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30 years ago

Thirty years ago today some KKK and neo-Nazis killed marchers from the Communist Workers Party. We've written about the sad events of that tragic day many, many times. Some people think that we are keeping it alive, but that simply reflects a misunderstanding of what the news media does.

We had a story about the events commemorating the shootings in the paper this morning. Even though this was the 30th anniversary -- and newspapers love anniversary stories -- we aren't planning to cover it in any significant way. We don't see any news in it. Without news, there isn't much reason to relive it one more time.

That said there are a variety of events planned.

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Tags: News judgment

Posted by John Robinson on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 8:45 pm

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9mmjustice

November 3, 2009 - 11:06 pm EST

As a lifelong resident of Greensboro, I tend to examine such events not as isolated anomalies, but as points in the continuum of the history of America. To ignore the political/social/military environment of the years leading up to this regrettable but preventable incident is to look at it through the myopia of propaganda. Keep in mind that America was denied the opportunity to claim the moral victory in Southeast Asia which ultimately wound up ceding South Vietnam to the tender mercies of the bloodthirsty communists (and ultimately providing a backdrop for Pol Pot's slaughter of millions in Cambodia). 1974 was a year of a withering recession. And who can forget the macabre mass suicide at Jonestown Guyana, led by and insane cultist commune leader named Jim Jones?
Nothing excuses murder, but if you then look at the history of the CWP (or Worker's Viewpoint Organization) prior to their invitation to the Klan/Nazis, you will see that they established a pattern of armed confrontation and baiting long before they slithered into Greensboro and called out the demons to grant their wish for martyrdom.

dusenberry

November 4, 2009 - 8:34 am EST

I can't help but notice the CWP is rarely mentioned when this event shows it's head. It's the Klan Nazi shoot out.
Greensboro residents did not ask for this mess.

Beachwalk

November 5, 2009 - 1:02 pm EST

I can't help but notice the CWP is rarely mentioned

You sure got that right. Even the promotional information listed on the link that the editors log links you to, in the "variety of events planned", it calls this event the "30th Anniversary of the tragic killings of 5 Labor and Community Organizers". They will not call it what it really was: The 30th anniveresary of a bunch of uninvited communist inviting the Klan to a Fight, and the uninvited communist lost the fight.

roger01

November 5, 2009 - 3:55 am EST

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brian444

November 5, 2009 - 1:30 pm EST

And heh, congratulations on today's paper, full of interesting, useful information on voting patterns, schools, world news, and a nice investigative catch on Hagan's judge (not a huge deal, but the sort of thing one hopes the press is keeping an eye on). Instead of iteration 2,349 of "Local Group Remembers Victims of Klan Shooting."