville Federal Court,” NBC29 Charlottesville, July 19, 2019, https://www.nbc29.com/story/40813416/federal-sentencing-underway-in-case-connected-to-unite-the-right-rally.
11 Charisse Burden-Stelly, “Black Cold War Liberalism as an Agency Reduction Formation during the Late 1940s and the Early 1950s,” International Journal of Africana Studies 19, no. 2 (Fall-Winter 2018): 78.
12 “Paul Bermanzohn,” Box 5, Folder 4, FBI Files, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina, pp. 2–5.
13 Bill Moss, “Communists Challenge KKK to Come to Rally,” Salisbury Evening Post, October 11, 1979, 8.
14 Ibid.
15 Sally Bermanzohn, Through Survivor’s Eyes: From the Sixties to the Greensboro Massacre (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2011), 111.
16 “Statement of Paul Bermanzohn to the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” July 15, 2005, Box 3, Folder 2.a, Transcripts of Statements and Related Documents, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
17 “Labor and Union Organizing in North Carolina,” in Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report, Box 11, Folder 1.a, Emily Mann Documents, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
18 Bermanzohn, Through Survivor’s Eyes, 161.
19 Signe Waller, conversation with author, March 2005.
20 “FBI Interview with Marty Nathan,” November 18, 1981, Box 3, Folder 1.mmm, Police Documents, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
21 “FBI Interview with Dale Sampson,” Police Documents, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, 2.
22 Ibid.
23 John George and Laird Wilcox, Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1992), 399.
24 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Con Men and Thugs: The ‘New’ Klan of the 1970s,” in Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence (Montgomery: The Southern Poverty Law Center, 1982), 46–52, Box 4, Folder 1, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
25 “Incidents of KKK Activity and Racially-Motivated Violence (1979–1983),” Box 4, Folder 1, Greensboro Police Department Files, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
26 “Summary of Planning Activities for Anti-Klan March Scheduled November 3, 1979,” December 7, 1979, Box 6, Folder 1.d-1, Greensboro Police Department Files, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
27 “Trial Testimony of Larry Stephen Gibson,” United States v. Virgil Griffin et al., August 23, 1982, Box 9, Folder 1, Emily Mann Documents, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
28 “Chief of Police’s Conversation with Edward Dawson,” February 25, 1980, Box 4, Folder 1.d-1, GPD-Internal Affairs Memos and Interviews, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
29 Ibid.
30 “Testimony of Bernard Butkovich,” Waller et al. v. Butkovich et al., May 9, 1985, Box 8, Folder 4.b, Emily Mann Documents, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives.
31 “Statement of Roland Wood to the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” July 16, 2005, GTRC Documents, Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
32 Bermanzohn, Through Survivor’s Eyes, 128.
33 “Summary of Planning Activities for Anti-Klan March Scheduled November 3, 1979,” December 7, 1979, Greensboro Police Department Files, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, 10–11.
34 Chip Pearsall, “Echoes of Bloody Saturday linger on,” The News and Observer, November 11, 1979, 9.
35 “Statement of Lois Lipscomb,” in Greensboro Police Department Supplementary Report, November 15, 1979, Box 4, Folder 1.a-5, Truth and Reconciliation Collection, Bennett College Archives, Greensboro, North Carolina.
36 Mae Israel, “Some Hearts Are Swollen With Anger….Others Fill With Prayer,” Greensboro Daily News, November 5, 1979, Section A7.
37 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Testimony of Candy Clapp, Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Collection.
38 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “Public hearing DVD collection. Public hearings summary Segments of 54 speakers' statements to the Commission: Testimony of Tammy Tutt.”
39 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “Public hearing DVD collection. Public hearings summary Segments of 54 speakers' statements to the Commission: Testimony of Nettie Coad.”
40 Ibid.
41 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Public hearing DVD collection. Public hearings summary Segments of 54 speakers' statements to the Commission: Testimony of Candy Clapp [video recording], Greensboro: Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2006.
42 John Marshall Kilimanjaro, “Morningside Massacre,” Carolina Peacemaker, November 10, 1979, Front page.
43 Spencer Hawes, Summer of Hate: Charlottesville, USA (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2018), 27–9.
