The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 488 - Greensboro Klan vs Commies

Episode Date: July 6, 2021

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the battle between communists and the Klan in Greensboro.SourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

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bilingual American History Podcaster. Hi. Hi. Patrick. Hi. Dave Anthony. Redistory from American History to my friend. Garrett Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Who's sitting next to me? We're together. Hi. How are you? I'm so long down. Oh boy. This is really great. Yeah. It's nice to be together because you can feel where it's in. Can we work together really well. It wasn't like this over Zoom and now it's really good. It's really good. It's really good. Yeah. It's going to be hard to do that forever. Yeah. It's not going to. Any hoos will be. Whoa. We're becoming the other person. This is like vice versa. The, you know, that other woman, those guys piss in a fountain. This is the piss in the fountain one. The promise. Maybe. What? The pledge? Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman. You know when people switch bodies. It's one of my favorite jokes. One of my favorite jokes. Oh my God. Freaky Friday. Yes. It's a freaky Friday. I just saw there's an Australian one. I was watching Australian rules football. Yeah. The commercial came up for Australian version. Yeah. Tassie Tuesday. Never, never stop doing it, mate. Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah. I can only imagine how they switch. Oh, they're so mad right now at that accident. Of course. What if, what if, what if here, this is would be the best Australian body switches. A guy switches bodies but he's an American and with an Australian and then they just get mad at how they switch bodies. They just get mad at how bad his accent is after that. That feels, I know who could start in that. I've got a pitch for the lead actor.

And called it, quote, his jam patch. Jam patch. I'm the fucking hippo guy. Dave, okay. My name's Gary. My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to Tigglypod, Kelly. Okay. This is like Adam. And a five-part coefficient. Now hit him with a puppy. You both present sick arguments. No, sleep, no, hippo. Actually, partner. Hi, Gary. No, I see it done, my friend. No, no. Roll down. Roll down in the court. December 25, 1950, year of our lord, Jesus Christ. The day of our Lord's son, Jebus Christ. Jebus? Yeah. Sandra Lee Neely was born in Piedmont, South Carolina. Her mother was a public school teacher. Her father worked in a textile mill producing corduroy and denim from cotton sure the dream right yeah I mean I think most you get all that home you get that free fabric yeah most people when they're young they're like I want to work in corduroy yeah I I definitely I definitely like corduroy as a child yeah it's nice it's a good really it's nice it's rich pants

it's rich pants it's like a boy listen to the content we're getting out of our in-person Sandy as she was called wanted to be a nurse she wanted to help people okay she'd like to help people that was a jam sure about three hours northeast of Piedmont what's the city of Grumont oh sorry go ahead you were gonna say something serious no I didn't know the I didn't know the improv is gonna be so hot well it's Piedmont Pumont I mean follow take my hand no I got you follow me to the promise yep well it's the city of Greensboro South Carolina it's full of blue-collar mill workers public schools had not been segregated there

until 1971 sure so it really on the times on the cutting edge understanding the way things are trending properly yeah you want you want to you want to hold out on that kind of thing as long as possible yeah we see it going backward soon the NAACP had a very strong presence there MLK would come there and give speeches at the North Carolina Agriculture and Technical University so it's a lot it's a hot it's a it's a spicy town sure I think we're calling it sure in 1960 when Sandy was nine four black AT&T freshmen sat down at a Woolworth lunch counter and refused to move until they were served wait they were AT&T what

AT&T it's the technical university okay and so I said AT&T it should be AT&T I apologize that's okay it just threw me off I was AT&T students you didn't go to AT&T University I went to Verizon high it's only a matter of time it's only a matter of absolutely a hundred percent you know after I've talked about it before but when we were in like Salt Lake City or whatever and we saw the Jack Link's jerky hospital yeah is when I went okay well this is all bets are off for everything from now on anything's possible there's no bottom my health network is the Jimmy Dean sausage health network yeah I yeah that's good I go to

Jimmy Dean out-care patient that's right yeah yeah that's a really good one they're the best sausage doctors I've been able to find personally so the sit-in very effective it spread across the South as we all know and for the next ten years there were sit-ins and demonstrations in Greensboro there are often mass arrests and violent confrontations with the cops you wouldn't think that and the Ku Klux Klan have you heard of them yeah they're not a fan of black people sitting at counters no that's not that's for only whites to do yeah you can't have people sitting at counters imagine the the anarchy that would follow it is

weird when your mind gets so like it's so unrelated I don't even really I mean I know it's all founded and just like such like terrified ego horseshit but it is very strange when you really think about it to think like no you can't go there because of your skin cut it's like yeah no it's fucking it's a very bizarre it's a bizarre thing to have in our history no yeah and still still so all this activism helped push through the civil rights act of 19 in 1957 right and there were additional additions to it in 1664 this made it hard for business owners and public officials to deny black people's services or voting rights mm-hmm

and doesn't feel like freedom turns out turns out that actually not true as it's not a lock necessarily yeah it's a that didn't hold it's a placeholder yeah yeah turns out it's easy to just take that away go ahead roll that back yet not a big thing don't worry so more black southerners started voting and they became a factor in southern politics white politicians were then forced to tone down rhetoric suddenly there are actual black legislators cops and sheriffs right or as they call it oh my god it's everything I was worried about I told you we should have let him sit in that fucking counter this is what the

racist Bible prophesized and bomb coming because this is a quote from a black man oh dear Andrew Young a black minister summed it up quote when not many black people could vote the politicians used to talk about the niggers when we got 10 or 15 percent voting they called us niggra when we got up to 25 percent they learned how to say negro now that we have seven sixty to seventy percent registered in voting they say how happy they are to see so many black brothers and sisters here tonight wow that is really amazing isn't that amazing and that's and I think that's it that's when you have to use

the word well they and they just the way that they it's a crowd it's like a video game it's like you're advancing through levels and then slowly you're getting like the title that in their eyes as close to you know eventually the goal of the game is to become white when you get to a hundred percent is when we refer to you as a white man you're welcome but it does it really does show like what we know which is just that yeah you know fucking scare them and they will do what you want yeah live in fear of them and they will steamroll you yeah yeah they can treat you with the the most disrespect possible yeah when you

have no power when you start getting power they work for you you forget all the time that they work for you I mean it really is like you're just like you're like oh I hope they give us this it's like man we should just be like hey fuckface give me health care yeah in 1969 Sandy moved to Greensboro to attend Bennett College a black woman's liberal arts college she became heavily involved in the civil rights movement she's elected president of the United States United States of America that why do we not talk about her rise more and it's really weird we don't because she was a black woman was elected president

we did I Dave I know I've learned on this podcast that Benjamin Franklin was not a president I am shocked to learn the yeah they're not talking about that no and and they act like Nixon was president but this says 69 Richard Nick it was so there was a black can we take a five so I can process she oh wait this says she was like a president of the student government oh okay that's different yeah okay she organized with the Greensboro Association of Poor People and the Student Association for Black Unity she met if guys trained to be a doctor they fall in love Mark Smith and they eventually get married and Sandy became

Sandra Lee Neely Smith okay so after college Sandy joined the workers viewpoint organization boy she's really seeming like she's taking a lot of empathetic takes yeah the WVO we'll call that it was a multi-racial national communist group oh so Dave if I may do an impression of a white uh-huh blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla blabla it's a melted part of everything I loathe forgives black people in communism together I'm going to drown myself and there's fiesta near you don't mind I will be holding my breath until you undo what you've done I'm not

How can I undo it? Okay. That was all you could hold your breath for? I'm on a heavy gravy diet lately, and it does not do wonders for one's lung capacity. No, it's not good. All right, here. I shall now hold my breath until you undo what you've done. I'm exhausted.

