The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Material from the Greensboro Truth & Community Reconciliation Project, www.gtcrp.org & the Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Press Release of 19 April 2005, www.greensborotrc.org

BACKGROUND
In Greensboro, North Carolina, on November 3, 1979, members of the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi party killed five people and wounded 10 others as activists gathered for a statewide “Death to the Klan” rally and conference for racial, social, and economic justice. The planned event, organized by members of the Communist Workers Party, was to start in Greensboro’s Morningside Homes, a now – demolished African-American public housing community.  The organizers had obtained a parade permit from the city and had been assigned police escorts, but all the police were called to an early lunch just before the Klan and Nazis arrived in a caravan and opened fire.

Four TV crews captured the killings on film, but the perpetrators were twice acquitted of any wrongdoing. Eventually, in a federal civil suit, Klan members, Nazis and Greensboro police were found jointly liable for one of the deaths. Although the city paid a $385,000 settlement, it has never apologized or acknowledged any wrongdoing.

The entire city has suffered from the impact of this tragedy and its aftermath. Because there is no common understanding about this painful episode in Greensboro’s history, it continues to serve as a basis for fear, division and distrust. For this reason, a broad coalition of concerned community leaders has formed to call the people, institutions and government of Greensboro to engage in the Greensboro Truth & Community Reconciliation Project to confront this troubled history honestly so it can move forward in the unity and strength that can come from forgiveness and reconciliation.

CURRENT WORK
With a five-member staff, volunteers and collaborations with a wide range of community organizations, the Commission hopes to become a model that other American communities can use to address incidents of unresolved injustice in their own histories. Created through a public nomination and selection process, the independent Commission is mandated to objectively examine “the context, causes, sequence and consequence” of Nov. 3, 1979. Given the confusion caused by the two acquittals and the subsequent civil lawsuit, as well as the volume of rumors and misinformation that surrounded these events and their aftermath, the Greensboro community has been deeply divided in its collective understanding of what actually happened and why.

FINAL REPORT
The Commission issued its final report on May 25, 2006. In the report’s executive summary, the Commission concludes: “We believe the truth and reconciliation process in Greensboro opened up the debate around Nov. 3, 1979, in a positive way and has successfully engaged a broad spectrum of the community in an effort that offers hope for reconciliation. As a Commission that looks a bit like Greensboro in microcosm, we found that this process — and our own struggle to hear and understand each other — had a profound impact on our perceptions of the issues we explored. Our individual and collective commitment to the truth helped us persevere. And the human stories and emotions we encountered along the way moved us to do our best to leave behind a legacy we hope will serve Greensboro for years to come. We cannot say what the future will hold for this community or what the long-term impact of this process will look like, but we hope that this process also serves as a learning tool for others in this country who, like Greensboro, are burdened by a legacy of hurt and inspire d by the possibility of honestly coming to terms with their own history.”