Cold Open

It’s the morning of November 3rd, 1979, in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Communist Workers Party member Paul Bermanzohn steps out of his car, adjusting his coat to the crisp autumn wind.

Reporters, with cameras ready, huddle outside the Morningside Homes Public Housing Project. Paul approaches them confidently, acknowledging a few with a nod and sharing handshakes with a television crew.

Ahead of him, a sizable crowd of protesters stands resolute, their signs proclaiming their opposition to the Ku Klux Klan.

Today is the Communist Workers Party’s ‘Death to the Klan’ march. Committed to fighting both racism and fascism, the Communist Workers Party, or CWP, has organized this event to publicly challenge and condemn the KKK, while also drumming up support for their communist causes. And to that end, the four different camera crews in attendance are more than Paul could have hoped for.

After a few more photographs, Paul leads the demonstrators down the street. The crowd is in high spirits, chanting Communist slogans alongside their confrontational ‘Death to the Klan’ mantra.

But the mood changes in an instant. There’s a sudden burst of honking as a convoy of vehicles, proudly displaying Confederate Flags, pulls up beside Paul and his fellow marchers.

The cars are filled with members of the KKK and the American Nazi Party. Paul’s stomach twists as one man stops his car next to Paul and rolls down his window. Paul vaguely recognizes him. The man had been at a recent CWP meeting, asking questions about today’s rally. And now it dawns on Paul, that this man was gathering intelligence for the Klan and the Nazis. 

With a smirk, the mystery man taunts, “You asked for the Klan now you got ‘em.”

As the cars slow, the demonstrators start banging their signs against the vehicles. Insults and racial epitaphs are flung back and forth, and the chaos escalates into violence.

It’s not long before a gunshot is fired by one of the Klansmen. The crowd disperses in every direction, some trying to shield the vulnerable, while others push back defiantly, even drawing their own weapons.

But the CWP is not prepared for their enemy’s calculated assault. Guns and ammunition are unloaded from the trunk of one of the Klan’s cars, and the Nazis and Klansmen open fire into the crowd.

A shotgun blasts and Paul feels the air leave his body.

The ground gives way beneath him and he crumples to the ground. A surreal calm envelops him while he lies wounded, his senses dulled, and blood soaking the ground beneath him.

In the end, Paul Bermanzohn will survive his wounds. But others will not be so fortunate. Over a mere 88 seconds, five lives will be lost.

But thanks to the presence of the camera crews, the world will be able to witness the open battle between the CWP and the KKK. But what actually occurred will remain disputed. Different people will have different stories, and for decades to come, accusations will be leveled at all sides. Trials will be arranged and come to divisive verdicts. But the fight for answers and justice will be long, and many will continue to search for the truth of what happened in Greensboro on November 3rd, 1979.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is November 3rd, 1979: The Greensboro Massacre.

Act One: Planning

It’s October 10th, 1979, at the Lincoln County Fairground in Nevada, where a Ku Klux Klan rally is underway.

Eddie Dawson, a former convict, and Klan Member, listens and applauds. At this rally there are songs about white supremacy, speeches on the perils of race mixing, and polemics on the need for old-fashioned American justice. Eddie claps along to every sentiment.

To everyone in the room, Eddie fits right in. But Eddie Dawson is not an authentic Klan member, he's a paid informant for the Greensboro police.

Convicted twice for going AWOL in the army during World War II, Eddie, a skilled carpenter, found a home in the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1960s. But his propensity for starting battles with anyone in a position of power over him quickly piqued the interest of the FBI. The organization was looking for people who could report the Klan’s activities to them, and Eddie seemed like an ideal candidate. After accusing the United Klans of America of embezzling money from its members, Eddie had a falling out with his superiors. And though he stayed in the KKK, he was finally swayed by the FBI’s overtures to become an informant.

Two years ago though, Eddie stopped working with the FBI. And instead, he’s turned into a paid informant for the Greensboro police, who give him money for relaying information about the Klan’s meetings and plans.

A staunch anti-authoritarian, Eddie tells himself that this gig isn’t about ratting on his friends, it’s about keeping control of information and choosing who gets it. He thinks of himself as the one in charge and takes great pleasure in believing that he knows more than anyone else. At his discretion, he has the ability to manipulate either organization, and he revels in that power.

So, despite receiving payments from the police and FBI, Eddie is still more than happy to break the law and push his fellow Klan members into doing the same. And when, in late October 1979, he hears of a ‘Death to the Klan’ rally in his hometown of Greensboro, he’s eager to cause as much trouble as possible.

