To: CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND UNITY
From: GREENSBORO CIVIL RIGHTS FUND
Date: September 25, 1984
Re: Knowledge and Actions of Greensboro Police and City Officials Prior
To and During November 3, 1979 Anti-Klan March
In order to begin to comprehend and give just consideration to the
events surrounding the November 3, 1979 Greensboro massacre, which have
come to be known and distortions of those facts, which have been perpetrated
by a less than responsible news media, it is at once instructive and imperative to have at least a superficial understanding of the political
climate of the time period, specifically with respect to related events
in the South and in North Carolina. In this context, the serious nature of
the pre-November 3rd involvement and knowledge of members of the Greensboro
Police Department (GPD) and that agency's subsequent failure to prevent
this tragedy can be viewed in its proper light.
There was a real and obvious upsurge in the activity of the Ku
Klux Klan in early 1979. This was reflected in heightened media attention,
which focused on Klan violence and recruiting efforts. The Klan was increasingly active in the Winston-Salem area during this period, with recruiting efforts in the schools, a library display (met with protest) and a
showing of "Birth of a Nation."
In May 1979, the Klan attacked marchers in Decatur, Alabama, who had
united in support of Tommy Lee Hines, a retarded black youth accused of
raping a white woman. The attack attracted national news media attention.
In North Carolina, a pattern of Klan activity was beginning to emerge,
especially in the western part of the state, where labor organizing across
racial lines was gaining momentum. In July 1979, there was a Klan recruiting drive in China Grove, N.C, a small town in the center of the textile area.
To: CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND UNITY
From: GREENSBORO CIVIL RIGHTS FUND
Date: September 25, 1984
Re: Knowledge and Actions of Greensboro Police and City Officials Prior
To and During November 3, 1979 Anti-Klan March
In order to begin to comprehend and give just consideration to the
events surrounding the November 3, 1979 Greensboro massacre, which have
come to be known and distortions of those facts, which have been perpetrated
by a less than responsible news media, it is at once instructive and imperative to have at least a superficial understanding of the political
climate of the time period, specifically with respect to related events
in the South and in North Carolina. In this context, the serious nature of
the pre-November 3rd involvement and knowledge of members of the Greensboro
Police Department (GPD) and that agency's subsequent failure to prevent
this tragedy can be viewed in its proper light.
There was a real and obvious upsurge in the activity of the Ku
Klux Klan in early 1979. This was reflected in heightened media attention,
which focused on Klan violence and recruiting efforts. The Klan was increasingly active in the Winston-Salem area during this period, with recruiting efforts in the schools, a library display (met with protest) and a
showing of "Birth of a Nation."
In May 1979, the Klan attacked marchers in Decatur, Alabama, who had
united in support of Tommy Lee Hines, a retarded black youth accused of
raping a white woman. The attack attracted national news media attention.
In North Carolina, a pattern of Klan activity was beginning to emerge,
especially in the western part of the state, where labor organizing across
racial lines was gaining momentum. In July 1979, there was a Klan recruiting drive in China Grove, N.C, a small town in the center of the textile area.
