Once upon a time in America, Black people were more likely to get support from the Communist Party than the Justice Department and local police forces. Such was the case with Scottsboro Boys in 1931, who were wrongly accused of rape and would have been executed but for the support of the Communist Party and later the NAACP. That case led to the Supreme Court taking a stand on a defendant’s right to counsel in Powell v. Alabama. Part of the credit for that goes to the Communist Party.
Forty-eight years later, in Greensboro, NC, the Communist Workers Party (CWP) came to town to support the primarily Black textile workers in the area. The CWP came into conflict with the local Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the American Nazi Party (ANP), who were working together as their interests were similar. The CWP organized a “Death to the Klan” march on November 3, 1979. A few CWP members carried handguns for self-defense. Better-armed KKK and ANP members met them. By day’s end, five people were killed, including four CWP members. Nine demonstrators were injured, along with two news crew members and a Klansman.
A WVO flyer announces the November 3, 1979, ‘Death to the Klan’ march and conference to be held in Greensboro. | Greensboro History Museum
The Greensboro Police Department and the FBI had informants in the Klan and Nazi groups who told them armed violence was planned against the Communists. The Greensboro police stayed away, except, of course, the police officers who were members of the Klan.
Ultimately, five people were charged with first-degree murder and felony riot. All were acquitted by an all-white jury, which was still the norm in North Carolina. The Supreme Court has consistently made excuses for allowing all-white juries, like in Brownfield v. South Carolina. Only in Norris v. Alabama after the Scottsboro Boys case did the Supreme Court call out the illegal exclusion of Black jurors, though they left legal options to obtain the same result. Clarence Norris, in that case, was represented by the Communist Party.
March 14, 1903, Lancaster Ledger of Lancaster, South Carolina
In 1980, the surviving protesters filed a civil lawsuit against 87 defendants. Eight defendants were found liable for the death of one person who wasn’t a member of the Communist Workers Party. In 1984, nine defendants were acquitted in a federal criminal trial as they successfully claimed self-defense, despite video evidence to the contrary.
One of the lasting effects of the Greensboro Massacre was that white supremacist groups learned they could strategize and work together despite their differences. Men that risked their lives to fight the Nazis were now teaming with them because they hated Black people more.
The Greensboro Massacre arguably spawned the Alt-Right movement and was the beginning of events where they came together, like the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the January 6 insurrection. Despite their alleged goals, they come from a place of hate, which is what truly unites them.
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This post was previously published on The Polis.
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