Posted on 07/15/2005 8:44:05 PM PDT by Libloather
N.C. Hearing Opens on 1979 Klan Killings
By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer
32 minutes ago
Signe Waller, right, is comforted by Cory Wechler, a friend, on stage as she reads her prepared statement, Friday, July 15, 2005, during the public hearing of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Greensboro, N.C. Waller was at the November 3, 1979 anti-Ku Klux Klan rally when a violent confrontation between Communist Workers Party members and the Ku Klux at Morningside Homes in Greensboro, left five CWP members dead, including her husband Dr. Jim Waller. (AP Photo/Lynn Hey)
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The widow of a communist labor organizer who died when Ku Klux Klan members opened fire at a workers' rally more than 25 years ago charged Friday that city and federal law enforcement knew the Klan planned violence but allowed the "government-sanctioned killings" to go forward.
Signe Waller spoke Friday at a public hearing held by the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an effort modeled on similar commissions in South Africa and Peru.
"It appears to me that a death squad of terrorists was normalized in this city long before Sept. 11, 2001," Waller told commissioners.
Commission organizers say their effort seeks to uncover the full story behind the shootings, which they believe has not been told, and to seek healing and "restorative justice."
But leaders of this central North Carolina city of 223,000 have refused to endorse the commission and its hearings, with many saying they fear the effort will stir up old animosities.
Five people were killed and another 10 injured when members of the Klan and the American Nazi Party opened fire on a "Death to the Klan" march through a Greensboro neighborhood on Nov. 3, 1979. The march was organized by the Communist Workers Party.
Several Klansmen were acquitted of murder charges at a state trial. Virgil Griffin, a Klan member from suburban Charlotte, was acquitted at a federal trial in 1984 after being charged with conspiracy to interfere with a federal investigation.
A civil trial found the Klan, the American Nazi Party and the Greensboro Police Department jointly liable for the wrongful deaths of the five people killed. The city paid $350,000.
Griffin and Gorrell Pierce, who at the time was Grand Dragon of the Federated Knights of the KKK, were among those slated to speak Saturday.
Along with her husband, Dr. Jim Waller, Signe Waller was a leader in efforts to unionize North Carolina textile workers. She said threatened government and corporate leaders used the KKK and its allies in the American Nazi Party as union-busters.
After the shootings, Waller said, government officials conspired to paint the incident as a "gang rumble" between extremists at opposite ends of the political spectrum.
She also alleged that Greensboro police and agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms knew from white supremacist informants that violence was planned for that day. She said Greensboro police gave a KKK informant a copy of the route for the march and a planned rally, then stayed away.
Waller's claims were echoed by Paul Bermanzohn, who was shot in the head and still walks with a severe limp. He urged commissioners to investigate governmental involvement in the shootings.
"It's not too much to think that those who would want revolutionaries out of the way would resort to violence," he said.
FaithAction will offer a beginner class starting on March 7th. The class will meet twice weekly from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays for eight weeks. Tuition will be $50 and we must have a minimum of 8 students to conduct the class.
The teacher will be Mr. Salah Mohamed Saad. A native of Sudan, Salah received his degree in Arabic studies from the University of Khartoum in 1982. For twenty years, he was a highly respected Arabic teacher in his native country. Today, Salah lives in Greensboro and works for Lutheran Family Services.
His Arabic classes at FaithAction’s International House have been very well received.
The beginner class will provide a foundation for further studies in Arabic. You will learn the Arabic alphabet and will develop a significant base vocabulary. You will also learn about the structure of the language. The classes will focus on your capacity to converse in Arabic.
Because so many email systems disallow attachments, the registration information we need may be found below. Please send this information along with your tuition check for $50 payable to FaithAction. If we do not have ...
The first public meeting the Truth and Reconcilation Comission held was at a local church. Only six people showed up to attend.
There was a story about it mentoining the poor attendence filed as a news brief at the News and Fishwrap's website.
I read the article and then went back to read it again and it was gone. The paper is in cahoots with the group for controversial news. News that paints this cause for the failure it is will not be reported.
I wonder if KKK Bobbie Byrd will be called as a character witness?
Klan, Commies, Klan, Commies? What to do, what to do? I think I'll just sit back and watch!
A good opportunity for me to go on record once again on what a phenominally stupid idea this is.
It =is= a creepy thing they are doing. Downright creepy. It's right down there with the 60s hippies surrounding the Pentagon in order to exorcise the devil. (Norman Mailer's "Armies of the Night").
"and the press would wonder when the quagmire of the Civil War was finally going to end."
So what's the North's exit strategy?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.