44 Tim Heaphy, Final Report: Independent Review of the 2017 Protest Events in Charlottesville, Virginia (Hunton and Williams, 2017), http://www.charlottesville.org/home/showdocument?id=5969 158.
45 Heaphy, Final Report, 126.
46 Ibid., 127.
47 Ibid.
48 Chris Suarez, “Charlottesville Police Captain Disputes Aug. 12 report’s findings,” Daily Progress, December 14, 2017, https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/charlottesville-police-captain-disputes-aug-report-s-findings/article_d1374052-d942-11e7-8d11-935d7315e7be.html.
49 Heaphy, Final Report, 156.
50 Ibid., 162.
51 Ibid., 162–3.
52 Ibid., 153.
53 Ibid., 153–64.
54 Mark Abadi, “Charlottesville Police Chief Says He ‘Regrets’ Violent Clashes But Defends Police Response,” Business Insider August 14, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/charlottesville-police-regrets-2017-8.
55 Chris Jones, “Hundreds of Demonstrators Gathered in Charlottesville One Year After the Deadly Unite the Right Rally—Here’s How the Day Unfolded,” Business Insider August 12, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/charlottesville-one-year-anniversary-photos-protests-heather-heyer-memorial-2018-8.
56 Terrence McCoy, “For Charlottesville, A Tense Weekend on Anniversary of Racial Violence at Rally,” Washington Post, August 12, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-tense-calm-in-charlottesville-on-anniversary-of-racial-violence/2018/08/12/ddf3e48a-9e4a-11e8-93e3-24d1703d2a7a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3c952b12514a.
57 Siobhan, McGirl. “Charlottesville Protestors and Activists Confront Police During “Rally for Justice” on UVA Grounds,” WDBJ7, Roanoke, VA August 12, 2018, https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Charlottesville-protesters-confront-police-during-Rally-for-Justice-on-UVA-grounds–490662481.html.
58 McCoy, “For Charlottesville, A Tense Weekend on Anniversary of Racial Violence at Rally.”
59 Brian Cameron, “UVA and the History of Race: Property and Power,” UVA Today, March 15, 2021, https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-and-history-race-property-and-power
60 Erica Green and Annie Waldman, “’You Are Still Black’: Charlottesville’s Racial Divide Hinders Students,” New York Times, October 16, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/us/charlottesville-riots-black-students-schools.html.
Nolan Stout, “Charlottesville Arrest Data Show Racial Imbalance,” The Daily Progress, April 12, 2019, https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/charlottesville-arrest-data-show-racial-imbalance/article_4463e6aa-5d8d-11e9-bb98-b39346844778.html.
61 Hailey Wilt, “Charlottesville Discussed Public Fear of African American Community,” NBC29 Charlottesville, January 5, 2019, https://www.nbc29.com/story/39738039/charlottesville-discusses-public-fear-of-african-american-community.
62 Nazir Afzali, “Charlottesville Communities Discuss Black Mental Health,” CBS19 Charlottesville, July 25, 2019, https://www.cbs19news.com/content/news/Charlottesville-communities-discussed-on-impact-of-Black-mental-health-513174991.html.
63 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Testimony of Candy Clapp.
64 Greensboro Housing Authority Newsletter, Willow Oaks-Hope VI, 2000. Identical information can also be located online at www.gha-nc.org/hope6.htm.
65 Sammy Pass, in conversation with author.
66 Nelson Johnson, in conversation with the author, August 2010.
67 Richard Barron, “‘This is what we support’: Nearly 40 years later, city apologizes for Greensboro Massacre,” News and Record, October 6, 2020, https://greensboro.com/this-is-what-we-support-nearly-41-years-later-city-apologizes-for-greensboro-massacre/article_4b4a4bc0-0756-11eb-99b6-233f0f64860f.html.
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Tiffany Packer
Dr. Tiffany Packer currently serves as Assistant Professor of History at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and was recently named 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year. Dr. Packer has done extensive research on the 1979 Greensboro Massacre and has a particular focus on Post-Civil Rights activism in black working-class communities. Some of her most recent projects include problems of policing in communities of color. As an extension of her commitment to classroom and community, Dr. Packer co-curated the ground-breaking exhibition, “K(no)w Justice, K(no)w Peace,” at the Levine Museum of the New South located in Charlotte, North Carolina.