GPD press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2008

CONTACT: Chief T. R. Bellamy
Chief of Police

RESPONSE TO ALLEGATIONS

Today, public allegations were made that during the administration of Former Chief of Police David Wray, a member of the Greensboro Police Department ordered the destruction of police records related to the November 3, 1979 Nazi-Klan murders. The police department has reviewed the anonymous allegations and is discussing them with the Guilford County District Attorney to determine if the nature of the allegations would constitute a criminal violation if substantiated.

In September of 2007, allegations were brought to the attention of Chief of Police Tim Bellamy regarding the possible destruction of documents related to the 1979 incident. Chief Bellamy met with Rev. Nelson Johnson and requested more information or evidence that this had occurred, but no evidence was produced or persons identified that were willing to talk to Chief Bellamy or investigators.

Between August 2005 and February 2006 the Greensboro Police Department provided numerous documents related to the November 3, 1979 incident to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as requested.They were contained in 49 bound volumes.

Comments

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

So here we are back at square one, 1979 all over again: Everybody involved is pointing the finger at someone else but none of the people who CLAIM to know the truth are willing to testify.

Isn't this exactly the same tactic Nelson Johnson and company used in the original trial? Everyone involved was dirty so they were all afraid to talk.

Isn't this the very same way the City responded in 1979?

Personally I would love to know the truth but sadly it appears the loudest voices for Truth and Reconciliation are the only voices that can speak the truth and they aren't talking.

Yes, I believe there were crooked cops and crooked city officials involved just as I know CWP members and the KKK/Nazis committed crimes that day but as long as no one is brave enough to speak out nothing is going to change.

Here's the truth as I see it:
Nelson Johnson and the CWP were a criminals in 1979.
The Klan/Nazis were criminals in 1979.
Some GPD officers were criminals in 1979.
Some "City Leaders" were criminals in 1979.

And despite the fact that the T&R process would have allowed all of them to speak out without fear of prosecution ALL INVOLVED remain criminals and cowards and will remain so until someone speaks the truth.

All this and we know nothing more than we knew in 1979.

Nelson Johnson: The truth shall set you free.
Jim Melvin: The truth shall set you free.
All the guilty parties, and there are many: The truth shall set you free.

In the meantime all the guilty parties have my permission to wallow in your own personal hells but quit destroying my home and dividing my neighbors as part of your sorted games and imagined "realities."

To Nelson Johnson: This isn't about truth this is about your seeking revenge for a battle you started, waged and lost in 1979. The blood of the fallen CWP members stains your hands just as it stains the hands of those who pulled the triggers, just as it stains the hands of corrupt police and corrupt City leaders. If you really care about Greensboro you'll quit spending your time (and ours) trying to clear your name and start figuring out how to put more honest cops on the street and how to keep kids from becoming involved in gangs.

To Greensboro: No one involved in the events of 1979, not the CWP, not the Klan, Nazis, cops or city leaders is worth what we are allowing the guilty parties to put our entire city through. None of them, not Johnson, Melvin or any of them are worth what they're putting us through.

Yeah, I know I said I wasn't going to write about this... I'm sorry, I lied, but no one died.

[Bubba]

And then there's this:

"Hope, because we remain hopeful that our white brothers and sisters, in particular, will step forward to help our city work through the current crisis without another wrenching experience of confusion, disguised racism and denied racial division and hatred."

Yeah, right.

[John]

Enough already. The T&R Commission was a sham created by one of the biggest race hucksters ever. The Truth and Reconcilliation group sought neither. Their sole purpose was to re-write history and blame the city for their criminal and wanton disregard for the poor people in Morningside Homes. One week after confronting the Klan in China Grove, NC, the CWP decided to stage a (ahem) "Death To The Klan" march. At the last minute they changed the venue of the march to Morningside Homes, thereby inviting the Klan and Nazis (assholes one and all) to a violent confrontation in the streets of a housing project.

The T&R has tried to recast this tragic event as a racial issue. It was anything but. The T&R has tried to reposition the CWP as a group of people concerned about the poor among us. A blatant lie. The CWP had one goal, and that the infiltration of Cone Mills at the Revolution (yes really) mill in Greensboro, to galvanize the proletariate against the ruling class, resulting in the overthrow of the government. Read Elizabeth Wheaton's book "Code Name Greenkil."

It was horrible that five people were murdered. It was a travesty that the killers escaped justice. In short, it was a real bad day in Greensboro. But the rehashing of events, and now this new commotion about files being allegedly destroyed, is all sound and fury signifying nothing. The victims are still dead. The guilty remain unpunished. And the person responsible for it all is the one still, incredibly, making the most noise. I implore Rev. Johnson to go back to his ministry and, if nothing else, pray for his own reconciliation and ask God to forgive him for causing the death of five people and putting an entire community in a violent confrontation.

[man in the street]

wow bubba... it is 4:45 am i am just preparing for work and i feel like it is going to be a good day after reading your post. i feel vindicated, energized and satisfied that you have nailed this crap. i feel nothing but contempt for n. johnson & company and the trc. i will avoid reading the news-record this morning as i don't want it to bring me down from this buzz. gotta go now .. unlike johson & company .. i must earn an honest living.

[man in the street]

my apology.. my previous post should have been addressed to john rather than bubba. sorry john!!

[Ed Cone]

So if the GPD destroyed files in anything approaching the manner alleged, it doesn't matter and we should just ignore it?

[Sick 'n tired]

If N. Johnson and his buddies are that concerned about uncovering the truth about these files, they should be cooperating fully with the city and police investigators -- not playing games and citing an unnamed source. Where is the rest of the evidence that any wrongdoing took place? Anything at all? While I agree that the city folks should have at the very least talked to McMinn when these allegations were first made, the ministers need to be held accountable in this as well.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

Ed said, "So if the GPD destroyed files in anything approaching the manner alleged, it doesn't matter and we should just ignore it?"

No, this issue should not be ignored, it should be proven true or false. If true the guilty parties should go before a judge.

If proven false Nelson Johnson and company should be sued until neither they nor their supporting and enabling congregations can afford to pay any more.

If proven false I hope the accused will initiate those lawsuits as it's high time ministers learned they are also not above the law. I'm no lawyer but I see what looks to be at the very least a slander suit abrewing.

[John]

Ed, I'm sure you read the entire press release. Nelson Johnson, Cardes Brown and the other minister are less concerned with the documents than rehashing warmed-over topics such as Florence Gatten calling for Diane Bellemy Small's ouster. They have also managed to drag Mary Rakestraw into this mess, even though she has been on the City Council less than 3 months and could not have had anything to do with the "missing" files. As a matter of course, the Three Amigos essentially stated that "the average white person" who dares to criticize Bellamy-Small or any other black leader in Greensboro is a racist. If these three guys were honestly concerned about the allegedly destroyed files they would work with Tim Bellamy, tell him exactly what they know and verify their source. Instead the call a press conference, release a press statement that is nothing more than their latest rant and generally produce more heat than light. They even managed to include that oldie but goodie "institutional racism," a completely meaningless term that's only used when there are no more white people to blame. It's a very tired game Nelson Johnson is playing but we all have to sit at attention and listen lest we be called racists, too.

No,Ed, the "missing files" are nothing more than N. Johnson's latest Mcguffin.

[Ed Cone]

As discussed in other threads, the material beyond the allegations of destroyed files was not helpful or relevant.

However, that does not mean the allegations should not be checked out.