The event’s incendiary title incenses Eddie. That the rally is being organized by the Communist Workers Party enrages him even further. Similar to the Klan, the CWP argues that “it’s speaking for the people,” but it does so by painting a progressive idea of the future, one that’s against everything Eddie believes in. Eddie is further vexed by the fact that the CWP is boosting its base by recruiting as many of the local textile workers as they can, many of whom are Black.

Walking through Greensboro, Eddie is furious at the signs around his neighborhood calling for the annihilation of the Klan. Eddie starts putting up his own posters calling for white residents to fight against the ‘blacks rioters’ race traitors’ and ‘communists’ of the CWP. His posters feature an image of a man being hung from a tree and inflammatory language about betrayals being met with crosshairs.

Eddie also gets the rest of the Klan involved. At a local meeting, he asks what they’re going to do in response to the rally, and successfully steers them toward agitation.

Then a few days before the rally is due to take place, Eddie ‘goes undercover’ at a communist meeting where he meets CWP member Paul Bermanzohn. There, Eddie plays dumb, pretending not to know about the Klan while he learns more about the CWP’s rally. After the meeting, Eddie gets a map of the protest route from the police, who he tells about the KKK’s plans to disrupt the rally, though he leaves his own involvement out of it.

With Eddie’s help, the Klan begins planning an attack with the American Nazi Party. And at first, their ideas are relatively mild, involving name-calling or throwing food. But bit by bit, their plot turns more sinister.

As whispers of a violent confrontation circulate, members of the CWP begin to worry. And among those concerned are Signe and Jim Waller.

A physician turned full-time organizer, Jim is one of the CWP’s local leaders, and he and his wife have been a driving force behind the ‘Death to the Klan’ march. Devoted to workers’ rights and social tolerance, the Wallers are firmly against everything the KKK stands for. But the Klan is still an intimidating enemy.

The night before the rally, Signe Waller lies in bed with her husband Jim, and weeps on his shoulder. She tells him that she’s afraid of what might happen the next day. She’s worried that the racists they’re targeting will arrive in their city, looking for violence.

Jim comforts Signe and tells her there’s nothing to fear. The Klan are cowards, and probably won’t even turn up. Signe nods and murmurs Jim is probably right. But as she falls asleep, a sense of unease lingers. 

Signe’s concerns will prove warranted. The next day, Klansmen and Nazis will show up to the rally, and five CWP members will be shot dead. The events, captured on film, will shake the town and shock the nation.

Act Two: The Morning Of

It’s 7 AM, on November 3rd, 1979.

Signe Waller wakes to find her house bustling with CWP members, preparing themselves for today’s ‘Death to the Klan’ rally. In every corner of her family home, demonstrators paint picket signs and pack leaflets into bags, ready to hand out to anyone who gives them the time of day.

It’s a friendly, positive atmosphere, but a fear runs through it. Everyone knows the violence the Klan can inflict. But Signe remembers her husband’s comforting words from last night and reminds herself that the CWP will be out in broad daylight. There will be police and media. And while personally, Signe doesn’t care much for either of these two groups, believing them to be corrupt and aiding a totalitarian government, their presence at least makes a violent confrontation unlikely.

So, the Wallers push forward with their plans. They load the leaflets, newsletters, and other paraphernalia into her and Jim’s beat-up Dodge and set off for the rally’s starting point: Morningside Homes, a predominantly black housing project in Greensboro.

There, Signe hands out flyers and tries to recruit local residents to their cause. There's plenty of reporters, but for some reason, Signe sees no police. But she doesn’t pay this mind. As hundreds of demonstrators arrive, the group pauses for the media to take some pictures. And then, they set off. Signe walks with her children and dozens of other protestors, singing, chanting, and banging their signs as they converge with other demonstrators.

The mood is electric, but within minutes, it takes a dark turn. 

A few miles away, police informant Eddie Dawson heads to a rendezvous point, ready to gather his troops. He greets his fellow Klan members and the gathered American Nazis inside a meeting house. Guns are laid out. Rifles, shotguns, and handguns passed around. Earlier talk of interrupting the march with ‘heckling’ or ‘throwing eggs’ seems a distant memory. Now heavily armed and with violent intent, around 40 Nazis and Klansmen pile into their cars.

With Eddie leading the way, they make their way to Morningside Homes. When they arrive, they see no police presence at all. And within the mass of marchers, Eddie spots Paul Bermanzohn, the CWP leader Eddie had met just a few days ago.