Did you undo it yet? No, I'm perfectly happy with you. Here we go again, asshole. Well, man, I have a big cup of gravy. Yes, I am. Thank you, kindly. I'm just going to scoop it out of my, my, my bucket. I'm dehydrated beyond belief.

I need that salty brown water to fix myself. Well, we've been keeping it warm here for you in the, in the bucket. Well, tomorrow I find another breath holding day. Good luck to you, sir. I shall undo what you've done. You're a terrible human being. I'm terrified of what I've heard come from you, but I must say your gravy has the right amount of rosemary.

So she made three other men involved in the medical program at Duke University. Dr. Jim Waller, Paul Burmans on and Bill Sampson. Okay. I mean, there's going to be a lot of names. So great. So don't, don't hold on to them too. Okay. Well, well, I'll remind you.

I like the winner. Okay. Well, Duke Hospital, Jim and Paul had set up medical testing services for textile mill workers through the North Carolina Brown Lung Association. Okay. Great. And is that, that's not a civil rights thing. That is the color of one of my lungs, actually, if you, hello, it's me, Gravy Lung from earlier.

Hi. Hi. I too suffer from brown lung. Well, that's cause you pour gravy into your lungs. It's because the belly gravy bubbles up to other organs for it has nowhere else to go. Oh, I'm going to vomit. It's like a river without any tributaries. You make me want to be sick and die.

Well, listen, have you undone the thing you was talking about before was a bunch of women and non-whats? I'm sorry. I was distracted. You have some gravy coming out of your ear. I have gravy coming out of all parts of me. I'm full. Wouldn't you pee?

Grave pee. Okay. Yeah. It's not healthy. It's just buried in a gravy. Now many Southern textile workers have what's known as brown lung. And Dave, as a doctor, that is the color you do not want your lungs? No, you do not want brown lungs.

Right. It's supposed to be pink and pretty, like a heart on Valentine's Day. Right. Okay. Yes. It's called a bisonosis. It's an incurable disease caused from inhaling the cotton fiber dust in factories. Now as you can imagine in a corduroy den and whatever factory, there's going to be a lot

of cotton dust. Sure. So workers had fevers, coughs, muscle ache and joint pain. It was also called Monday fever because workers would feel better over the weekend, but their symptoms would reignite when they came back to the factory floor on Monday. Oh, God. So that's just when you know that you're just working in the best job and people care about you so much.

You got a case of the Mondays? Well, my lungs hurt. So yeah, I'm actually bleeding out of my lungs. Well, I've got a big case of the Mondays, too. It's Monday. I can't feel my legs. Oh, man. I'll tell you, I get addicted to those Saturdays of feeling my breath again.

It's so fucking horrible. It's horrible. And again, nobody's ever really, we just never care about how people are breathing. We don't do anything. Yeah, we're not in the breathing part. Many of the workers are from very poor rural areas. They have no choice but to keep working at the mill because that's all they got. And so they would keep working at the mills until their lungs just completely failed.

Right. Because you have no other option. Yeah, you have no option. Jim had previously treated protesters who had been beaten at the 1964 Democratic National Convention and Native Americans at Wounded Knee. Jim, Paul, Bill, and Sandy believed that under a racist and capitalist system, doctors and nurses would just put band-aids on the health problems caused by poverty while the root causes, capitalism and racism, went unaddressed.

If you could imagine a society in which that was a thing. Such a foolish take. What are you? A state that's aged terribly. You read about these people from back in the late 60s and you're like, what were you thinking? When you see the spoils we've been delivered, you must be red-faced. And now, I mean, if they were around today, they would be like, look, this is the best healthcare country on Earth.

Are bad. We take it back. We nailed it. America nailed it. It's the only thing we do. So like Che, of course, Che Guevara, they identified themselves as revolutionary doctors. And they believed the first thing you needed to fight capitalism was an organized mass movement of workers.

Still waiting for that. Paul and Jim had created the Trade Union Educational League to build unions led by rank and file members to unite southern workers across racial lines, which is key, across racial lines. And they began salting factories. Salting factories? Not assaulting factories, salting. So basically where you, it feels like you want me to try to have a guess. And so I will follow your lead.

This is where you, in the factory, you throw a lot of salt around and it ruins things. And more specifically, it's ruins the, if you put it in the fabric cauldron, I can't guess any further. Can you tell me more about the fabric cauldron? Yes, it's where the witches make the cotton. Bubble bubble. So salt is to salt factory is when as an organizer, you go to a factory and get job, a job at the factory with the purpose of organizing the workers.

Oh, that is so great. Yes. So Sandy got a job at cone mills working at a flannel factory called revolution mills. First of all, you should not have called your mill revolution mill. Right. That's not, it's not helpful. No, it's not good. I don't know.

I mean, all of a sudden it seems like they're trying to change everything the hell they get that idea from. Since all the workers were black women, okay, besides brown lung, they were paid terribly. They had to deal with blatant discrimination and constant sexual harassment from supervisors. Good. Good. Good. Good.

Good. Great. As always. So Sandy organized the workers to fight. Okay. And they started, well, they forced management to allow the first OSHA inspection ever at the cone mills plant, which led to enforcement and expensive safety measures being put in place.

So if you're from another country, OSHA is like our workplace safety enforcement, you know, they come in, they look to make sure everything is good for workers. It's a thing that we just completely ignore in America. Yeah. It's one of those things that were put in place for safety that we've then totally stopped doing or caring about. It's hard to keep things going. Sorry, everyone.

So cone mills fired 400 of the workers who were unionizing. Okay. Sandy took cone to the National Labor Relations Board over the firings. The revolution mills is still there, but now it's a live work play campus with luxury apartments and restaurants and event spaces owned by a bank. So it's still there, but it's now, it sounds like a fancy place for fancy people. Good. Glad it's good.

It's good to know we've lost that battle early. Jim got hired at cone mills corduroy plant. He didn't really fit in as well as Sandy because he was a bearded Jewish guy from Chicago who brought pickled herring to work for lunch every day. Look, I mean, it doesn't matter what your politics or beliefs are, if you're bringing pickled, like you're not going to be a popular person bringing pickled anything but pickled herring. I prefer instead of bringing pickled herring to work is just to go in and go, I'm not one

of you. Yeah. Yeah. Would anyone like some homemade chum? I've worked with people who have been into pickled fish. And you are like, look, this is, what do you want to do? Be stinky and friendless or, you know, eat something you're not into and have people around you.

