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Greensboro Daily News, Sun., Nov. 11,1979 High noon shoot-out in Greensboro The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot The senseless and brutal killings of five demonstrators at an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, a city with a history of temperate race relations, is the worst act of racial violence in this region in a decade. The belated arrival of the Greensboro police offers a striking contrast to the tactics of the Virginia Beach and Norfolk police last month during a rally conducted by the Klan's Imperial Wizard Bill Wilkinson at the Beach. Tidewater's men in blue were much in evidence: The rally site was cordoned off, officers equipped with riot gear lined the sidewalks, the sale of alcoholic beverages was banned in the area, and no serious violence occurred. But the Greensboro police stayed in the background at the request of the planner of the anti-Klan rally, Nelson Johnson, a black activist since the Sixties. If his Workers Viewpoint Organization sought to provoke a confrontation to promote its lesser-known identity, it couldn't have chosen a more inflammatory guarantee of violence, daring the "cowards" to show. Appropriately, Mr. Johnson has been charged with inciting a riot. But no verbal taunt will ever justify the brutal nature of the Klan's response last Saturday. Klans and anti-Klansmen have equal rights to shout their slogans — but not to provoke carnage. The police, sensing the risk of violence, must be present to protect those with unpopular views and to prevent a breach of the peace. Greensboro's police who were conned into staying away, not without encouragement from WVO members who yelled "scum" when they came near, might have deterred Saturday's bloodletting by their presence. No, it is not America's destiny to become a police state. But so long as there are extremists resorting to violence for their own ends, the community must insist on appropriate police action. Allowing one group or another to stage a confrontation in this armed society invites mayhem, if not mob rule. The guiding principle must be to let them shout it out, not shoot it out. Folly of extremism The Raleigh News and Observer North Carolina cannot simply dismiss the violence between extremist groups in Greensboro as an aberration against which the state is helpless. The armed conflict involving persons who call themselves Ku Klux Klan, Nazi and communists serves as a bloody reminder of the poisons that cannot be disregarded in the American system. In a certain sense, of course, Greensboro and North Carolina are the unmerited victims of circumstances. To say, however, that it could have happened anywhere is also to say that it could happen again, anywhere. Accordingly, the question becomes: what should the state and its cities and towns do? First, a reassessment of law enforcement response clearly is in order. The choice is not between having police with weapons drawn every five feet and doing nothing at all. A police cruiser or two and some uniformed officers at a distance but within view could have caused potential troublemakers to think twice. Quick, clear communications within the police force and between the police force and demonstrators is essential. The bottom line is that police laxity can sometimes be as harmful as police repression. It is not good enough, then, to protest that North Carolina is innocent, that the participants in the Greensboro melee are not in the mainstream. North Carolina must make plain that its cities and their streets are not there for the taking by the violent- prone to play out their games of hatred and revenge. Skewed ideology The Richmond Times-Dispatch During the 1960s, before Congress scuttled its internal security panel, communist agitators, Ku Kluxers, neo-Nazis and other potentially violent political extremists regularly were the targets of investigations for "un-American activities." While many social conditions have changed in this country since those years, "un-American" remains a fitting description for political extremists of the sort who touched off a murderous riot Saturday in Greensboro, N. C. Both factions in the weekend gun battle represented fanatical, distorted views of humanity. Public support for both groups is negligible. Greensboro's police, attempting to keep a "low profile," were a couple of blocks away from the site of the shootings when the killings took place. Whether the Greensboro police should be faulted for lack of preparation for the violence may be determined by investigations to take place in North Carolina. Certainly, though, neither the Greensboro police nor that city's generally prosperous and harmonious social climate can be blamed for harboring the instigators of the violence. The leading communists and Klansmen had come from other parts of the state. The killings in Greensboro were the work of fanatics of the mold of Jim Jones, far abstracted from any human feeling. The skewed ideologies that both combatant groups represented should be rejected by any American who cherishes his fellow citizens' peace and liberty. ^^^^^^^—
