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Clergy Request Apology From City For Its Role In Greensboro Massacre

Rev. Daran Mitchell, pastor at Trinity AME Zion Church in Greensboro, opens the meeting at which clergy called for an apology from the city. BETHANY CHAFIN/WFDD

A group of Greensboro clergy and civil rights leaders is asking for an apology from the city for its role in the 1979 Greensboro Massacre. The request comes ahead of the 40th anniversary of the event.

On November 3, 1979, five people were killed and others wounded when Ku Klux Klan members and American Nazis clashed with protestors from the Communist Workers' Party in Greensboro.

Now, pastors from Greensboro's Pulpit Forum have outlined seven issues for which they believe the city should apologize.00000197-bf1f-d6ca-a9f7-ff7f51330000

Reverend William F. Wright, Jr., the pastor at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, says the repercussions of that day linger, especially in the black community, "many of which still are feeling the troubling wounds and feel somewhat vulnerable, and in some sense haunted by the memories of that horrifying experience.” 

The City Council issued an apology in 2017, but the clergy members say it did not go far enough in addressing the complicity of the Greensboro police. 

Bethany is WFDD's editorial director. She joined the staff in the fall of 2012. She received her B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from Wake Forest University. Between undergraduate studies and graduate school, Bethany served as the intern to Talk of the Nation at NPR in D.C., participating in live NPR Election Night Coverage, Presidential debate broadcasts, regular Talk of the Nation shows, and helping to plan the inaugural broadcast of ‘Talk of the World.' She enjoys engaging with her interests in books, politics, and art in the interdisciplinary world of public radio. Before becoming editorial director, Bethany was assistant news Director, a reporter and associate producer for WFDD's Triad Arts and Triad Arts Weekend. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Bethany enjoys calling the Piedmont home.

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