Was the 1979 Klan/Nazi-CWP shootout a massacre?

Sure it was, by some formal and vernacular definitions. 

I have used the word "massacre" to describe the event, and although I didn't remember doing so I've been informed by Google that I called it "the Greensboro Massacre" on at least one occasion (before the T&R thing got going, but after I'd changed my own POV on the topic). 

But Allen Johnson is right about "the power of words to shape how we view an event," and that has to influence the choice of words on the proposed historical marker.

"Massacre" in this context is more than a vocabulary word. It's a political term that tends to mean "the killing of a lot of good guys by bad guys who suffer far fewer losses." (And, yes, it can be a massacre even if the alleged good guys are armed). 

So the problem here is that a lot of people are reluctant to implicitly define the CWP as good guys, even though most agree that the other side was bad. 

I'd be OK with "The Greensboro Massacre" if the text that followed was not going to be some Tweet-length summary that couldn't possibly capture the facts about the day and all the players (including the role of law enforcement, which gets left out of the story way too often). 

So I'd go with "The Greensboro Shootout."

Elsewhere, Lex makes a good point about Mike Barber "ridiculing and diminishing the tragedies in the lives of others." I doubt that was Barber's intent, but it plays that way, so maybe he can broaden his thinking a bit. 

Flashback to Mr. Sun saying much the same thing many years ago: 

You look out the window and in front of you a chaotic scene of attack, retreat, gunfire, and death plays out in your neighborhood. You scream for your daughter to get down and take cover. Later, you comfort her but the color of the day, week, and who knows how much more has darkened. She's seen things you never wanted her to see. You feel a sense of failure and guilt over not being able to protect her. Something valuable was lost.

I know a lot of you find this whole slow and sometimes retrograde journey dispiriting. I don't. There has been genuine movement toward wider understanding and even reconciliation over the years. The long arc is bending in the right direction, and the marker -- should it ever go up -- is part of that process.

Comments

[RMelton]

I'm still confused as to what, after this being analyzed to death for the last thirty five years, is left to understand or reconcile?

[Ed Cone]

When a sitting council member says what Barber said, to choose just one example, there seems to be a need for additional understanding and reconciliation.

Read, if you will, the column linked above as "changed my own POV." It took me a long time to get there.

[RMelton]

I think Mike Barber is right, although his point was clumsily made, we as a people and community need to move on. I think everyone is in agreement that we would never want to this to happen again. But people need to take responsibility for their actions. The former CWP members and Nelson Johnson need to take responsibility that maybe just maybe they brought this on themselves.What were they doing staging a rally like this in a residential area Yes the GPD command structure made some bad decisions, they were too passive in their tactics. As I've said before, Greensboro as a city is no more responsible for this than Dallas is for JFK's murder or Memphis for MLK's. This constant wallowing in the sins of our past is killing our city. Portraying Greensboro as a hot bed of racism and hate damages all our citizens regardless of ethnicity.

[Roch]

"What were they doing staging a rally like this in a residential area?"

The GPD gave them a permit. Care to rethink your absolution of them? And, are you aware of who has or has not taken responsibility?

This is one of the good reasons why we don't need to "just move on" (a false choice, as if we can't move forward and look back too -- we're not cyclopeses): People have such strong opinions so firmly planted in ignorance.

[Ed Cone]

I agree that people on all sides should take responsibility for their actions (2006 column: Survivors of shooting could be first to apologize).

That said, "they brought this on themselves" is too broad a statement and absolves the killers of responsibility.

Thus the political argument over the use of "massacre" on the sign.

[Don Moore]

Ed, since the City Council has already voted, I am disappointed that you only wrote after the vote.

Roch, I thought that the permit was for a different location, thus the "88 Seconds".

[RMelton]

Everyone is responsible for the bad decisions they made on that day. I'm not absolving either side. I'm just saying how long do we as a city flog ourselves over this tragic event? This is a markedly different city socially and politically than when this event happened.

[Roch]

Don, see page 151.

[Kim]

Chapel Hlll Masacre

[Andrew Brod]

"How long do we as a city flog ourselves over this tragic event?"

Calm down. It's a marker, not an S&M orgy.