GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro Massacre survivors and victims' family members are responding to an apology from the city.
On Wednesday, the city of Greensboro apologized for the shooting deaths of five demonstrators at a Nov. 3, 1979 rally against the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party. The Greensboro City Council voted 7-2 on Tuesday night to approve a resolution with the apology.
The resolution states, in part, the city admits the police department neglected to act on information the Nazis and Klan were planning violence against anti-klan marchers with the Communist Workers Party.
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Juries acquitted several people of killing five protesters and wounding at least 10 others. A subsequent civil case found six members of the Klan and Nazi party and two Greensboro police officers liable for wrongful death in what's now known as the Greensboro Massacre. The incident is noted as one of the deadliest events in the history of the city of Greensboro.
"Today the City Council wins. Today we the widowed, the wounded, the survivors, we win. Greensboro wins," said Signe Waller Foxworh, widow of one of the victims, Dr. James Waller.
Waller Foxworh was among some of the widows who reacted to the apology at an event Wednesday at the Beloved Center at Shiloh Baptist Church.
"Last night's city council apology for the 1979 Greensboro Massacre may be of far greater importance than you or I can imagine. It happened, it happened. Now new steps lie ahead for the possibilities to move forward together, for life, for truth, justice, peace, and freedom for all. Greensboro, keep rising like Sandy, Cesar, Bill, Mike, and Jim. Dare to strive, dare to win," Waller Foxworh said in her speech.
"The apology is so long overdue. I was very pleased about the fact that the city council acknowledged the role of the Greensboro Police and city's leadership," said Rev. Nelson Johnson, co-executive director of the Beloved Community Center. Rev. Johnson was one of the organizers of the march. He and his wife, Joyce Johnson who was also at the march, are among a number of survivors who had been demanding an apology from the city.
"It is a source of healing. Nobody can bring back the lives of our precious friends and spouses of our friends," Joyce Johnson said.
The resolution also came with an annual scholarship program of $1,979 to five Dudley High graduates in memory of the five victims.
Those five victims who lost their lives on that fateful day are Cesar Cauce, Michael Nathan, William Sampson, Sandy Smith, and Jim Waller.