Yeah. So don't do that is what we're saying. Now we're going to get, we don't need your, I don't care how much you like pickled fish, it's just a joke. But he ended up earning their trust and was elected shop steward and then vice president of the local union. So they were like, all right, this guy's good. All right.

So they actually led a strike against the plant and that increased union membership from about 25 to 200. Wow. Okay. Now Bill worked at a cone denim plant and he also quickly became their shop steward. Okay. Bill, he was a native southerner and he was an idealist. He really believed, you know, he foolishly that everything would work out fine.

Sure. But denim factory was one of the largest denim producers in the entire world and workers constantly died from cotton dust. Oh, well, yeah, but still it's great. There's a lot of people are getting jeans, which is way better. Well when I, yeah, there's two great things about that. So you're a worker and you're going to die because you're going to work every day to make pants.

Sure. But people all over the world are wearing those pants and a couple of guys who own the factory are getting rich. And if you think about it, like you're in those pants. So your legacy is you kind of live on as, it's like the sisterhood of traveling pants except it's just you and you're in the pants. And you're traveling. It's actually a lot like my movie that I've been, it's Ghost Pants, where a person dies

and is put into a pair of pants and then for the rest of the movie is sort of the guiding light to the protagonist, a recently divorced man who's really not sure if, you know, his life is going to work out until he puts on the right pair of pants, where he's able to sort of get his life together through the coaching of the pants, which coach him, you know, getting there. The pants coach him. The pants are talking to him, coaching him and, you know, yeah. Can we have a love interest?

Absolutely. Maybe a haunted pair of shorts. Yeah. There can be a pair of shorts. Well, I mean, I think what there should be is he, you know, he pines for a woman in his neighborhood who he always sees walking and then she gets on. Yeah. There are shorts that are sort of coaching her and then it's about them kind of parent-trapping

the couple into, you know, and that's why it's called Ghost Pants. I love it. I want to buy it. It is really long. Well, what about a mini series? I mean, yeah, we could, sure, I look, I'm looking to sell this concept because I believe in it and know that it works. And you relate to it on an emotional level because it's really about your life when

you were younger. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. No. I'm done with the conversation, so shut up. So the WVO, the group was, they were liked a lot by workers, but because they were communists, the National Union, the amalgamated cotton textile workers union did not want to have

anything to do with them. Right. Right. So even though they could organize workers and help the union get better their lives, there was a nasty term, they're like, come on, not, not, not commies, not the C word. And then Con Mills figured out what was happening with assaulting, Jim was fired. They used the excuse that he left his medical degree off of the information he gave him when he got hired.

So that's a weird one. And there's no way for us to now learn that information. And so yeah, they got rid of him and the Con Mills locals, there's also on the grounds that the elected officers did not properly represent all the workers in the mill. So they were just coming up with different reasons, right? They would be like, these guys don't represent you because they're white communists. Right. And they'd be like, yeah, but they're workers.

Nope. Different sked color. Also, call me listen to us. So Sandy got a job at another mill, Cannon Mills near Charlotte and the WVO changed their name to the Communist Workers Party. Okay. So that this is this to me is that the right change that the right direction rejected because of labels.

Are you supposed to lean in? Yeah, I guess so. What if we made people not like us right away? The problem is they don't know how communist we are. We need to show them. I mean, it's an interesting choice. Yeah, I could see it both ways. So they're called the CWP, the CWP wasn't just a political group.

For Sandy, it was like a lifestyle. You know, she she sang in the Communist Workers Party choir, by the way, some of the best choir work I've heard as far as just you really hear it. Yeah, the song is just the godless songs. It's just yes. Right. Yeah. The godless choir.

Yeah. They were called the May Day Singers. Okay. Wow. Yeah. Right. She went to protest birthdays, baby showers. Like it was like a group of family.

So for the kids party, if you could maybe not, you know, we're just going to do more like row, row, row your boat, happy birthday, that sort of stuff. So we're not really looking for any of the regular, you know, screw the man, fight the system stuff. Well, we have, we were going to open with cut the heads off the Capitol. Right there. Can I jump in? Because that is simply, I mean, you know, she's turning four.

I feel like most of her friends are four or five. I feel like they could maybe kind of understand what you're saying. When we have another one, drain the blood from the bosses. I just think it's kind of headed in the direction where I'm saying no, and you're, I'm looking for more of like, you know, sort of a happy birthday, you know, pin the tail on the donkey vibe, you know, like again, like a row, row, row your boat or, you know, the wheels on the bus. So those are the sort of things where workers on the bus is when we do.

Okay. Is that to the tune of the wheels on the bus? The workers on the bus. How does it go? Workers on the bus go round and round and round and round. That's the same job. Under the tires of the bus. Under the tires of the bus.

Who are, who is under the tires? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because the capitalists are driving it. Okay. Well, I just know it's another. No, I mean, it's just the. We're going to stop that bus. We're going to stop that bus.

We're going to take the head of the capitalist off of the bus. It's not really even rhyming too much. No, it goes off the rails a little bit, but usually the crowd is so fired up that it doesn't matter. We'll do some Mary Had a Little Lamb and stuff and then maybe when the kids go to- So I also have these little sickles I would like to pass out. Absolutely not at all. No, there's no need for sickles at all and that is not going to happen obviously because

I'm saying right now that's- we're not going to be weaponized. Again, they're four and five. We're not going to be weaponized. Well they're ready. Yeah, but no, we do not plan, so I'm going to have to again, we'll probably stick to the stuff that we have planned. We have balloons. I mean, I'm very interested to hear why, but I also feel like-

But just balloons and we have squirt guns. For the kids to- Just shoot water at each other? Well that is the sort of, you know, it's a hot day, so that's the sort of wholesome fun- And sickles. Nope. So they can slice your belly open. You.

All right, we're going to- That's a piece of shit. Well, I mean, it's just, I don't even know about our friendship anymore, to be honest. It's kind of weird. Yeah. You really, you turned it up. Yeah. Yeah.

So, no, I can't know. Well, we both know where we stand now, yeah? Yeah, I'm done with this as a thing for sure. This is a divide for us now, so. Okay. Anywho. Yeah. So, the CWP now turned their attention to the Ku Klux Klan.

Okay. The KKK had fought integration during the 60s. They staged marches, boycotts, sit-ins to counter-protest the civil rights movement. I don't know if there's one group I'm more sick of. Oh, God. It's just like- Just the fucking- For fuck's sake.

Shut the fuck up. Yeah. I mean, good God. Turns out it was harder to get away with mob violence and lynchings without a white sheriff, a white judge, and a white jury looking the other way. Right. So, now, you know, black people, because they're starting to vote, they're getting into those places of power, and the Klan's like, meh, meh, meh, meh.

Yeah. So, the Klan's power is going down, but then at the end of the 70s, there's a bit of resurgence with the Klan. Sure. And there were confrontations, there were shootings, there were cross-burnings. Okay. Just, you know, retro. Yeah.

Right. And the summer of 79, the Klan screened DW Griffiths, the birth of a nation in China Grove near where Sandy worked. In China Grove. Yeah. The Doobie Brothers song. That's right. Damn right.

