Nation: Shootout in Greensboro

An anti-Klan protest leaves four dead

It is the birthplace of O. Henry and the home of several of the nation’s largest textile mills. But Greensboro, N.C. (pop. 144,000), has also been the site of bitter racial conflict, dating back to sit-ins at lunch counters in the early 1960s and a riot in 1969 at a predominantly black local college that left one student dead. Nothing in Greensboro’s past, however, came close to what happened last week: a Shootout between Ku Klux Klansmen and anti-Klan protesters in which four people were killed and nine were wounded. The city’s mayor, Jim Melvin, called it “one of the most hideous acts in America.”

The tragedy came at a time of increasing tension in central North Carolina because of aggressive activity by the Klan. The racist organization has recently been challenged by a dogmatic Maoist group, the Workers Viewpoint Organization. It has perhaps 200 members, most of them in Los Angeles and New York City but a dozen or so in the Greensboro and Durham areas. In July two of the leftists showed up at a Klan rally in tiny China Grove, N.C., where they banged on doors, burned a Confederate flag, and got into fistfights with Klansmen.

Last month Viewpoint members passed out handbills inviting people to a “Death to the Klan” protest march on Saturday, Nov. 3, in a mostly black section of the city. The Maoist group urged the Klansmen to attend. Taunted March Organizer Paul Bermanzohn: “We invite you and your two-bit punks to come out and face the wrath of the people.” The handbill described the Klan as “the most treacherous scum element produced by the dying system of capitalism.”

In the bright morning sun on Saturday, about 100 blacks and whites gathered for the anti-Klan march among the grimy brick duplexes in Greensboro’s Morningside Manor housing project. Most of the demonstrators were dressed in jeans and blue work shirts; some wore hard hats. Suddenly a mustard-colored van and several cars pulled up. They were filled with Klansmen and supporters who shouted racial slurs. The marchers responded by beating on the cars with sticks.

Then a dozen whites leaped out of the van and began firing pistols, shotguns and at least one automatic rifle at the demonstrators. Said Bermanzohn’s wife Sally: “I saw a man in the right front seat of the lead car. He had a pistol. We shouted, ‘He’s got a gun!’ Then I heard the firing start.” Said Truck Driver Jeff Rackley: “It was just like a war movie, with everybody shooting all over the place and people screaming. I saw two people go down, a man and a woman.” Added Photographer Don Davis: “One guy laid across the back end of the car and blew the side of a guy’s head off.” Clair Burton, her face caked with blood, told how a woman died in her arms. Said Burton: “The first thing that happened, I saw this Klansman waving his gun. The next thing we knew, there was shooting all over the place.” According to eyewitnesses, some of the demonstrators fired back at the Klansmen with handguns.

The shooting went on for about four minutes before riot-helmeted police with shotguns cleared the streets. “We moved as soon as we could,” insisted Police Chief William Swing in response to mounting criticism. “Until we saw weapons, no laws had been violated.” All of the dead were anti-Klan demonstrators: Sandra Smith of Piedmont, S.C., and Caesar Cauce, William Samson and Jim Waller, residents of Greensboro. Wounded were two Klansmen and eight demonstrators, including Bermanzohn. Police arrested 14 people, including two marchers and twelve Klansmen. The Klan members were charged with murder. One demonstrator was charged with inciting to riot, the other with interfering with an officer.

After the dead and wounded were taken away in ambulances, police officers cordoned off the area. Left behind was the van, which still had a can of Mountain Dew on its dashboard and a red ribbon swinging from its rearview mirror. As the officers dispersed the onlookers, the faces of many of the people were streaked with tears and blood and some seemed to be in an ugly mood. Then the police and the citizens of Greensboro prepared for a weekend of tension and soul searching.