action to the trial
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media events that would draw
attention. But would they be
substance or image?
There must also be concrete
steps to change the economic
and social patterns that discri
minate unjustly - in housing and
employment - that make diffi
cult communication and provide
inadequate representation at
decision-making levels. What is
there that students can do -
particularly Guilford students?
I have been speculating
What if tuition and fees here are
increased by $10? That would
create a fund of SI4OOO to be
used by the students for buil
ding and strengthening human
understanding and helping
those, of whatever color or
persuasion, in need of support,
financial, emotional, spiritual. I
have in mind for instance those
on full scholarship who have
essentially no added funds for
books, travel, gifts, "pocket
money". I once, on behalf of a
Jan Earl
Many, many factors led to that
verdict ldo not feel the jury
could be expected to have
determined them guilty. The
CWP members involved re
fused to testify, and when they
attended the trial they created
distractions. More importantly,
the defense was allowed ap
proximately 100 peremptory
challenges in the process of
selecting a jury. They practi
cally had the option of picking
the perfect jury for their defen
dants.
Unfortunately, these reasons
do not ease my frustration with
the verdict. The defendants
were guilty of attending the
demonstration with the intent of
confronting the CWP and they
are guilty of bringing out their
guns when they could have
driven away. I do not condone
the actions of the CWP because
they seemed to desire a con
frontation, but the Klansmen
are by no means innocent men.
Cod help us if we accepted all
the Klan as innocent.
My anger at the trial and
verdict led me initially to ex
press protest against them. I
objected to Mayor Melvin's
statement that Greensboro citi
zens were calm. Many of us
were not calm we were
distressed and angered Fortu
nately, we were expressing that
anger in nonviolent ways, but
by no means were we calm.
Before long my concerns
focused on:
1) The importance of showing
the city, state, country, and
world - all those watching -
that we could not accept the
Klan as innocent and that we
could not remain calmly at
home while they were declared
such; and
2) the need to determine the
factors affecting the trial which
led to the not guilty verdict and
try to determine appropriate
ways of protecting ourselves
from them in all future trials,
particularly the trials of the
remaining 8 defendants and the
CWP members involved in the
Foundation, provided small ad
ditional support to two such
students, to whom it made a
considerable difference. If the
per student amount were sls,
the fund would stand at
$20,000 Guilford faculty might
each contribute the same
amount. Could students explore
this possibility with their pa
rents over Thanksgiving and
report on their return to the
student government? It might
be a step that other colleges and
universities might copy.
Those who are caught in the
economic crunch of our time are
losing faith, becoming cynical
and bitter. Factions then be
come polarized. That occurred
in Germany in the twenties, but
as chaos threatens, the popu
lace almost inevitably will
choose the forces promising law
and order, the tough men,
fascism of one kind or another.
Against that we must bend our
efforts, against the loss of faith,
providing a base for new hope.
Guilford students at vigil outside Federal Building last Wednesday
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November 3rd incident.
For these reasons I have not
been able to keep my mouth
shut. Neither have many, many
others We've stood quietly in
front of the Federal Courthouse,
and we've had numerous plan
ning sessions to determine ap
propriate strategies. Students
from Guilford and Bennett Col
leges joined the SCA of A & T
and others from the community
in silently marching' to protest
of the verdict and to appeal to
the community to nonviolently
combat the forces that produced
it. Here at Guilford we had a
meeting which successfully
provided many of us with
information and a variety of
opinions regarding the trial.
The trial itself was not a racial
issue, perhaps, but it has
produced an increased aware
ness of the racial issues still
existing This increased aware
ness has led many citizens to
organize, making this a prime
time to work toward social
change. We join forces as a
community to fight inequality.
We are not calm but neither
are we violent.
Carol Stoneburner
A number of persons
have asked me if I though
despair, fear and/or confusion
were real alternatives to cyni
cism. I suspect they are tempo
rary alternatives, but they are
just that, temporary. It takes
hard work and conscious effort
to move beyond hurt, fear,
confusion, disillusionment, and
even dispair, but if we do not
move beyond these, we shall
have chosen to believe the worst
of our fellow, human beings and
in the process will * begin to
believe that of ourselves.
We must face this whole set
of incidents as serious, compli
cated problems, and, as Richie
Zweignehaft and Jonathan Ma
lino said, ask fundamental
questions about the systemic
problems of racism and injus
tice which this trial represents.
Asking hard, tough, honest
questions is an alternative to
cynicism ~ if they are posed in
GUILFORLIAN, November 25, 1980 --
Barbara Phillips
News Editor
The liberal educated media
opinion about the Na?i/Klan
murder trial verdict seems to be
that we, as mere citizens, are
not in a position to second guess
the jury's decision. No one
outside those twelve white,
not-highly-educated, prodeath
penalty jurors knows what com
plicated and heart wrenching
process took place behind the
closed doors, and no one who
did not sit through every day of
the longest trial in the history of
the state is aware of how
intricate and confusing the tes
timony was. We must be careful
to maintain respect for the jury
system, we are told, and not
throw the baby out with the
bath water just because we
don't like the verdict.
Most of us only know what we
read in the papers and see on
the news. But forgive us for
reserving our right to express
"reasonable doubt" that justice
was achieved
And explain to us how the
such a way as to get at the truth.
Asking tough questions about
ourselves and our own fears,
confustions, and anger - as well
as our prejudices and our
enjoyment of systemic rewards,
also are necessary
Another possible alternative
to cynicism is building
networks and coalitions to ad
dress the issues of social injus
tice which made the initial
confrontation possible. Stu
dents as well as faculty and staff
have a stake in helping to make
Greensboro a better communi
ty.
As you return home for
Thanksgiving, please do not
succumb to answering ques
tions about this whole affair as a
simple blaming of one group.
Try to share more of the
complexities of the issues as
well as the complexities of your
own response. Try to affirm that
there are, in fact, alternatives to
despair, fear, confusion and
certainly to cynicism.
Page five
concept of "self defense" can
apply in a case where residents
of another town load automatic
weapons in the back of a van,
drive into the middle of an
already volatile situation, hand
out their weapons, and shoot
five people. I thought self
defense involved a bit more
innocence than was evident in
this case.
It is incumbent upon all of us,
despite the jury's decision to
evaluate what we know of the
facts (including the question
able process of jury selection)
and arrive at a sensible, rational
position.
That is only the first step I
suspect that most of us out here
on the western edge of town, in
our college community, with our
intellectual orientation, do con
sider it our moral responsibility
to evaluate what we believe.
But the connection between
inward conviction and outward
action concerns us far less
trequeritly I had a shocking
realization at the time of the
presidential election: I had fol
lowed the candidates, closely
examined their positions,
thought long and hard about
who I would support, and then
on November 3, I almost forgot
to vote. In fact, it seemed to be
a lot of trouble. It was as if I had
come to some kind of moral
closure because I had reached a
responsible decision -- which
does my candidate not one whit
of good.
I see that happening now
Most of us are now wrestling
with what we think about the
trial verdict. What we think,
however, is essentially irrele
vant if our responsible decisions
are not represented in some
responsible action. We must
address the societal causes of a
Klan/Nazi shooting (not to
mention the causes of the
existence of the three groups at
all), the less than adequate trial
by jury as it exists now, and how
best to show support to those
vicitimized - the families of the
victims, the black community,
the poor white community, and
Greensboro as a whole