RESOLUTION ON GREENSBORO
Adopted by the 193rd General Assembly (1981)
of
The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
Houston, Texas, May 20-28, 1981
Whereas the Bill of Rights of the Constitution establishes the right of all
citizens to peacefully assemble and demonstrate; and
Whereas this right has been supported by the 172nd General Assembly (1960); and
Whereas a number of persons in Greensboro, North Carolina, on November 3, 1979,
including organizers from the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, were
assaulted by alleged Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi members during which five perso
were killed and nine wounded; and
Whereas the New York Times (July 15, 1980) and other newspapers reported that a
federal agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms infiltrated the Nazi
group immediately before the alleged murders and allegedly encouraged the Nazis to
arm themselves with automatic weapons and explosives; and
Whereas the federal agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms who
had knowledge of the alleged Klan and Nazi group were never brought to testify at
the trial of the alleged murderers, nor were their activities made known; and
Whereas an all-white jury freed the alleged Klan and Nazi members from all criminal
charges lodged against them;
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the 193rd General Assembly (1981), upon the
joint recommendation of the Council on Church and Race and the Synod of Southern
California and Hawaii's Commission of Social and Ecumenical Concern, abhors the
violence perpetrated against those peacefully demonstrating on November 3, 1979,
and call on the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly to:
1. Request the Secretary of the Treasury, Donald Regan, and the Treasury
Department to make a full disclosure of the results of its investigation, if any,
into the alleged involvement of its agent in the Greensboro incident.
2. Request the Civil Rights Division of the Office of the Attorney General
and the Attorney General of the United States to determine why the alleged involvement of agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was not disclosed, in
light of the fact that failure to disclose information could have adversely affected
or prejudiced the rights of the state of North Carolina and the complaining witnesse
Further, that the 193rd General Assembly (1981) reiterates the position of the
172nd General Assembly (1960) in support of the right to demonstrate peacefully
and supports the lawsuit instituted in federal courts, brought by victims of the
violence in Greensboro and their families, in order that the case may be fully
aired in the appropriate court of law so that truth may be established, public
policy thereby informed, and public consciousness raised to the maximum concerning
the critical nature of all issues involved.
