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Conyers says Congress may join
in probe of Greensboro slayings
GREENSBORO (AP)— sary. , , that racial violence has oc- called for a congressional professor's detailed pre-
Congress may become in- Conyers said he is not curred „, It seems to me Inquiry^ Jbut Thrzrsday's sentation on federal civil
—-3 volved in the investigation sure what he will do if the that some laws very likely session was the first time a rights statutes and Justice
£__! of the Nov. 3, 1979 shoot- Justice Department con- were broken somewhere. I formai congressional body Department and Treasury
: ings of five Communist eludes there is no basis to don't know bow five peo- has discussed the Greens- Department responses to a
^^ Workers Party members bring criminal civil rights pie can be killed and ev- boro siayings since the Conyers' questions about
__L_ in Greensboro, a House Ju- charges against those re- erybody can say things confrontation between the the slowly moving federal
}—J diciary Committee mem- sponsible for the Greens- are OK.* That's a stagger- Communists, Klansmen probe* and the role of a fed-
ber said. boro violence. ing conclusion to come to." and Nazis more than two eral undercover agent.
John Conyers Jr., "We might want to hold His comments followed years ago.
D-Mich., chairman of the /a hearing to see what took a congressional hearing The subcommittee is William Van Alstyne, a
House Judiciary Sub- them so long (to decide Thursday into an increase considering possible constutitional law scholar
committee on Criminal against prosecuting) and in racially motivated vi- amendments to the federal with Duke University Law
Justice, said the sub- see if there are other cases olence throughout the civil rights statutes as part School, used the Greens-
committee will wait for the where the foot-dragging country, which raised of the Judiciary Com- boro incident as a case
outcome of a federal Jus- has gone on," Conyers questions about the mittees's overhauling of study to show that existing
tice Department investiga- said. Greensboro shootings. the federal criminal code, criminal civil rights stat-
tion into the incident be- "I view this as a matter Several political organi- The Greensboro tes- utes are adequate to bring
fore deciding whether ad- in which we have an in- zations and civil rights timony consisted primarily criminal civil rights
ditional action is neces- terest in terms of the fact groups have reneatedly of a Duke University law charges