Wanting to be the first to engage with the demonstrators, Eddie pulls up next to Paul and spits the phrase, ‘You asked for the Klan, you got ‘em.’ He sticks around just long enough to see the shock register on Paul’s face. Choosing not to be part of the impending violence, Eddie speeds away. He hears the first shots ring out as he makes his escape.

For Signe Waller, the chaos erupts in the blink of an eye. A caravan of cars and trucks filled with American Nazis and Klansmen block the street. The ‘Death to the Klan’ marchers begin banging on the hoods of the cars, chanting their slogan. The Nazis and KKK members hurl abuse back. Until one Klansman pulls out a rifle and fires it into the air. The gun smoke and loud report causes instant panic.

Signe grabs her children and tells them to run home as fast as they can even as more gunfire comes from the KKK. Fire is returned from the few CWP members who are carrying weapons, and realizing she is caught in the crossfire, Signe starts to run for safety herself. As she races home, she wonders where her husband Jim is, and prays he wasn’t in the line of fire.

Back at her house, Signe is relieved to find her children, safe and sound. But her husband, Jim is nowhere to be seen. Signe’s mind races with all of the horrifying possibilities. And as the minutes tick by without Jim’s arrival, Signe decides to return to the rally, to make sure Jim is safe. But she tells her children to stay put and not let anyone in. Then, she runs back to the scene of the melee. There, all her nightmares come true. The attack is over, and crowd dispersed. But laying on the pavement is Jim, dead from a gunshot wound.

Jim Waller will be just one of five people who lose their lives in the Greensboro Massacre, as this event will come to be known. All of the fatalities will be unarmed members of the CWP. Televised footage of the shooting will make news around the country, but the massacre will quickly be overshadowed by the onset of the Iran Hostage Crisis.

But even as the story leaves television screens and headlines, the violence is a scar on the quiet town of Greensboro. Though the attack lasted just 88 seconds, for many residents, life will never be the same.

Act Three: Trials and Acquittals

It’s November 17th, 1980, in Greensboro, North Carolina, one year after the Massacre, that killed five.

Signe Waller feels sick as she hears the verdict of ‘Not Guilty’ read to the six men accused of killing her husband and four other CWP members at last year’s rally. 

By arguing for self-defense, the shooters from the American Nazi Party and Ku Klux Klan have just been acquitted by an all-white jury. This was the result that Signe and other CWP members had feared the most, that the men who murdered their loved ones are just allowed to go free.

The verdict isn’t entirely surprising. Many in Greensboro claim that the CWP wanted to provoke an attack, shifting the blame to the Communist Workers Party. But to Signe, this is nonsense. She never wanted to do anything that would make her and her friends lose their loved ones.

So Signe leaves the courthouse in a daze. The stress of the verdict brings on a terrible migraine. And when she gets home, Signe closes the curtains to the outside world, and for two days, she stays in bed, vomiting and barely able to eat.

Once her migraine finally clears, Signe regroups with her fellow CWP members — many of whom are still facing felony riot charges from the same incident. That they may face legal punishment, while the Nazis and Klansmen walk free, is proof to them of an inherently corrupt system, one in which killers were just allowed to go free. The CWP thought the case against the Klansmen and Nazis was solid. Television footage showed them killing unarmed protesters. It should have been an easy guilty verdict. But instead, all defendants walk free.

Still searching for justice, Signe and other widows of the Greensboro massacre campaign for a second federal trial. They’re able to raise enough money to hire legal teams to take on the right-wing shooters. And three years later, a new trail begins. But it's with another all-white jury and they too acquit all of the accused once again. 

Then in 1985, a third trial, a civil suit will end with a sizable sum paid to the widow of one of the CWP members who was shot and killed. This payment will be seen as a justice of a sort, but liability won’t be admitted.

So their pursuit of justice will continue. Over 40 years after the massacre, the city of Greensboro will formally apologize for the attack and the five lives lost. In 2020, Greensboro’s city council will pass a resolution condemning the Greensboro Police Department, finding that they had foreknowledge of the attack and did nothing to stop or arrest members of the KKK or American Nazi Party as they approached the rally, even knowing they were armed.

Members of the CWP will welcome the council’s resolution, but it won’t erase the grief that had followed many of them since five of their peers were shot and killed on November 3rd, 1979.

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 6th, 1860. Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States, bringing tensions to a head between America’s North and South.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Katrina Zemrak.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.