Greensboro Justice Fund Newsletter [June, 1982]

              Greensboro Justice Fund
Volume 3, Number 3
June/July 1982
newsletter
Letter from the Executive Director
In the last month a terrible racist murder occurred in my
hometown, Durham, N.C. Chester Reams, a Black man, was
run over and killed by a white who didn't like Chester walking with a white woman. Across the state in Morganton, a
Klansman killed an elderly Black man for "driving too
slow." As many of us predicted, the acquittal of the six
Klansmen and Nazis in the 1979 murders of Jim Waller,
Sandi Smith, Bill Sampson, Cesar Cauce and my hus-     .  '
band Michael Nathan was a "green light" to racist
violence.
On March 22,1982 a federal grand jury was
convened in Winston Salem, N.C. to consider
indictments in the 1979 killings. Considerable
evidence in the case points to government in
volvement in the shootings and cover-up that
followed. Despite public outrage, the
government's role has yet to come to full light.
The policy that allowed Klan and Nazis to kill,
terrorize a community and escape — all with police protection — and then be acquitted is the same policy that opposes extension of the Voting Rights Act, grants racist
schools tax exemption, cuts the budget for vital programs,
supports South African apartheid, imprisons Haitian
refugees and talks "tactical use of nuclear weapons" while
hiking the military budget. The issue in Greensboro is the
issue of racism and genocide, as in the other policies, and the
struggle for justice in Greensboro must be an active part of
the opposition to these policies.
As this issue goes to print, the Grand Jury has heard
testimony from three TV cameramen and 24 demonstrators.
One cameraman was injured by Klan/Nazi shotgun fire on
November 3rd. The other two testified that the attack was a
military maneuver by the Klan and Nazis (not a "shootout"
as some media portrayed it), that the Klan and Nazis attacked fleeing demonstrators and that they appeared to be aiming
at particular people.
After the demonstrators finished testifying on May 6th,
the Grand Jury took a three-week recess until June 2nd. According to the Greensboro papers, the Justice Department
will meanwhile interview the Greensboro police, Klan and
Nazis, who will testify when the Grand Jury resumes. Justice
Department reportedly will hear about 75 more witnesses.
The Justice Department which has convened the Grand
Jury has a direct conflict of interest in this case. On the one
hand, they are the lawyers for the government defendants in
the Greensboro Civil Rights Suit (Bernard Butkovich, Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent, infiltrated the
Nazis, attended planning meetings; the FBI, etc.) As such, it
is not in their clients' interests to have evidence concerning
government collusion with the Klan and Nazis come before
this Grand Jury. At the same time, the Justice Department is
running the Grand Jury and is responsible for investigating
and prosecuting everyone responsible for the November 3rd
murders, including the government agents.
On the Grand Jury's opening day, attorneys for the
Greensboro Justice Fund made a motion for the appointment
of a special prosecutor. This is possible under the Ethics in Government Act, passed after
Watergate. The judge said
he had no authority to act
on the motion, that the
Attorney General (head
of the Justice Department!) would have
to decide an independent outside investigator was needed. Attorneys have written to the
Attorney General William
French Smith but received no
reply.
The Justice Department officially stated in a letter to
Greensboro City Manager Tom
Osborne in April 1980 that the Greensboro police were not
guilty of any wrongdoing. Will the Justice Department now
present evidence of police wrongdoing to the Grand Jury?
The Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the
Greensboro Civil Rights Suit and has joined the City of
Greensboro in blocking the depositions of Ed Dawson, Klan
member and Greensboro police informer who led the
Klan/Nazi murder caravan on November 3rd and Nazi
Raeford Caudle. Will the same Justice Department call Ed
Dawson and Raeford Caudle to the witness stand and investigate thoroughly?
As the Klan and Nazis start testifying, the old "shootout
between two extremist groups" distortion may be resurrected
to blur the issue of justice and exonerate the Klan, Nazis, and
government of their roles in murdering five people. Three
delegations of fact-finders, representatives of national
religious, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, have
visited Greensboro to watchdog for justice since the Grand
Jury convened. A delegation from Greensboro will soon go
to Washington, D.C. to present petitions to the Justice
Department directly. The Call for Justice, a statement concerning the Grand Jury, is being circulated for signatures and
will be printed in the Greensboro papers. This public outcry
for justice must continue and grow! We welcome all contributions and help, and appreciate your continuing support.
For more information, contact the Greensboro Justice Fund,
853 Broadway, Suite 1912, New York, N.Y. (212) 254-4695.