NAME OF MECHANISM

The Greensboro Truth Commission (Alternative Process)

http://www.greensborotrc.org/

YEARS OF OPERATION

Started on June 12, 2004 to hold public hearings for a period of 15 months. It completed its work in 2006.

MANDATE AND OPERATIONS

Mandate: Established as a civil society initiative to investigate the November 3, 1979 racial killings by the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party, in which 5 people were killed and 10 injured during a "Death to the Klan" protest march organised by the Communist Workers' Party (CWP).

Staff: 7 Commissioners, 3 staff members, several volunteers

Results: Undertook documentary research, statement- taking and community engagement activities, including 3 two-day public hearings in which 54 individuals gave testimony. It examined official records and documents and conducted over 200 interviews. It also looked at evidence amassed during the three trials held, prosecuting individuals for their roles in the events of 3 November, all of which resulted in acquittals by all-white juries.

REPORT

Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, presented to the community of Greensboro on 25 May 2006.

The report named those members of the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Party which it considered to bear the most responsibility; it stated that some of the responsibility must also lie with the Greensboro Police Department, who were absent from the anti-Klan parade despite the fact that violence between the protesters and members of the Ku Klux Klan was reasonably foreseeable given the history between the two groups and the information that they had concerning the parade events, including that the KKK had a copy of the parade route and permit and that members of the KKK and Nazi Party were intending to take weapons to the parade.

The report also analysed the effects of the events of 3 November on the community of Greensoro, including increased race and class tensions, fear of violence, the exclusion and victimisation of CWP members of the protest group, and the traumatisation suffered by the residents of Morningside, where the parade took place.

The report suggests broad recommendations on institutional reforms as well as specific recommendations to assist those most affected. These include formal apologies, from both perpetrators and the Greensboro Police Department; resitution payments into a public fund for the construction of a memorial to honour the dead and wounded; anti-racism training for city and county employees; a police review board; and a more representative method for selective jurors (previously selected from those registered for drivers licences and for voting.) 

LATEST UPDATE

January 2008: In March 2007, City Council members voted against a Resolution which proposed that the board should "seriously consider" the recommendations of the TRC.

Instead, responsibility for implementing and overseeing the recommendations was passed onto the "Report Receivers" - individuals belonging to more than 50 civic, religious, and other community groups who have agreed to formally review and work with the report. One of these groups is the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project (GTCRP), the project that initiated the Commission. The GTCRP has called for six to twelve months of discussions at the community level following the report's release. In July 2006, the GTCRP hosted an international conference with representatives who have been involved in truth- seeking initiatives all over the world.

A city ordinance now forbids the carrying off firearms within 500 feet of a public demonstration.