League of Women Voters ^®

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Greensboro,NC 24701

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The League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad is a non-partisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. We invite you to join the LWVPT.

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The League of Women Voters observe governmental and  other meetings. League observers may not comment, but only observe. Observers write up their observations to share with other League members.

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Disclaimer.

Updated July 27, 2005

The beliefs of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission were read aloud at the beginning of the first public hearing, July 15-16 2005:

"Human life is valuable. We must examine why five lives were lost and what brought about this tragedy. We must examine and understand the beliefs and issues surrounding the tragedy. The Commission emerged out of a community selection process and is an integral part of the community.

"The passage of time alone cannot bring closure, nor resolve feelings of guilt and lingering trauma, for those impacted by the events of November 3, 1979. Nor can there be any genuine healing for the city of Greensboro unless the truth surrounding these events is honestly confronted, the suffering fully acknowledged, accountability established, and forgiveness and reconciliation facilitated."

Public speakers, the seven independent Commissioners, the TRC staff, the general public, the media, and law enforcement officers then observed 88 seconds of silence to commemorate the 88 seconds in which five people were killed and at least ten physically injured. Commissioners stated that the hearings were designed to provide a safe public space, that TRC research was document-based, that there had been no findings to date, and that a range of perspectives had been sought.

The tenor was established: the hearings would be respectful, professional, candid, and ultimately profound. The first hearings in July asked: "What Brought Us to November 3, 1979?" The answer was a unique history lesson.

Among the public speakers July 15-16:

- Social activist Nettie Coad, trainer and organizer of the Partnership Project, discussed the climate of Greensboro in the 1970’s: lack of city services for the poor; community organizers who brought to public attention the blight and chaos of declining neighborhoods; "red-lining" with high-interest rates available from loan companies but little or no availability from the banks; Klan activity in a major distribution center; the paralysis and fear in her neighborhood immediately following November 3, 1979. Coad concluded, "I see the same things, the same mentalities now as 25-30 years ago. This community tries to suppress. The same people try to keep poor people from having equity in the community."

- Mab Segrest is former Executive Director of North Carolinians against Religious and Racist Violence (NCARRV), a group that monitored hate crimes in North Carolina during the 1980s. NCARRV’s 1970-1983 report documented 140 incidents of religious and racist violence including murder, assault, vandalism, and cross burnings in North Carolina. Segrest suggested two causal factors: (1) the failure of the criminal justice system to bring anyone to justice and (2) the shift to the right in politics with many jobs going overseas: job loss, decline in wages. Stressing the relationship between economic hardships and hate violence, Segrest pointed out the higher incidence of hate crimes in counties with job losses, "people at the bottom getting left out." In response to a Commissioner’s question about the role of media in reporting hate crimes, Segrest said, "Local reports can make a difference, if you do not sweep it under the rug."

- Si Kahn, Civil rights, labor and community organizer in the South, worked from 1975-79 with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) on the J.P. Stevens campaign in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Kahn said that West Virginia was the most unionized and North Carolina the least unionized state. In North Carolina, people were terrified to be seen with union organizers. He described the great uprising of 1934, a spontaneous strike by 340,000 workers, and the violence repression of its aftermath. Asked why the textile industry was the least organized, he responded, "You cannot scratch the surface of anything in the south without getting to race."

He explained that workers identified the boss with the white power structure, and that the message white workers perceived was: You are white! 90-95% of black workers would vote for unions given the opportunity. Kahn discussed the labor movement as a community organizer standing up for justice. He expressed great admiration for the courage of the labor organizers who were in Greensboro on November 3, 1979.

-Gorrell Pierce was Grand Dragon of the Federated Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1979. Recalling that when protesters gathered at the Klan’s showing of the film "Birth of a Nation" at a recruiting trip in China Grove in October 1979 ("it glorified the Klan so we thought it was good publicity"), "I made my people go inside." There were no injuries but afterwards, "My Imperial Wizard was not happy and a lot of my members left me and went to another Klan." Pierce later observed jury selection and stated, "They had a heck of a time picking a jury. The community was indifferent." Asked if he was aware of ATF undercover agent Bernard Butkovich, Pierce responded that Klan members knew there were agents among them: "they have brand new shiny shoes." He knew that Klansman and police informer Eddie Dawson "was supplying bits and pieces of information." (Dawson led the Klan and neo-Nazis into Morningside on November 3.) Of November 3, Pierce stated that the Klan caravan "did not stop on its own. Demonstrators started to pull an elderly man out and that’s when the fistfighting started." Pierce concluded, "I’ve done learned about all I can learn with it. When I leave here today I hope everybody is done with it."

- Ed Whitfield, longtime Greensboro activist who is now a columnist for the Carolina Peacemaker and co-host of "Table Talk" on WNAA (90.1 FM) remembered watching stories about lynch mobs on television in Little Rock when he was eight years old. He and his sister both attended Little Rock High School; he remembers ink and soup being spilled on her and rocks being thrown at their father’s car. Whitfield came to Greensboro in 1970 as an instructor at Malcolm X Liberation University, organized "to start student organizing for black unity." The group protested the Klan’s use of public facilities for hate messages and formed "Concerned Citizens VS. the Klan." Whitfield’s work addressed disparities on the economic front: "access had become available but the fundamental economic problem remained the same." About organizing, he explained: "You are trying to do something about the status quo which pits those at the bottom against each other." He concluded that in Greensboro, "only after the district system was there much more open access."

- Jeffrey Woods, Assistant Professor at Arkansas Tech University, focuses his research on segregation and anti-communism in the Cold War South. Woods provided historical context for Greensboro in the late ‘70’s. He said that in the 1950’s and ‘60’s the South had "its own Red scare" and discussed efforts to expose "communist" elements in the Civil Rights movement. He described as "southern nationalism" a shared sense of cultural values and traditions, a commitment to white racism, and a conviction that "the Southern way was the American way." He said that events in Greensboro demonstrated "how close to the surface the ‘Southern red scare tradition’ remained." While the FBI "did hound the Klan and helped decimate its ranks," the FBI was also devoted to rooting out communists in the Civil Rights movement. He asserted that in the 1960’s, law enforcement in North Carolina shared an ideological culture with the Klan, which the majority of whites also shared. Woods said that the CWP was a small off-shoot of the Progressive Labor Society. "The term ‘communist’ became a term of convenience; civil rights groups were connected via ‘guilt by association.’"

- Joe Roy is Chief Investigator and former director of the Intelligence Project for the Southern Poverty Law Center, where he participates in litigation against white supremacist groups. Roy said that joining a white supremacist group differs from joining Elks or Moose: Why join? He said that supremacist groups usually don't fare as well in robust economies. People who join often feel a need to regain control of their lives. "They are looking for somebody to blame for their failures."

Just after the Civil War, people had lost homes, families, property and self-esteem. Klans became vigilante groups, developing a life of their own. By 1925 there were 5 million members, ranging from highly educated professionals to the most uneducated. There is a long history of violence. Whites are considered a superior race who will either segregate or have their own white homeland. Roy discussed the Klans’ use of religion – "their version of Christianity" – and showed video of Klan rallies singing "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Amazing Grace." He underscored white supremacist groups’ successful use of the Internet to recruit new members including young people. In 2004 there were 762 hate organizations in this country and 650 extremist web sites. There are 37 active hate organizations in North Carolina. "They recruit here; they come to events here."

Answering a Commissioner’s question, Roy said that in the past, police officers themselves were involved with the Klan. "Law enforcement criteria were not high." It was also possible that some judges belonged to these organizations. Today, however, many law officers have college degrees and there’s competition for the positions.

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