Miller: Probe
Besets White
N.C. Patriots
GREENSBORO DAILY NEWS
June 10, 1982 B2
WINSTON-SALEM — A federal grand jury-
Wednesday heard its first testimony from members of the Klan-Nazi caravan that participated in
a bloody clash with anti-Klan demonstrators Nov.
3, 1979, in Greensboro.
James Jerry Hatcher of Raleigh and Glenn
Miller of Angier — both Nazis at the time of the
violence — were the caravan participants called
before the grand jury. They were among four
witnesses heard Wednesday by the 21-member
panel.
Hatcher drove the second vehicle in the nine-
vehicle Klan-Nazi caravan that arrived at the
"Death to the Klan" rally in southeast Greensboro. Miller was a passenger Hatcher's station
wagon.
Neither participated in the shooting that left
five Communist Workers Party members dead.
The grand jury is investigating whether civil
rights violations occurred Nov. 3. Through
Wednesday, it had heard 49 witnesses in the 20
days it has met since being impaneled March 22.
At least that many more witnesses are ex- ;
pected to appear before the grand jury finishes ■'*
its work. l<
Two of Wednesday's witnesses — Hatcher- •
and Klansman Joe Grady — agreed to talk with ,\
reporters after their testimony. Their statements ;-,
are based on their accounts of what they told the *
grand jury. ■;
Hatcher said he first heard of the CWP's '
Nov. 3 rally a week earlier from then-Nazi leader •.
Harold Covington. He said Covington told him ;
that "everyone should go to the demonstration to Z
show they were against Communism." ;'"
Covington discouraged the Nazis from tak- !
ing weapons to Greensboro, Hatcher said, assuring them police would protect them. 'H
Hatcher arrived in Greensboro just minutes *'
before the caravan left for the anti-Klan rally. At
the pre-caravan meeting site — a Klansman's >
home on Randleman Road — Hatcher said for- '.
mer Klansman Edward Dawson also assured the ;
group that the day would be peaceful and police ;
would be plentiful. •';
Dawson, who led the caravan in a pickup
truck, was working as a Greensboro Police De- I
partment informant at the time. Police didn't ar- ;
rive at the Nov. 3 rally site until after the •
shootings. Dawsbn is scheduled to testify later :
this month.
"As far as I knew, we were just going to ride
through and let 'em know we were there," Hatch- ;
er said.
At that point, Hatcher said, Dawson's truck
stopped in front of hirn, blocking the procession. -
WTien the vehicles stopped, Klartsmen and Nazis
poured into the street, some of them running to
the rear of the procession, where some Klansmen
and Nazis were fighting with demonstrators.
Hatcher, who was standing by his car. said
he then heard shots fired. He said the Klansmen
and Nazis immediately got back into their vehi- •'.
cles and left. .'-.
Hatcher said he didn't realize either group . |
had guns until he heard the shots. He saw none of ./; ■
the shots fired, nor anyone holding a weapon, -"
according to his version of his testimony.
Miller, who left the Nazis in 1980 to found .'.;'
the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was ' *
one of three men riding with Hatcher. He declined to give details of his testimony, saying he
didn't want to affect the grand jury's work. j .
Nonetheless, he blasted the U.S. Justice " 7
. Department for calling the grand jury, saying it's
"designed to further persecute white, patriotic •
North Carolinians." Miller, who is running for i. .
the state Senate, said the government "is only "■
trying to appease the blacks" with this investigation.
Miller was alluding to the November 1980 acquittals of four Klansmen and two Nazis on mur- "
der and rioting charges stemming from the
shootings. " ;
The other two witnesses called Wednesday '■[".
were Winston-Salem Klansman Joe Grady and a •
man who refused to identify himself to reporters.
A friend identified him as a former Klansman .
who wasn't present Nov. 3, and didn't want his . ;
name published.
Grady, imperial wizard of a Klan group •
called the White Knights of Liberty, was not in- '.-
volved in the Nov. 3 caravan. He said much of his ; -
testimony focused on a July 1979 confrontation *
between the Klan and CWP"members.
That clash occurred at the Rowan County
town of China Grove, where the Klan was sponsoring a showing of the 1915 film, "Birth of a
Nation."
CWP members and other anti-Klan demonstrators disrupted the showing. The demonstrators beat on pillars of the center, burned two
Confederate flags and shouted slogans at the -
Klansmen.
After standing for a short time with guns in
hand on the porch of the city's community center,
the Klansmen went inside and the demonstrators
left. Police kept the groups separated.
The grand jury "asked me if I knew who
some of these (demonstrators) were," Grady said.
"Hell no, I didn't know who they were."
After China Grove, the CWP issued a state- • •
ment challenging Grady's organization to appear * -
at the Nov. 3 rally. Grady said he told his follow- -
ersnot to go and warned "an FBI agent that there v
might be trouble in Greensboro.
