Solidarity Charlotte

North Carolina has a rich history, but many important events in our state history have been glossed over. In our opinion, this is done with the intent of suppressing knowledge of these events. Why would the established power structure want the citizenry to think about state governors ordering the National Guard to attack striking workers, especially if it had happened more than once? Or that in places as close as Monroe and Gastonia, citizens took up arms in self-defense against oppression by the state and other reactionary forces? What if it were common knowledge that racist state government officials and EPA agents built a leaking dump for PCB contaminated soil in Warren County simply because the majority of the local populace was poor and Black?
We remind you of this history to point out that, even in an environment as reactionary as ours, revolutionary acts are still possible. The struggle for equality and autonomy has a long history, and we would do well to remember it. Our cause is organic, and of the people, and can trace its lineage back to the earliest days of humanity. The history of capital and wealth is brief and violent, but capitalists want very badly for it to be considered the only legitimate history. This is done with the purpose of painting these events in an isolated, unconnected way, much the way capitalism attempts to force us into consumption and isolation. These events are not isolated. They are part of a broad and rich history of people around the world struggling for their freedom, for their dignity, and for their right to live without interference. After the post will be links for further reading; look into these things for yourselves, and share the knowledge with others.

We begin with the struggle for a modicum of dignity waged by the working men and women of this state. Textile workers in the Southeast faced horrid working conditions, and were fed up. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, many walk-outs and strikes took place. Many of these strikes were wildcat strikes, with no higher union organization or leadership. In 1921 workers at the Cannon textile mill in Charlotte, NC struck over intolerable working conditions and poor pay. Mill owner Charles A. Cannon refused to acknowledge the striking workers, or any union activity by the newly formed United Textile Workers of America (UTWA), in his mills. He didn’t hesitate, however, to call upon the National Guard to break the strike. Striking workers were unable to resist the National Guard and sustain the strike, as scab workers were brought in and the mill resumed production. The mill continued to force employees to work hellish hours in life-threatening conditions. The Cannon family poured money into the locale in a show of “benevolence”, and thus bought themselves a clean name in our present day.

In 1929 workers in the Gastonia, NC, Loray Textile Mill were tired of oppressive conditions and extreme hours. After several employees were fired for merely meeting with union representatives, the remaining workers voted unanimously to strike. Unhappy with their striking workforce, the mill bosses put pressure upon the local politicians to take action. Then-Mayor Rankin called the National Guard to break the strike, turning a relatively peaceful situation into a tension-filled confrontation. Nearly 100 masked statists and scabs destroyed the headquarters of the union leading the strike, leading the striking workers to organize for armed self defense, as clearly the state would do nothing to protect them. Loray Mill then hired and brought in scabs to undermine the striking workers position. When 150 striking workers marched on the mill to call out the scab night shift, they were attacked and repulsed by the sheriffs deputies. Clearly, the state was more than willing to initiate violence to protect the business interests of a select few. Later that same evening, then-Police Chief Aderholt and other officers attempted to force the strikers to disarm, leaving them vulnerable to the paramilitary scabs gathered by the Loray Mill owners. The striking workers resisted disarmament, and in the ensuing conflict the police chief was killed. In the aftermath of this confrontation, the state again stood in favor of the capital-holding business owners. 71 striking workers were arrested, and 16 charged with murder. This farcical trial of working class citizenry by agents of the state ended in a mistrial. When news of the mistrial got out, reactionary forces across the area initiated a reign of terror, rounding up union workers and running them out of the area. The anti-union fervor of the statist elements came to a head in murder of Ella Mae Wiggins. Chased down and shot while riding in a vehicle with 21 other striking workers, Ella Mae was killed, and 7 men were charged with her murder. Six of the seven men were scabs hired by Loray Textile Mill. Unsurprisingly, all seven were found not guilty. These strikes were unsuccessful, but they were not in vain. Labor movements around the country cited them as examples of the governments willingness to initiate violence against peaceful workers.

