Greensboro Massacre
| Greensboro massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Greensboro, North Carolina |
| Coordinates | 36°03′56″N 79°45′50″W / 36.065502777778°N 79.76385°WCoordinates: 36°03′56″N 79°45′50″W / 36.065502777778°N 79.76385°W |
| Date | November 3, 1979 |
| Deaths | 5 |
|
Non-fatal injuries
|
5 |
| Victims | Communist Workers Party protesters |
| Perpetrators |
 Ku Klux Klan
|
The Greensboro massacre is the term for an event which took place on November 3, 1979, when members of the Communist Workers' Party and others demonstrating against the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States engaged in confrontation with members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party. Four members of the Communist Workers' Party, and one other individual were killed and ten other demonstrators were wounded. The CWP had supported workers' rights activism among mostly black textile industrial workers in the area.
Two criminal trials of several Klan and ANP members were conducted: six men were prosecuted in a state criminal trial in 1980, five were charged with murder. All were acquitted by an all-white jury. A second, federal criminal civil rights trial in 1984 concluded with the acquittal of the nine defendants by an all-white jury.
Survivors filed a civil suit in 1980, led by the Christic Institute. The case in federal district court accused numerous police officers and four federal agents, as well as Klansmen and ANP members, of violating the civil rights of those killed, and it also charged the city with failure to protect the legal demonstration. The jury found the Klan/Nazi shooters liable for the death of Dr. Michael Nathan, the only non-CWP victim. The jury also held the Greensboro Police Department responsible for failing to do more to prevent the shootings, because it was told by an informant that the KKK planned violence. These groups were ordered to pay a total of $350,000 in damages. This is one of the few times in US history when "a jury held local police liable for cooperating with the Ku Klux Klan in a wrongful death."
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