These are the words of 78-year-old Virgil Griffin, Imperial Wizard of the Cleveland Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), spoken in testimony before one of the most unusual - and controversial - hearings in U.S. history.
Griffin appeared before the first of three public hearings sponsored by the Greensboro (North Carolina) Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Commission was created in 2004, over strenuous objections from city officials and other powerful interests in this once prominent textile manufacturing community of more than 230,000.
Its mission is not to prosecute, but to help local residents to understand what happened on an autumn day in 1979, in the belief that there can be no "genuine healing for the city of Greensboro, unless the truth surrounding these events is honestly confronted, the suffering fully acknowledged, accountability established, and forgiveness and reconciliation facilitated."
Despite the fact that four TV crews captured the killings on film, the shooters were twice acquitted of any wrongdoing. In a third trial, a federal civil trial, Klansmen, Nazis and members of the Greensboro Police Department were found jointly liable for one of the deaths.
Although the City of Greensboro paid a $350,000 civil judgment on behalf of all three defendant groups, it has never apologized or publicly acknowledged any wrongdoing.
Greensboro, home of the giant Cone Mills, developed in the 1970s into a textile manufacturing center. Activists worked on behalf of black workers and others who they felt were not sharing equally in the city's growing prosperity.
As they win increasing victories, the KKK predictably began a resurgence, which the WVO fought in North Carolina through efforts culminating in the Nov. 3 "Death to the Klan" rally.
Believing that the city's wounds never healed after the 1979 massacre, in 1999, a grassroots movement known as the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project (GTCRP) began working to create a democratic process through which an impartial body could be created to examine the event.
Out of that project came the seven-member Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created through a public nomination and selection process. It now has a five-member staff, volunteers and collaborations with a wide range of community organizations.
In 2004 and 2005, the GTCRP collected more than 5,000 signatures on a petition asking the Greensboro City Council to endorse the process. The petition was designed to raise community awareness and support for a reexamination of the 1979 events, as well as to seek support for the Commission's work from the Council, which instead voted 6-3 to oppose the truth and reconciliation process
In his testimony, Klan member Griffin seemed unrepentant. Asked about the views the KKK shared with the American Nazi Party, he said, "They don't believe in race-mixing" They believe in - well, we're trying to get prayer and Bible back in schools. We're working on that. They are too. I believe in that. I think we should have prayer and Bible back in schools, and drugs and weapons out."
Joya Wesley, the Commission's communications director, says, "We are very pleased with the first hearing. Nearly 400 people attended and we've heard a lot of feedback indicating that the hearing did increase people's understanding of some of the issues surrounding Nov. 3 and of how this process works, which is what we hoped it would do."
The Commission's work is modeled on truth-seeking efforts in South Africa, Peru and elsewhere. The International Center for Transitional Justice, which organized similar efforts in other countries, has served as a consultant since the beginning of the Greensboro effort.
As in South Africa and elsewhere, public hearings, play a key role in international truth and reconciliation efforts. The Commission plans three public hearings, and will submit a final report early 2006. It will include specific recommendations for the Greensboro community and its institutions for concrete healing, reconciliation and restorative justice.
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