That's right. The CWP, including Sandy Jim, Waller and Jim's wife, Cygne, Nelson Johnson, who was also one of the leaders, and others, they showed up to protest. I'm sorry. I think you guys are at the wrong event. We're not showing this to just any... No, no. We're here to say, this is bullshit.

You shouldn't be showing it. We're not here to say, yay, you're showing a racist, horrific movie. We're saying, fuck this. Because for a second, I was mighty confused. I was like, why, you don't count on this movie. You will not like this movie. Yeah. That's why we're here.

We don't like the movie. Well, it takes me a minute to process dialogue. Yeah. You can't come in. No. We don't want to come in. We're going to stay outside and... Let me get my supervisor.

Grand Wizard Man. Green Wizard Man? Grand. He's in charge kind of. Our names are ridiculous. I'm actually the Cyclops. Cyclopes. Cyclopes.

No, no. Don't picture it. I know how to read. Don't picture it in your head. Just say it. Cyclopes. Cyclopes. Okay.

So, they out front, they burned a Confederate flag so far I'm in. Yeah. And a clan banner that was outside. It's called the Clanner. But yeah. The Clanner. And then the Klan'sman came out. Uh-huh.

And everyone starts pulling guns. You don't know what it's like to have your feelings violated on a level of this nature. That is hurtful stuff you're doing. We respect those things. So they start yelling at each other and then finally three cops show up and they force the KKK to go inside. So there's been a tension building. Sure.

Uh, the CWP planned a state conference to discuss the rise of racism that was happening and the KKK also wedges, wedges, wages, wedgies, wedgies, inequality, housing, education, voting rights and healthcare. And wedges. It's quite a docket. Everything. It's quite a docket. Honestly.

It's like, all right. So we just need to address a little more. Well, everything, honestly. Everything's pretty shitty. Everybody's still like, the schools are still struggling with integration. Right. Um, the voting system is, is the way, you know, they're jury manning and rigging it. So it's leaving black people unrepresented.

Right. And then a tradition we will hold on to. We call it now Wisconsin. Yeah. Um, the conference was set for November 3rd and they were going to start the day with a public march. Okay. And the public march would start a few blocks from the town.

They marched to the conference site and then started the conference. Okay. Now the slogan they picked for the March was death to the clan. Oh my Lord. It's great. I mean, clearly there was no, like, like the marketing guy was like, that's perfect. That's great. That we got no notes.

This works. I know what you want. Like it's very. It's a mission statement. It's very, there's nobody who's got no nuance, which I love. Yeah. You're not beating around the bush on this. Right for it.

Right at the heart. You can also throw a fucking in there if you want. You could throw a death to the fucking clan death to the clan, but that is like how you got to play it. I mean, they are just the, you know, they're a terrorist organization. You need to be like, yeah, we are also going to fight you. Yeah. It's a terrorist organization.

There is nothing wrong with saying death to the clan. Yeah. No, these people are right. Yeah. Yes. So, um, the CWP made a deliberately militant challenge to the clan with posters and press conferences. They were coming out and saying, fucking bring it right at one great at one press conference.

Paul, uh, Brahmazon said, quote, the clan can and will be crushed. They must be physically beaten back, eradicated, exterminated, wiped off the face of the earth. It's why it's so great is because it's like, you know, they as, as a group, like the clan thrives upon stereotyping, segmenting and hating and wanting to eviscerate certain sects of our population. So it's great because they're a group to be like, and we're going to take your policy and jam it up your ass. Well, that's the thing.

This is exactly what the clan wants to do. So you should do it. It's like, honestly, your mission statement is right on the money. It's just, you should not be in the crosshairs. It's a little blunt and I got to be honest. It's a little bit much incident. We are very attracted to your group name, but we are finding it a bit of an imposition because we are the ones being fought after.

You don't like it now put on my hood. What you don't have are big goofy uniforms. If we may, what organization to another? Have you all thought about dressing up like ghosts or maybe put a pumpkin on your head? We did talk about being ghosts. You should be ghosts. We find a sheeted look is pretty fantastic. Now, logistically, there's some issues.

Horses and trample gets caught in doors. I mean, basically every day you're like a bride on her wedding day, but what we love about it is it's absolute, the presentation. You cannot beat the presentation. I would like to actually, yes, there is an issue and that is wash, washing. Well, the worst is hard. It's, it's, I would say it's more of a hard, it's a nightmare. If you go out one night and you're burning crosses and you're attacking people in the

country and riding the horse around and then you come home and you're like, well, this is just a shit show. I'm covered in just dirt and, well, that's why we use Clanax. Clanax is the clan's exclusive fabric softener that has bleach elements in it that will actually get the white back in. Okay. And by the way, we're not just trying to keep our clothes white. We're trying to keep the earth wide.

That's right. And through them, I'm in the Amway group and through us, you can purchase Clanax. Absolutely. Clanax, it is only for whites and we're not just talking about the fabric. I also sell toothpaste. Okay. Well, we'll see. I say berry juice.

I sell hats. Sure. Okay. Well, we was just going to talk about. Toothbrushes. Yep. As far as, any of your household items, I also sell. Yes.

We were just here to talk about the Clanax. Rudge shampoo. Sure. Well, but that is, I mean, honestly, Q-tips. Yes. Right. Just a cornucopia of items. It's a lot of stuff.

But we was here to just talk about detergent because it is. Gentlemen, I think that if you also sell, you sell to people within your group, your work site, then, then you can sell it and I sell it. I sell the products to you. You're getting very confusing. It's become very, very baffling what's happened. So it has been a. All the way up to a car.

The fact that you're saying pencils all the way up to a car, I think bothersome. So just about having a clear message, clear message is what we're after the most. I think it's time to stop. It's not a way to sell. It's a lifestyle. All right. Well, no, that's what we're promoting. No, we're promoting.

That's what the Clanax. Right. I'm saying let's. No, no. We're not merging with Amway, buddy. Come on. That is dumb. Shit.

Stop pitching for God's sake. Christ, dishwashing soap. Yeah. What the come on? Just, you know, hand lotion. If we're going to get on Shark Tank, you's going to need to stop being so scattered. He went on with his, his threat to the clan quote, we invite you and your two bit punks to come out and face the wrath of the people.

No pulling sheets. On a flyer, the flyers had put up said quote, the dogs have no right to exist. They must be physically beaten and run out of town. That's great. This is the only language they understand. Yeah. And it is true. It is true.

This is the only language they understand. So in November, Nelson applied for a March permit. He noted it was actually called a parade permit, but I call it a March permit because I just felt like if I kept saying parade, you would get confused. It is a little weird to be like, we are parading for civil rights. He noted in his application, it would begin at the intersection of Everett and Carver streets near a housing project. Posters for the March had an alt gathering place for participants from out of town at

the Windsor Community Center because it was more accessible from the Interstate Highway. So there were, there was, there's two, there's the starting place for the March and then there's like a gathering place and it's everyone understands what it is. So there, so there's just basically two options, right? Well, but the permit is for the March officially starting at the one place, but there is another option for people to gather because it's easier for everybody. The permit was taken a while to get, so Nelson goes to the Greensboro Police Department. Now it's, it's legal to openly carry firearms in South Carolina at a public march.

