The Greensboro City Council has offered an apology for the city's role in the deadly Klan-Nazi shootings that took place in the late 1970s. The unexpected council vote came on the heels of Saturday's violent confrontation in Charlottesville, VA, when a woman counter-protesting at a white supremacist rally was killed.
In 1979, five anti-Klan marchers were killed and 10 others wounded during a Klan/Nazi march in Greensboro. While all criminal defendants were acquitted in state and federal trials, a civil jury found the city and some Klansman liable for one of those deaths.
The News and Record of Greensboro reports Councilwoman Sharon Hightower introduced a measure this week apologizing for the city's role in the shootings. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission report released in 2006 found that local police and anti-Klan marchers bore some responsibility for the deaths.
The City Council has previously issued a statement of regret, but until this week has stopped short of apologizing.
The measure passed on a vote of 7-1, with council members saying they hope to issue a more formal apology in the future.