Page A12-The Chronicle, Thursday, February 23
Klan From Page A1
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Na/i from W inston-Salem, sat directl> in frcVnt of me.
Although 1 had seen pictures of the nine men on the
newscasts following the Nov. 3 incident, 1 almost wasn't
able to tell who was who.
All M the defendants were dressed in suits, sporting
slicked-back or freshly-cut hair styles and night-before
shined shoes. But you could tell they weren't comfortable.
One Klansman wore red-striped sweat socks with a
blue, three-piece suit.
Also at the front of the courtroom were nine attorne>s
ami four U.S. Marshall^, On the other side of the defendants
sat Daniel L. Belt It, chief prosecutor; two other attorneys,
a local FBI man and several more U.S. Marshall.
In the middle of the courtroom is a model of the
housing project in Greensboro where the shooting occurred
and wall maps of the area. All around the front portion
of the courtroom are video monitors.
For a person who is used to seeing one complainant
and one defendant, and a lawyer to each side, I found it
difficult to know who was who and who represented
whom. And the fact that no names were given didn't help
much. '1 wasn't alone in my confusion, though. The
jurors sat on the edge of their seats as if trying to sort out
who was who and what was going on.
The Secret Jury
As the day's proceedings began, the all-white six-man,
six-woman jury and four white alternate jurors filed into
the courtroom. Although the biographies of the jurors
are not yet public, on first looking at them my mind racecT
trying to decide if they looked like racists.
Only four of the people looked younger than 30, half
had gray hair and all looked very solemn and bothered -maybe
because the trial is expected to last three months.
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trial, which might be considered a plus for the prosecution.
The jury at the state trial in 1980 was again all-white
and the foreman was a Cuban refugee named Octavio
Manduley, who belonged to an organization characterized
in the media as "an anti-Castro organization." Manduley
admitted that he knew little about the Nazis or the
KKK, except that they were "patriotic" groups.
Also on the last jury was William Browning, who said
he felt sympathy for anyone sitting on the defense side of
the court, and three others who had known biases against
the CWP, but who favored either the Klan or Nazis.
The only information available on this jury is that one
juror admitted in the closed jury selections that her
grandfather was a Klansman, but she said she felt sure
she could listen to the trial and reach a fair decision.
I tried unsuccessfully^ decide which one she was. Was
she the older lady with the well-teased bouffant hairstyle
or the well-dressed lady with a striking new hair cut? I
couldn't be sure.
ed to take the trial lightly.
Wood had a legal pad that he drew red and green dots
on. And it was either Coleman Pridmore, exalted cyclops
(president) of the Invisible Emnire of the I inrnln fnnntv
Klan or Roy Toney who constantly played eye games with
the sparse audience of media people. One or the other
tried to gain eye contact and then stared intensely at his
subject.
Dawson smiled or winked at the audience whenever a
positive point in the trial was made. Griffin sat on the end
of the bench with the patience of a two-year-old at a Sunday
morning church service. And Jerry Paul Smith, colonel
of security of the North Carolina Invisible Empire of
the KKK and the one seen on the news videos of the
shootout with two guns in his hand firing at the
demonstrators, slept.
The others appeared restless and bothered, and they all
acted as if they had something better to do than sit in
* _ 11 -J-..
wuui i an uay.
Somebody Was Guilty
As the prosecution exhausted its list of the day's
witnesses, including one news photographer and three
cameramen who filmed the 88-second shootout between
the CWP and the Klan and Nazis, I, too, became a little
weary of the trial. ;
But not because I didn't understand the importance of
the proceedings or what impact the jury's verdict might
have on Klan activity in North Carolina; rather, I was
upset.
The attorneys Tor the state and the defense spent half
the day objeot*4??*44^'wtoii4'iiHw
presenting technical information that I'm sure the jurywas
puzzled about. But the state's attorneys, unlike those
in the first trial, did appear to have some human concern
for the five dead demonstrators. They referred to them as
people or demonstrators, and not as "communists."