It's a great tradition. But when he gets to the police department, they are like, you can't have the permit unless you sign an agreement promising you and all the marchers will not be armed. Okay. And Nelson's like, well, that's a little weird, right? Seems like a disadvantage. It's suspicious. So the rest of, and you have to march backwards.

He goes to the rest of the CWP and he tells them when they're like, yeah, no, we're not doing that, yeah, but he signs it anyway. Okay. So, okay. So two days before the March, the cops send Nelson a copy of the permit and it specifies the starting point, okay, which we said before, Everett and Carver and the ending point, right? So it's much from here to here. Start time.

Here's the route. You're going to walk on. Okay. So this is where police are going to be stationed along the route. Okay. And the Greensboro police send a copy of this to their local clan informant, Eddie Dawson. That's great when the department has a local clan informant. Got to, got to send that to your clan informant, Jeff.

I don't know what they're marching for, but give this to the clan from us. I don't know why they're so paranoid. They really seem to think that this is just one big conspiracy. Anyway, clan boy. Go back to the clan. So, now Eddie Dawson had joined the clan in the mid sixties after he moved to Greensboro from New Jersey. He worked in a hardware store and collected Emmett Kelly, Jr. hobo clown figurines.

Oh, so yeah, no flags on this character. Just a normal guy. And what do you do for fun, Eddie? I collect weird clown things. I'm in the Ku Klux clown. It's like the clan, but we believe for clown rights. That's right. We are the KKC, the Ku Klux clown.

Meet Sparkles. Yeah, he's fine. We believe in clown rights only. You ain't got rights unless you're super white with big red lips and freckles, most likely in blue eyeshadow. We're actually the clan. We're not the clown. Oh, I'm sorry.

I didn't walk into the wrong meeting. That is my fun little noise I make. He's fine. I'm in the Ku Klux clown. Well, I suppose I should be off unless anyone wants to sniff this flower. Have you ever thought about selling us a berry? Excuse me. I'm sorry.

I'm a little taken aback by your question, Mr. Or you have friends that use the dishwashing soap. Oh, no. I'm not. No, sorry. I didn't understand. I've heard about you. I'm good.

I'm good. Where is it for clown rights? Which comes to my meeting. Just ask Smushfoot. And bring a bunch of your clown friends. Well, maybe. I mean, we do have. If you started selling toiletries to your other clowns, I'd say it's a little organized.

We're kind of a goofier group. Or makeup. Like if you sold makeup to your other clown friends. Yeah, but we're just, we kind of squirt people who aren't us aren't the clown race with with sales her. We sell clown noses. We sell wigs. I'm not.

Trying shoes. Okay. Yeah, we get the whole thing. Okay. So if you want to get in on that. I mean, I was here for another reason entirely, but you seem to chill. I mean, do you want to be a millionaire or no? Well, not really.

I mean, we don't, we work more on, you know, we pull our money and the economy is thrives through joy. That's our currency. We sell joy. Oh, that's the dish so full circle, I gotta go. So in 1967, Eddie and some of his buddies were convicted of terrorizing black people in Alamance County. So he goes to prison for a short period of time and then he gets out and he merely takes

part in a clan attack in 1969 on black residents in swan quarter. Okay. So he's, he's got his thing. He's doing it. Yep. Prison doesn't. Rehabilitated. And then right after that attack, he becomes an informant for the FBI and he got a suspended

sentence. So he didn't want to go back to jail for informing. He's ratting on the clan. Well, now he's ratting on the clan. So up until this, he's just a clan guy and they're like, Hey, you're going to go to jail again. He's like, I'll rat on the clan for you, but I'm still going to be a clan guy. Yeah, great.

This is a perfect member. So he worked with the FBI. He would work with the FBI until 1977 and then in 1970, 79, he became a paid clan informant for the Greensboro police department. So he went local. So, but he's still like ratting on the clan and he, yeah, he was an FBI informant and now he's a local police department informant. So, you know, it's just a good way to make a living.

For sure. Well, plus you get to hang out with the clan, which is a good group of dudes. You still hate black people and make a little, a little, I do that because it's a passion not cause I'm paid. Oh, I do it cause it's a sad hustle. Yeah. So, so two days before the March, the cops send Nelson a copy of the permit. Like we said, it's best for us.

So right. So this is, this is not great. So there are at least five competing clans in North Carolina. What? Right. So this, there's a clan petition. You gotta have a rival clan, you gotta have clan rivals. I can't eat what I just, well, cause they, someone always wants to lead a group and then

someone else is like, no, yeah, but it's like, would it like, I mean, like, you don't wait, you don't like the way that guy's hating black people. You're like, we could hate black people a different way. Yeah, right. You know, it's a little aggressive. I like it's more of a slow hatred weekend races. Oh, that's fine. We got a weekend group.

So you know, the clansmen didn't find a group active enough or they would want it. So a lot of guys would end up in Nazi groups. It was like a Jesus Christ, you know, they would go from one group to the other. Like if you weren't, if they were, if the clan wasn't being like as violent as you wanted, then you, you could slide over the Nazis. Sure. And again, I mean, always been a gripe of the clan, just huge, simply not violent enough. So Joe Grady, who was the leader of the white knights, chose not to accept the CWP invitation

to face the wrath of the people. He's like, I'm not going to be involved in this wrath of the people stuff. Okay. So the leader of a rival clan, Virgil Griffith, saw an opportunity, he's like, oh, I could step into this void. If this guy's not going to fight the good fight, I'll do it. So his clan group was meeting with Nazis to work out a united racist front. I mean, Jesus Christ.

Oh my God. And they decided they would show the communists what happens when they're called cowards. They're like, all right, we'll take up this fucking fight. Okay. Oh dear. So Eddie and Virgil are working together. Uh huh. Right.

Right. So Eddie and Virgil's group is mostly mill workers and laborers in their thirties. Okay. And the clowns. They're concerned about saving America. Sure. Right. Of course.

The Americas. Yes. People who don't have any rights are going to take it away from you. That's right. The people, the lowest rung. Yeah. That's a ladder. Absolutely.

The ones you're crushing day after day, week after week. Yeah. They have all the power you fools. Yeah. Um, so they're all concerned about saving America from race mixing and communism and such sort of things. Many are new to the clan and clandom. Wait a minute.

You're racist. I'm out of here. I did not know that. I got to read this pamphlet. Because the New York Times, Wayne King described it, quote, these guys are not what you'd call real successful. Okay. Okay.

Fair enough. Uh, between the, between all these guys, they had a bunch of criminal convictions like shooting into home that was serving liquor to blacks and whites, breaking the legs of a black man living with a white woman, burning crosses on the lawns of blacks who moved into white neighborhoods, conspiring to blow up a union hall, organizing paramilitary training camps to incite a race war and planning to blow up a gas storage facility. Jesus Christ. So they got their, their, their, the classic, it's their classic Swiss army knife.

Yeah. They're, they're, yeah. That's right. They've got all their tactics. Yeah. Uh, so going off the permit, the cops gave him, Eddie arranged a gathering port point for the clan and the Nazis. So he uses, right.

