news-record.com

Have we been discussing the events of Nov. 3, 1979, for forever?

No, it only seems that way. The incident was so ugly and traumatic that it still evokes strong emotions.

It evoked strong emotions Tuesday night when the City Council narrowly voted to say it “deeply regrets the events of November 3, 1979 that resulted in the loss of five lives and divided a community.”

The statement was modified to include a legal disclaimer as its preamble (“Without acknowledging any City employee or official liability ... , ”) scribbled in hand by City Attorney Terry Wood. But while it may have lacked eloquence, it didn’t lack significance.

Nearly 30 years ago on a Saturday morning, a caravan of Klansmen and Nazis and a group of communist protesters clashed in a poor black neighborhood.

Some people say it is well past time to move past the bloody Saturday that left five protesters dead and 10 more injured. Others say that time will come only after we’ve confronted the repressed memories of that day and what they truly meant.

Will there ever be total closure on Nov. 3?

Probably not. But we can learn from that ugly chapter and ensure that such an incident never happens here again.

The council’s vote Tuesday followed a typically rambling, at times confusing, discussion. But give this council credit for following through where another council didn’t three years ago. That’s when an independently appointed and funded Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued a 500-page report on the tragedy.

The report wasn’t perfect. But it was thoughtful and detailed and had followed months of exhaustive research, interviews and public hearings. In its conclusions, it found plenty of blame to go around: the protest organizers for being reckless and provocative and choosing to challenge the Klan in a neighborhood full of innocent families; the police, for showing up only after the carnage had been done; the Klansmen and Nazis, for killing five people, some of them shot at point-blank range on TV news footage, though no one was ever convicted in the shootings.

Even so, city leaders avoided any acknowledgment of the commission’s work: not a yea, not a nay, not one word. Until now.

To be sure, the current council’s 5-4 vote expressing its “regrets” was hardly a mandate. But it was a helpful step forward.

Now, maybe we can move closer to that elusive place where we can learn from the past without obsessing over it.

Yes, we do need to move ahead. There is a lot that needs doing here, and the city has only scratched the surface of its vast potential.

Understanding the past helps us better cope with future challenges. It should empower us and enlighten us.

But it doesn’t have to paralyze us.