1 also grew angry watching the video monitors and seeing
Smith firing at Cesar Cauce as he crawled on his
hands and knees to safety or David Matthews shooting
Dr. James Michael Waller in the back or Matthews
shooting at Sandra Neely Smith who had been hit in the
head with a wooden stick that had put a part in her skull
or Dr. Michael Nathan, who lay in the street with his
head surrounded in a pool of his own blood. I was appalled
that the earlier trial had produced not-guilty verdicts.
What would it take to prove that somebody was responsible
for the deaths of five people?
But I remembered that I could not react this way. I was
a reporter. I was supposed to be unbiased and fair and
listen to both sides and report accurately. I was not to
make a decision as to guilt or innocence.
Suddenly, 1 was shaken back into reality as the judge
pounded on his huge desk signifying the end of the day's
proceedings. Court would start again the next morning.
I got into the elevator with another reporter, the two of
us discussing the day's proceedings. Before the door closed,
several of the Klansmen on trial also got in. Again, I
felt that same fear that 1 had felt eaflier that morning.
But it was a short ride from the second to the first floor.
A lot less than 88 seconds.
, 1984
? v
Black districts pre
%
Though a number of "The Forsyth Counts
black elected officials have delegation will look at this
embraced it, his plan has a plan and the percentage of
long road to travel if it is to blacks in this communits
be adopted. Little says. and sa\ that vse otight to be
The plan has to receive a shining example of what's
public support and the sup- right and fair," Burke says,
port of the present five- Alderman Virginia
u ,. u i -1 VI. ti
uiciiiuci uuu>c ucicganun rsewjiii agrees,
of which Dr. C.B. Hauset "The courts have shown
and Annie Brown Kennedy that the county has not livare
black members. ? ed up to its commitment to
Alderman Larry Worn- black people and this proble,
who supports the Little posal gives them a chance to
plan, sa\s the delegation do that," she says. "It's a
should endorse it as well good one and we ought to
because it is the fair thing to sit down and look at it."
do. The plan obviously has
"1 think that they (pre- the blessings of Winstonsent
delegation) should go Salem's black aldermen and
with two single-member the Black Political
districts," Womble says. Awareness League
"A three-judge panel has unanimously voted to ensaid
we have to do it my dorse it. But whether the
March 16 and, if we don't, Forsyth County delegation
they will. We have been to the state House will supable
to do that and retain port it remains to be seen,
the two seats we (blacks) Kennedy say^she has not
have already and it seems had enough time to study
fair to me that the delega- the plan carefully to comfion
-should support the ment on whether the the
plan." delegation will support it.
Alderman Vivian Burke, Hauset also says he has
who also supports Little's not had an opportunity to
pTanTsays sne thinks it will look at the plan but hopes
be favored by the present the delegation will support
house delegation. the concept of two
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)posed From Page A1
predominantl\ black vinule- them "
member districts. If the black community
"1 hope that if we can get and the present delegation
two, we get two," Hauser cannot come to terms on a
says. a plan by March 16, or any
But Walter Marshall, ac- other deadline the courts
ting president of the
NAACP, says he doubtthe
delegation will endorse
Little's proposal. -/
_^"Most of the delegation ^A|V' M * , $3
has depended on the stable
black vote to get them into B cowmen
office," Marshall says. "If lcx*they
vote to remove us from JL
their voting rolls, they /%
would be voting themselves SB / %
out of office. The margin
between the Democrats and ^ T "T
Republicans has always ^ I I oo*??tuu?
been the black vote. H B J
without us, they lose." * 0 hSgjjSI j[
But Little says the black 0 J
community's history of ML"!support"
for white ^ aouawat
Democrats is precisely the
reason the delegation ^1 ^, ifo
should approve the plan. Li wrtjf
"For so long they have been 0^^ m J ^9*
riding us and riding us," he kuS^S?L
says. 44We have been their ********
margin of victory even IB L
when they turn on us. We
helped send R. J .
(Childress), (Tom) Womble
and (Margaret) Tennilleto
Raleigh. Now we need JrjKtrWmmmMKMu
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iston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point, F
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nm,?????? & VOTE - YOUR
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ma} uiipusc, nu jjiimiiiics DEPENDS ON IT
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