Fellowship of Reconciliation Director on Panel

First U.S. Truth Commission Commences Work

January 23, 2005

A seven-member Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which includes Pat Clark, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA, begins taking statements this week in Greensboro, N.C. to uncover the truth behind the “Greensboro Massacre” of Nov. 3, 1979.

The commission will investigate the 1979 shooting deaths of five people and the wounding of 10 at the start of a demonstration for racial, social and economic justice. In what became known as the “Greensboro Massacre,” the demonstrators were attacked by a convoy of Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis minutes before the march was scheduled to begin in the predominantly black neighborhood of Morningside Homes.

Police had issued a permit for the march and had knowledge of the impending attack from an informant, but failed to prevent it or intervene. Four TV stations filmed the attack and two criminal trials followed; however, no one was convicted. Finally, in 1985, survivors won a civil suit in which police, Klan members and neo-Nazis were found liable for the malicious acts. This was the first time in U.S. history that a court found police and Klansmen jointly liable for violence.

The TRC will initially hear testimony from people directly or indirectly involved, including those who participated in the march, the police, people involved in the shooting and residents of the community.

"This is a community that is still divided and still in pain," said Clark, who is the only commissioner from outside the Greensboro area. "Our hope is that the truth will be revealed, that the different players will acknowledge their roles, and that ultimately they will be able to reach across the divide and find ways to reconcile and heal."

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and who met the Greensboro organizers in 2003, had this warning: You are going to be a crippled community as long as you refuse to face up to your past."

According to the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Commission: “There comes a time in the life of every community when it must look humbly and seriously into its past in order to provide the best possible foundation for moving into a future based on healing and hope. Many residents of Greensboro believe that for this city, the time is now.”

Commission members received training from the International Center for Transitional Justice, which has been involved in similar endeavors in Ghana, Peru, Sierra Leone and Timor.

For more information:  www.gtcrp.org

Contact:

Jill Williams, Executive Director
Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Commission
(336) 275-6462  jill@greensborotrc.org

Jennifer Hyman, FOR Communications Coordinator
(845)358-4601 communications@forusa.org

©2004 Fellowship of Reconciliation