The information that cops give him as an informant to. So he, but okay. So he, he is like, he's like all in on the clan. He's just also there and form it for, yeah, he, he's, he's, he's for the cause, but also ratting on individual strange little life. It is a weird little carve out. I'm trying to fuck over the group I love. So he puts up posters around the starting point that had the image of a lynched body

with the warning to communist race mixers and black riders. Even now the crosshairs are on the back of your neck. It's time for some old fashioned American justice. So they're both putting up signs of we're going to fucking kick your ass. Yeah. Eddie and Virgil had their men shoot target practice at images of actual CWP organizers. So it's like Jim and Sandy and yeah, they actually, that's, and by the way, it's, it's just the tension to detail is just, it doesn't matter what the beliefs are.

You've got to respect. I mean, you just got to respect the attention to detail. Yeah. I mean, they care about, yeah. They've, they've done the homework. They're specifically coming up with a human targets. It's cool. Now, the cops, including the chief, were kept informed the entire time by Eddie of Eddie

and Virgil's violent plans to attack on the March. It's not surprising, but so the cops are fully aware of what Eddie is doing. So there really is no, I mean, it's all kind of just one in the same really. Yeah. He's, he's saying this is what we're going to do as an informant. And the cops are going, but then what are the cops doing in response to that information? Well, they're, they're like, well, when we're not working, we are racist for pleasure. Oops.

I'm off the clock. Oh, one Klansman got cold feet and I need some socks. He went to the city to cancel, to tell them to cancel the March because there's going to be violence. He's like, you got to fucking cancel this. And the city just didn't like, ah, good. Good. Um, the ATF also knew of planned violence and didn't do anything.

Had an undercover agent in one of the Nazi groups. Is there going to be a lot of tobacco there? Is it? Yeah. Then we're not doing that. We cannot do it. Yes. So they actually have a guy who's infiltrated the Nazi group.

They know that the Nazis and Klanner are planning attack, right? The agent actually ordered one Nazi to show up at the March with men and weapons or faced demotion within the organization. So he is high up enough, an ATF agent is high up enough in the Nazi group that a guy sounds like he doesn't want to go and he orders him to go Jesus Christ and bring others or he's going to get, I don't know, you're no longer a Cyclops. I don't know what a Nazi, I don't know what the Nazis fun ones are, right? So that's not great.

Again, not a great sign. And anytime you get into right wing or Muslim terrorists or whatever, you're always going to find an FBI agent or in this case, ATF telling people to do illegal things. It's weird because don't they represent the justice system? It's very complicated. They have to then arrest them even though they told them to do it. Right. It's weird.

On November 3rd, 1979, Nelson met with a police lieutenant to confirm the march's starting point and route. Again, this is like the third time that he's gone in a gun start and you're finished here. The lieutenant said he would meet Nelson at the starting point and then they went their separate ways. So Virgil and Eddie gather 30 to 50 Klansmen, Nazi guys inside a house in Greensboro and Virgil gives a speech that included the line, quote, if you loved your children, you would go shoot 100 and leave their bodies in the street.

Well, you know, it is, I don't have kids, so it's hard for me to know what a parent's love is. It's not. But it feels. Okay. As a parent. Yeah. You have kids.

Yeah. Yeah. This isn't. Is that an order that feels in line with what it means to love your kids? No. It's actually not related. There's no part of you that goes, oh, that's how you be a good dad. No, weirdly, you go kill.

Is it, is it, I guess the question is, is it a good example for your child to see you murder people because of the color of their skin based on their skin color? I feel like it's not. But again, I've only been a dad for 12 years. Yeah. It's a little early to tell. You got to see how he shapes up in it. It's one of those things you might kick yourself.

That's true. Yeah. I should have. Oh. Should have been the worst. Eddie also stood up and gave a very racist, anti-Kami speech and encouraged violence. So the. I'm sure the grammar was fantastic.

The rat. The rat of the group is encouraging. Yeah. Now we have two. And it's just amazing that it like, look, I mean, it's a lot when you're like the clans piece of shit, but like, he's the clans piece of shit. And he's the one who's like, listen, this is why. You can't trust them.

It's like, you can't trust you, you dick. So at 11 a.m. Sandy gets together with all of her other comrades at the corner of Everton Carver streets in front of the public housing project. Reporters take pictures of the marchers. Surely describe the women very specifically did, you know, they have they have mounted speakers. They have bunker jumps. They have singers.

You know, they're trying to make it a whole thing. Yeah. The crews were at the alt gathering spot at the Windsor Community Center. Everyone's very happy. It's a happy atmosphere. Okay. Right. The march started at noon, 200 people at first, but then it grew to about 400.

Okay. People brought their kids. Okay. The clansmen piled into their cars and drove in a caravan. Now they do sound like the Ku Klux Klown. Yes. How many can we fit in one 30 28 man in one car? All right.

Let's go. Let's go back and bug. When we get there, this is going to be hilarious and violent feet and gloves, the hoods out the head, you know, the police track the caravan, okay, and they knew they were carrying illegally concealed weapons. Okay. So they know it's a bunch of guys. I think it's nine cars and they're all packing guns.

Okay. So seems unfair. They did not stop it. Okay. Interesting. It's strange. I don't want to spend too much time here, but that seems strange. And then they did not warn the marchers that the caravan of cars was on the way.

Well, I mean, I guess again, I'm hung up on the step before, but if you were to, for whatever reason, just completely forgo that step, then I would find the next move of not giving anyone a heads up also puzzling. So it's not a great setup. I feel like. Okay. Okay. That's fair.

So the caravan of nine cars drove toward the marchers led by a car with a Confederate license plate that was driven by Eddie Dawson. Sure. A man leaned out of Eddie's passenger side window and shot his pistol into the air. Okay. Now, this is when they're close. It seems like it's heightening the events. Yes.

Yes. So this is when they're close. So everyone starts diving for cover. Okay. So some ran over to the clan cars and started hitting it with sticks and they were trying to drive the cars away. Try to get the cars to go away. Clansmen jumped out and started attacking marchers with their own sticks.

Okay. A Nazi armed with a long butcher knife. Oh, Jesus Christ. Charged Nelson Johnson and he raised the knife to try to slit his throat and Nelson blocked it with his arm and so the knife went through his arm. Oh, God. Clansmen then started firing shots into the crowd. Yeah, of course.

Sandy took cover against a building. Bill Samson pulled the handgun and shot back. Eddie drove his car away from the scene. That's when the cops by the way are like, you're not supposed to have guns. Yeah. No shit. That's illegal. Raise your permit.

So Eddie just fucking takes off. Okay. And he's just a classic. Eddie is Eddie's. We call a brave. I mean, he's the hero of the story. He's the guy who's the racist who's snitching on everyone and then the second the melee starts from his bullshit.

He's gone. He's just a cloud of himself. He's the cartoon cloud of himself. Eddie, what do you think? This is just nothing but cloud. At the back of the caravan was a sedan. Six men climbed out, opened the trunk and took out rifles and shotguns. I think I can find a picture of this.