Another historical non-event according to most historians is the long and terrible history of racist groups in North Carolina taking violent action against minorities, whom of course received no shelter or protection from the state. Groups like the John Birch Society and Klu Klux Klan, still in existence and operation today, regularly rode through predominantly Black neighborhoods to shoot them up and terrorize the populace. The harassment and shootings got so bad that Black citizens in Monroe, NC, had to make sandbag defenses in their homes to help them avoid dying at the hands of the racist scum. This came to head in 1959, when Robert F. Williams, a WWII veteran and organizer for the NAACP, called for local Blacks to take up arms in self-defense. This was during the Civil Rights movement, when nonviolent protest was really the only “accepted” means of protest. Williams called for armed self-defense, training local citizens in the use of rifles in order to fend off attacks by the Klan and other hate groups. He called the organization he created the Black Armed Guard. This group acted to defend peaceful integration efforts by NAACP members at swimming pools, which had drawn gunfire in the past. Of course even with police present, no action was taken against the unknown gunmen. In 1959, the NAACP threatened Williams with expulsion over his views on non-violent protest numerous times, to which he responded that if so his wife would take over for him and he would continue his struggle. Williams met that same year with Martin Luther King, Jr., who praised Williams efforts and said, “When the Negro uses force in self-defense he does not forfeit support — he may even win it, by the courage and self-respect it reflects.” White resentment of Williams and NAACP was coming to a head, and after several fierce disputes at the local courthouse, Williams again found himself the victim of state oppression. A white couple who, around the time of these courthouse disputes, drove through the predominantly black neighborhood in Monroe, NC, found themselves stopped by an angry crowd. They were taken to Williams house for their safety. Upon discerning they weren’t racists, they were initially told they were free to go. Williams soon realized the crowd outside would not grant them safe passage, and provided for their lodging at neighboring home until later that night, when they could leave safely. Statist agents accused Williams of kidnapping the couple, and he and his family fled the state with local law enforcement in hot pursuit. His fleeing of North Carolina to protect himself and his family led to charges by the FBI, who, in 1961, issued a Most Wanted bulletin for him in Charlotte, NC. The bulletin slandered Williams as a “schizophrenic… who advocated and threatened violence…” and labeled him “…armed and extremely dangerous.” Williams was forced to flee to Cuba, and later China. He returned to the U.S. in 1969, and was immediately arrested. In 1975, he was extradited back to Monroe, NC, where the charges against him were dropped. Williams book, Negroes With Guns, was influential in the founding of the Black Panther Party, and in shaping the beliefs of Panther founder Huey P. Newton. He died in 1996 from Hodgkins Disease, and was praised at his funeral by Rosa Parks for his uncompromising stand against racist aggression.

We now jump to the 1970′s, when the state of North Carolina decided to create a dump for PCB contaminated soil amidst a predominantly Black community in Warren County. The 150 acre facility is located south of Warrenton, and lawsuits surrounding it set the precedent for environmental justice. The decision to place the dump was made not on any scientific criterion, such as closeness to water sources or composition of soil, but on more esoteric and racist criteria such as the demographic make-up of the county. The PCB dumping originally occurred when Robert Burns and his sons deliberately dripped 31,000 gallons of PCB contaminated oil along highways in 14 counties. They had agreed to dispose of the oil for business partner Robert Ward. Though initially unwilling to do more than erect road-side signs proclaiming the toxicity of the PCB tainted soil, the EPA had no qualms about later forcing the citizens of Warren County to accept the dump. A clear example of state racism, complaints against the dump were dismissed, and the public assured it would be of no harm to them. The purpose of the PCB landfill, became, therefore, not so much to protect the 1,000s of residents who lived near the PCB spills, but to establish the precedent that under the guise of “safer” regulations backed by state and federal law, government could force toxic waste facilities on communities against their will. The site was approved as a “dry-tomb” toxic waste landfill, which failed from the beginning because it was capped with nearly a million gallons of water in it. Although state officials told citizens they planned to build the landfill with a perforated pipe leachate collection system under the landfill, a system critical to a functioning “dry-tomb” landfill, no such leachate collection system was ever installed. The nearly 1 million gallons of water that was capped in the “dry-tomb” landfill could not be pumped out, and citizens later learned from state rainfall and landfill monitoring data that tens of thousands of gallons of water had been entering and exiting the landfill for years. Within a few months of burying the PCBs, the EPA found significant PCB air emissions at the landfill and 1/2 mile away, but citizens did not learn about this report for another 15 years. The 60,000 tons of PCB-contaminated soil were buried within about 7 feet of groundwater. Warren County’s first independent scientist, Dr. Charles Mulchi, had predicted that the landfill would inevitably fail because of unsuitable soils and close proximity to groundwater. He had pointed out at a January 4, 1979, EPA public hearing that state scientists had misrepresented the depths of soil sample testing they had conducted at the site. Residents forced the Governor to include in the deed that it was a one-time only toxic waste facility, preventing the site from being used commercially. After four years of fruitlessly struggling within the legal system in an effort to stop the PCB landfill, Warren County citizens decided to take direct action, and lay in front of 10,000 truckloads of contaminated PCB soil. During the six-week trucking opposition, over 550 people were arrested for nonviolently opposing the dumping of toxic waste in their community. Warren County citizens mounted “the largest civil disobedience in the South since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., …” It was the first time in American history that citizens were jailed for trying to stop a landfill. The site went onto the EPA “Superfund” cleanup list, and was the primary polluter of Lake Crabtree and the Neuse River near Raleigh, NC. It wouldn’t be until 2004 when the decontamination of the site itself was complete. Contaminants from the Ward site have been detoxified, but the area around the site and surrounding creeks, lakes, and rivers have been permanently polluted. Ultimately, the state and the EPA protected their own interests and never admitted that the landfill had been leaking or that they were cleaning it up because it failed.

These examples give a stark picture of how capitalism responds to any challenges to its power. The industrialists sit comfortably in bed with the politicians, and together they make decisions for their own good at the expense of all others. Capitalism fights any attempts at change, then attempts to forget or gloss over them in the history books. It is our duty to remember these events, and not let them go forgotten. If we forget our radical history, we run the risk of forgoing our radical future. Without consideration and critique these events will repeat themselves, and new generations of workers will find themselves again facing the barrel of statist guns.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Textile_workers_strike_%281934%29

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Cannon_Mills

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Loray_Mill_Strike

http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/284/entry

http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis57.htm/biblio.htm

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Robert_F._Williams

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Warren_County_PCB_Landfill