News-Record.com

As many bloggers and Japanese film director Kurosawa in his film "Roshomon" have said; What is Truth? Ask five different people, you get five different versions of the truth. One could argue that history is nothing more than infinitely-repeated episodes of some people trying to force other people to accept their version of the truth, often times against the other people's will and the resulting struggles.

Reconciliation? Have the Clan and the Communists ever reconciled about anything?

One could argue that the TRC was a complete waste of time from these standpoints. Practically speaking, I think something like Nov'79 could not happen today, at least in the same way. (After what this country has been through since '79 I think if two relatively extreme rival ideological groups say they are going to battle it out on the streets of some unfortunately-selected-town that the local constabulary in that town may now tend to believe them.) I think back then it was like a version of a World Wresting Federation boast- a carnival attraction, like Mr. Davenport said; two neighborhood bullies squaring off in a schoolyard, too much testosterone working, and people gathering around curious to see if they are really going to do it. I think when it happened it was mass confusion and sort of like "goldarn, they actually did it". Who's to say? The police, being human, probably didn't want to stop the carnival anymore than anybody else wanted to, after all The Show Must Go On as they say. And in our culture, and maybe any culture, The Show Must Go On!

The only value to the TRC may be to help re-inforce that this can't and should never happen again.

Asking Greensboro to apologize would be like asking me to apologize if two guys, one chasing the other, bust my door down, run in my house and shoot each other. Do I have to go on TV the next day and say: "gee, I guess I could have got a thicker door and a better lock, so, I would like to offically announce now that I'm sorry. I actually did know these guys were crazy, but I never thought they would do this, I mean, they fought once in awhile, and there was a time when I saw baseball bats...and I did call the cops a few times before, but I never thought they would shoot each other". It's just silly asking the city of Greensboro to oficially apologize.

It's not really about reconciling the Klan and the CWP.

It's about reconciling Greensboro to it's past.

It's about reconciling the neighborhoods and people who were left feeling that the police and courts weren't there for them.

The TRC report cited the police as the main factor. I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how the recommendations submitted by the TRC would have helped in 1979, much less today. If the police were the main factor, shouldn't the solutions offered at least have some direct relationship to the police? How exactly does their left wing agenda address the lack of police protection 27 years ago as they claim? You can't have it both ways.

Well, right away, I could see two or three of them making a difference:
1. The Mayor's Mosaic Project is an excellent bridge-builder between races and across other differences.
2. Making sure juries are diverse could increase fairness in the courts.
3. John Robinson already has expressed interest in the community forum idea.

How would those three things now address the lack of police protection 27 years ago? If you get a flat tire, you fix the hole. You don't think singing "Give Peace a Chance" is really going to fix the tire, do you? Shouldn't the "solution" at least address the actual problem?

There wasn't enough police and the Klan hate people, so let's fix those problems with a bunch of unrelated social programs. Doesn't make sense.