So it is the craziest. You know, the thing is that it's why there is such distrust to law enforcement. It's just like anything else where it's, you know, your job is to be there to help. And if you don't do it, you can come up with reasons why it's just a very easy thing to avoid if you choose to. And then, you know, public trust is, is, I mean, yeah, you, you get the results or things like this. So that's them getting out of the car.

Oh, Jesus Christ. Cigarettes dangling from their mouths, guy opening up the trunk and then crazy handing guns to everybody else. Very casual. Right. They look just casual. Yeah. They're just dangling from their mouths.

Now the one guy looks crazy. Yeah. Jesus Christ. So Eddie, like we said, Eddie, Eddie's gone. There's six guys that do this. A Klansman in a pickup truck yelled, quote, you asked for the clan, now you've got them. So these guys that take the guns out of the car, they lean over the car hood and they start opening fire.

And the clans cars have hoods. The crowd of men, women and children are 25 feet away. Oh my God. They scream. They scatter. 39 shots were fired. Oh my God. It lasted 88 seconds and then they got back in the cars and they drove off.

Reporters have it all on tape. I mean, it's been filmed like, and yeah, Sandy was stomped against a building shot. Jim was faced down the street. The cops conveniently arrived when the shooting was over. Wow. That's good detective work. They stopped one KKK car, which is a yellow van, and they arrested the 12 men inside. And they arrested Nelson for causing a riot.

So they also started arresting all the communists who are alive. And yeah, they're under arrest for being shot, I'm guessing. Yeah. And they're arresting people, trying to help the shot people. They're, wow, what the fuck? Paul was shot. Paul would be paralyzed for life. Mike Nathan died the next day.

Wait, that can't be right. Well, Jim, oh right. Jim Waller, Cesar, I should have written down, Chaucer, I think it is. Bill Sampson and Sandy Smith died instantly. Ten more people were in here. Sandy, Sandy died? Yeah. So there's a sense of disbelief and horror in white Greensboro.

Like even the white people are like, what in the fuck just happened? And obviously the black communities are fucking livid. President Carter ordered the FBI to investigate, protests erupted in the Morningside Homes public housing project in the neighborhood. Does it make you feel better that the FBI is investigating? No. It's like, what is the, what, like? I think what, you had a fucking informant, well, I guess he was still, he was not an

informant anymore, but no, it doesn't. But regardless, it's like, it's just, it's so convoluted as far as like what the, like, it's like with the Epstein thing, where it was just like, you know, like the people working on it were actually trying to help, like, and then the FBI is investigating the FBI, you're just like, we keep coming up with these organizations that are supposed to fight for justice and then it seems like they just fall, they, yeah, they fall back into the fold, you know, protests erupted, like I said, in the housing project. People are traumatizing, they're angry, people are angry at the cops and the CWP, they're

mad at both the Communist and they're mad at the whole thing. The city instituted curfews, surveillance, and they brought in the National Guard, Greensboro's mayor and other officials went to the local television station to strut, to try to stop them from airing the massacre footage. We'd like to stop the truth. Don't put that out there. Everybody knows what fucking already happened. I think at that point, it's far better to see it, just like we should, every death,

every execution we do in America should be shown live on television. Yeah, but also like that's why you have body cams that are supposed to, the footage is supposed to be made public and why when they like hide the footage, you're like, gee, I really wonder why you don't want people to see this vindicating footage, it's hard. Black churches and civil rights organizations now tried to walk the fine line of opposing the Klan and what had happened while avoiding being linked closely with the Communist Workers Party. Man, it's so, it's like this inability to just forego being delicate.

Well, it's so like, there is no, because they're doing like, well, the left and the right are equal bad. In this case, the Klan is just evil and the Communist Workers Party was, they used some language that was inappropriate, but they did not roll up and start shooting the fucking Klan's men. There is a very obvious good and bad. But you also, it's like, you know, if you're in, if you are in the eye of that hurricane, you've had all this violence, you know, you are just like, I just don't want any more

people to get hurt. Yeah, but they're both sizing it and there's no both sides. Yeah, right. No, yeah. An interfaith memorial service was held at the AME Bethel Church with politicians, concerned citizens and they made sure it was timed to keep it very separate from the funeral march for all the dead, dead people. The FBI investigation found the Greensboro Police Department was not responsible for

the deaths of the protesters. Oh, so see, and here I was earlier sort of flagging them saying, you know, is it maybe not a great thing to have them investigating? But then when you unearth the non truths, you go, oh, yeah, that's right. It is good. They did do real well. The police department said at 11am, they were confused to find marchers gathering in two different places.

Yeah. They found the projects and at the Windsor Community Center. The thing that Nelson had told them several times was going to happen. But still, Dave, well, Dave, they are cops. They said no one from the CWP would tell them what was going on. So there's nobody. But again, I mean, you barely told them eight times. How are they supposed to understand?

So they had, they said they had to split the cops between two locations, which they weren't planning on, even though they had been told repeatedly, that's what they should plan on. And then the sergeant decided to keep his men five to 20 blocks from the march to, quote, that's avoid provoking the crowd. Yeah, right. No, for sure. Had nothing to do with allowing a caravan of white supremacists to roll in. Dave, it's not the first time that the police do their work from 30 blocks away.

That's how they normally, that's how you know them. They hate to get mixed. Cops hate to mix it up. Yeah. They don't like to get in there. They don't like to get in there. From what I can tell, they're pacifists. Oh, and then the police department said that the cops had gotten hungry.

Oh, yeah. So the sergeant let them go get food and told them to be back at 1130. Yeah, but that's, you know, you do think. Are you expected to show up having eaten? Well, yeah. I mean, a little known thing is cops don't eat breakfast. All right. What are we going to do?

We'll get, all right. Listen, we'll get the party subs, we'll have the party subs, then we will focus on the event itself. Oh, uh, should we eat before we go to work? No, no, we will eat at there. Everyone come there and we will get party subs while we're on the clock. While the event is happening, we will be dining and having food. Shouldn't we be eating during the event?

Exactly. That's what we will be doing. And during the event, we will be eating and I think we can make it interesting by having a bit of an eating competition. So that'll be fun. That'll take us about 145 at that point. Then we will check in on the event itself that should be over at that point. So look at it more as a company brunch.

I got no arguments. Yeah. It shouldn't be one. I hope everybody likes salami. Can we get meatball subs? Absolutely we can. So, the cops also said they did know the Klan's been a Nazi and Nazis were coming, but they thought they would just throw eggs and heckle.

Well, having seen the history of the Klan, we know them to be more of pranksters than murderers. Look, originally the Klan was known as the Great American Egg Organization. Worst case scenario, they TP a couple of people. That's all that happens. They come in, they yell like, you stink, you're black, and then they throw some eggs. Now it's a mainly an egg event. Let me ask you this.

Right. You're the press. You all know what happened here. When before this, when before 1979 was the Klan ever violent? And don't talk about anything that happened before 1979 yet to be clear. Be clear. So, for, yes, so everyone, and again, they're mainly egg terrorists. Egg-erists.

