NCJ Number
122016
Journal
Southern Exposure Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1980) Pages: 28-30
Date Published
1980
Length
3 pages
Annotation
More and more communities are organizing to confront the Klan as it attempts to publicize its message of hate.
Abstract
On November 3, 1979, in Dallas, Tex., 40 Klansmen demonstrating in what they called the "March of the Christian Soldiers" were met by a jeering, hostile crowd of 3,500 people. To avert a violent confrontation, police herded the Klansmen into the courthouse's guarded basement to disrobe. Police put them on a chartered bus, took them outside the city limits, and then escorted them home in police cars. On the same day, Communist Workers Party members were shot down by Klansmen and Nazis during an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, N.C. The Greensboro killings stemmed from Communist Workers Party taunts that dared the Klan to confront them. In other cities, including China Grove, N.C., and New Orleans, La., people have organized to challenge the Klan through counter demonstrations and gatherings at Klan meeting places. Increasingly, opponents of the Klan are convinced that direct-action strategies based in community education prior to a group "collision" with the Klan works as a defensive tactic. The Greensboro incident teaches, however, that such confrontations must not be marked by taunts that invite armed attacks.