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Full text | Greensboro Daily News, Sun., Nov. 11,1979 High noon shoot-out in Greensboro The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot The senseless and brutal killings of five demonstrators at an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, a city with a history of temperate race relations, is the worst act of racial violence in this region in a decade. The belated arrival of the Greensboro police offers a striking contrast to the tactics of the Virginia Beach and Norfolk police last month during a rally conducted by the Klan's Imperial Wizard Bill Wilkinson at the Beach. Tidewater's men in blue were much in evidence: The rally site was cordoned off, officers equipped with riot gear lined the sidewalks, the sale of alcoholic beverages was banned in the area, and no serious violence occurred. But the Greensboro police stayed in the background at the request of the planner of the anti-Klan rally, Nelson Johnson, a black activist since the Sixties. If his Workers Viewpoint Organization sought to provoke a confrontation to promote its lesser-known identity, it couldn't have chosen a more inflammatory guarantee of violence, daring the "cowards" to show. Appropriately, Mr. Johnson has been charged with inciting a riot. But no verbal taunt will ever justify the brutal nature of the Klan's response last Saturday. Klans and anti-Klansmen have equal rights to shout their slogans — but not to provoke carnage. The police, sensing the risk of violence, must be present to protect those with unpopular views and to prevent a breach of the peace. Greensboro's police who were conned into staying away, not without encouragement from WVO members who yelled "scum" when they came near, might have deterred Saturday's bloodletting by their presence. No, it is not America's destiny to become a police state. But so long as there are extremists resorting to violence for their own ends, the community must insist on appropriate police action. Allowing one group or another to stage a confrontation in this armed society invites mayhem, if not mob rule. The guiding principle must be to let them shout it out, not shoot it out. Folly of extremism The Raleigh News and Observer North Carolina cannot simply dismiss the violence between extremist groups in Greensboro as an aberration against which the state is helpless. The armed conflict involving persons who call themselves Ku Klux Klan, Nazi and communists serves as a bloody reminder of the poisons that cannot be disregarded in the American system. In a certain sense, of course, Greensboro and North Carolina are the unmerited victims of circumstances. To say, however, that it could have happened anywhere is also to say that it could happen again, anywhere. Accordingly, the question becomes: what should the state and its cities and towns do? First, a reassessment of law enforcement response clearly is in order. The choice is not between having police with weapons drawn every five feet and doing nothing at all. A police cruiser or two and some uniformed officers at a distance but within view could have caused potential troublemakers to think twice. Quick, clear communications within the police force and between the police force and demonstrators is essential. The bottom line is that police laxity can sometimes be as harmful as police repression. It is not good enough, then, to protest that North Carolina is innocent, that the participants in the Greensboro melee are not in the mainstream. North Carolina must make plain that its cities and their streets are not there for the taking by the violent- prone to play out their games of hatred and revenge. Skewed ideology The Richmond Times-Dispatch During the 1960s, before Congress scuttled its internal security panel, communist agitators, Ku Kluxers, neo-Nazis and other potentially violent political extremists regularly were the targets of investigations for "un-American activities." While many social conditions have changed in this country since those years, "un-American" remains a fitting description for political extremists of the sort who touched off a murderous riot Saturday in Greensboro, N. C. Both factions in the weekend gun battle represented fanatical, distorted views of humanity. Public support for both groups is negligible. Greensboro's police, attempting to keep a "low profile," were a couple of blocks away from the site of the shootings when the killings took place. Whether the Greensboro police should be faulted for lack of preparation for the violence may be determined by investigations to take place in North Carolina. Certainly, though, neither the Greensboro police nor that city's generally prosperous and harmonious social climate can be blamed for harboring the instigators of the violence. The leading communists and Klansmen had come from other parts of the state. The killings in Greensboro were the work of fanatics of the mold of Jim Jones, far abstracted from any human feeling. The skewed ideologies that both combatant groups represented should be rejected by any American who cherishes his fellow citizens' peace and liberty. ^^^^^^^— |