Yep. Also, the Klan, they said the Klan caravan left earlier than it was supposed to. What? I mean, they are, they are like, it's like, dude, how many of the quiet parts are you going to say out loud? I have a list here of seven really shitty, hilarious excuses. They were supposed to start killing those people earlier and threw off the schedule. When we were at lunch.

Good Lord. On top of that, the Nazi, the cops believe would keep everything in check had gone to get food. So, I mean, it's just great. They're like, our good Nazi, unfortunately, went to get a bite. You understand why we fucked up the Nazi that we love and trust? The Nazi, our Nazi, as we call him, he went to get ice cream. Do you know why that's tough?

It's really what they were saying. You see what I'm saying? Or why does everyone look at me like I'm crazy just because I'm taking ownership over a Nazi? The guy they said that would keep everything in check who had gone to get food was actually the Nazi who opened the trunk to pass out the gun. So even then, so there's, they're like, oh, well, then, um, well, then that Nazi turns out as a real Nazi and we should have seen that coming and that was dumb. So the cops official statement was that they weren't there because they were eating and

then all the other shit. I can't believe they can't come up with something better. Like their excuses are almost like, go fuck yourself, I don't care excuses. We were hungry. They're making it very obvious. They don't give a shit. We all had to poop at the same time. We all fell.

We was having a tickle competition. We went roller skating. We did laser tag. You guys, I know you're mad at us, but we was having a push-up competition burpees. We was doing knitting games. You know where you knit sweat? We were seeing who could knit a shawl the fastest. And I did.

That's why we were there. Oh, I'm sorry. We couldn't make it. We was doing a three-legged race. We was in potato sacks. We was rolling out a big hill. We was playing mermaid where you put water in your mouth and spit it out like y'all's a fountain.

Egg race. We were learning how to water paint. We're sorry. We couldn't make it. We was coming up with cool handshakes. Oh, no. Did I make a tie-dye shirt? I certainly did.

We was learning how to do handstands and then walk on your hands. My God, you're acting like we didn't learn a skill while these people were getting murdered in daylight. I'm in a collage. And you should see it. So 14, 14 went on trial. 14 Klansmen. Klansmen slash Nazis.

No one else is arrested out of all the 30 to 50 guys. Sure. No conspiracy charges? No. By the way, it shows you how low the bar is when you hear 14, you're like, that's actually a legitimate number. Their lawyers argued it was not racially motivated because only one of the five dead was black. Okay.

Well, okay. Eddie said they only plan to heckle and throw eggs. I can't believe they're still, I mean, how are you? You only plan to heckle and throw eggs, but you shot guns. You brought guns. You shot people. Then people got shot. We thought they was egg bullets.

Jesus Christ. You're not, you're not going to believe this. He was, Eddie was never charged with a crime. Of course not. Eddie, because Eddie worked every angle. Now that version of events, the police version of events, the Klans version of events, that's the one that was in most newspapers, including papers known as the New York Times. Oh yeah.

But they've always been right. Well, because you can't portray communists even if they're slaughtered as victims. They're the bad guys. The New York Times admitted it sounded like it was a spontaneous shootout between two equally violent fringe groups. Have you seen that? I can't remember exactly what that New York Times headline is, but the pro-Hitler New York Times.

Oh yeah. Amazing. Yeah. Now Nelson Johnson was demonized in the press called a failing activist who was seeking sensationalism. So they, they stick it on Johnson, right? The all white jury acquitted all of them. Then the feds tried them again and that all white jury acquitted all of them on self-defense. It's cool.

So there was a third trial in which the marchers sued tons of people on behalf of those killed and injured. They named the police department, the local government, federal agencies, the Klansmen, the Nazis, like they, everybody was involved. The jury returned a verdict against two cops for Klansmen and two Nazis for one wrongful death, 351,000 went to the widow of Dr. Michael Nathan. Paul Burma Zahn got 38,000 from being paralyzed, which he never collected. Unprinciple?

No, they just didn't. They never gave it to him. They didn't give it to him. The city of Greensboro paid 351,000 on behalf of the defendants and the settlements. So the, the verdict against the cops, the Klansmen and the Nazis was paid by the city. Good. So really, that's how you teach a lesson too. Yeah.

You definitely, if you're a city, you want to pay off at something for, for men that are in racist organizations, you want to pay that on their behalf. Yeah. That's what you, that's where the tax money goes. The city just kept denying any responsibility. Sure. Nelson quote. Time to conclusion.

Not only could this not have happened without the police, but that the police were active collaborators in what I now call a North American death squad. This was not some random shootout. It was linked to stopping the campaign that we were involved with. We were good organizers bringing together the coalition, all these groups we worked closely with. In light of that, this coming together of black and white workers with a historically active black community was the objective to arrest that work.

When he Dawson died in 2002 at the age of 83, Nelson and others initiated what came to be called the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project to demand an impartial investigation. This, these had been done in like South Africa and other places and like, why don't we do that here? Over the next four years, tons of people participated, including some of the Nazis and cops. Well, only the city of Greensboro refused to take part in 2006. The project issued a 529 page report that included almost all of the details in this

story. Former jury members that had voted to acquit, quote, if I knew then what I know now, I never would have voted to acquit the Klan. The single most important element that contributed to the violence was the absence of police. The police lied about confusion over the March starting point and Nelson explained it to them several times. Police also demonized the marchers and played up the threat they've posed while downplaying the threat of the Nazis.

In 2017, the Greensboro City Council issued a very broad apology. Activists are still fighting for the city to recognize and acknowledge its specific role in the massacre. Oh, for fuck's sake. I mean, you would think that they would just now have an actual apology just based on how horribly it ages and the way we work now with apologizing. I mean, in the world of apologizing, which is what we mainly do now, how the fuck are they not apologizing?

It's crazy. It is pretty weird. I mean, just make it a thing. So I want to end it by reading, you know, I said that some Nazis in Klansman actually took part in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Virgil Griffin was one of them. He showed up and took questions, asked why no Klansman was killed in the shootings. He answered, quote, maybe God guided the bullets.

Oh, for fuck's sake. You know, sometimes I just wish there was a God so that we could just be like, will you come down here and just set this, will you please just set this straight a little bit? Maybe he is. Like, what are you? Yeah. She, sorry.

But if she would just come down and just be like, look, no, no, no, no, you're not. No, I put hear me out. I put polar bears here for a reason. Yeah. Don't read this book. Some dude just wrote this shit. All right. Okay.

I don't know what you were thinking at the end there. It was a happy episode. I'm sorry. I get this. I get to be a downer sometimes. Yeah, you're a bummer, man. Hey, at least we're near each other. Yeah.

Human bodies. All right. Okay. All right. Let's, let's, let's survive a research for this episode was done by Sarah June references Eric Hodge, Rebecca Martinez, Phoebe judge, criminal, birth of a massacre, the state of things, the 40th anniversary of the Greensboro massacre by Amanda Magnus and Stasio Frank, the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the final report, history that Cluclex can

by David Chalmers, Harper's March 1980 by Robert Watson, the other side of the Greensboro shootout. There's more references you can go check out on our sources page. We sign wasteland. Thank you.