“The possibilities of this project are really exciting. It’s something that’s never been done before and no one can tell what kind of far-reaching transformational implications it might have for the way Americans interact with one another across racial and economic lines, especially. I feel honored to be a part of it.” - Joya Wesley

The first of its kind in the United States, the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project (GTCRP), is a groundbreaking effort to effect healing and reconciliation on a community-wide basis. Joya Wesley, a freelance writer and editor, is the Project’s media coordinator. The stimulus for what the Project has evolved into today actually dates back to a Greensboro event in late 1979.

On November 3, 1979 members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party murdered five people during a Death to the Klan rally in Greensboro.  The five included:

• Sandi Smith,* a community organizer for the Greensboro Association of Poor People,
• Cesar Cauce, a Cuban immigrant; Duke University magna cum laude graduate; writer and union organizer at Duke University Hospital,
• Bill Sampson, a 1972 Harvard Divinity School graduate; a union organizer at the Greensboro Cone Mills textile plant,
• Dr. Jim Waller, a physician who left a teaching position at Duke to work as a union organizer for a rural Cone Mills textile plant, and
• Dr. Mike Nathan, former head pediatrician at Lincoln Community Center in Durham.

Although the shootings were captured on tape,
the perpetrators were acquitted twice.

“It’s an experiment in restorative justice. It’s an attempt to revisit the tragedy of November 3, 1979 and transform it into something positive for this community. There are lots of lessons to be learned including how to deal with the past and build authentic connections in spite of it – that’s the real key. As the media coordinator, I’m in charge of getting the news media to cover it,” explained the multi-talented Wesley. In addition to her role with the GTCRP, she is the Information Manager for WNAA-FM, the radio station of North Carolina A & T State University. Wesley also produces and hosts two talk shows and a jazz-mix music program. She earned her B.A. in Sociology from Stanford University.

Her involvement with the GTCRP came via a personal contact. “I had known Joyce Johnson, the Director of the Jubilee Institute, the administrative arm of the Beloved Community Center where the project is housed. She called and asked if I’d be interested.”

Joya Wesley

During her interview with the Journal, Wesley discussed her vision for the project, how it has affected her personally, the role of history in building community and the impact of the project on our nation. The success of the GTCRP has profound implications for America as we grapple with the unintended, and disastrous, consequences of a unilateral invasion of Iraq and the enormous human tragedy of September 11, 2001. Truth, peace and justice are highly valued commodities that, at times, seem to be in short supply. Wesley’s role - being heard over the din of competing stories and graphic images is a daunting task. “The better I do my job the better positioned the project will be to attract a higher level of community support and also serve as a model for other communities.

It has stretched me out of myself. The run-up to my June 12th swearing-in required making a lot of contacts and being available. I tend to be a hermit. The reason I don’t work a fulltime job is because I can’t stand constant interaction. I need a lot of downtime – a lot of quiet time. I found myself fielding and making calls almost constantly. I’m still recovering from it.

I think this project is going to make a new answer to the question of the role history plays in creating community. Until now the tendency has been to ignore, or bury, the past, especially when it’s not pleasant and that impedes community building.

We believe when you have restorative justice you can cull out lessons
from the past and use them to build on an honest footing.

It will also show the nation the value of confronting truth and give other communities a model to use in addressing painful events from their own histories. It will hold institutions accountable for their actions – institutions like the media and the police. That will be good for the past, present and the future. This is true democracy.”

Since the first truth commission organized in Uganda, in 1974, the concept has evolved into a global strategy for dealing with crimes against humanity, whether in war, genocide, or through governmental suppression. Central to the concept’s theme is restorative justice and an approach that fosters healing between perpetrators and their victims. The process of uncovering the facts, exposing the lies, differentiating them from the truth and acknowledging wrongdoing is a long one. But in the end it allows for “appropriate public mourning,” forgiveness and transformation.

Get involved with the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project. Visit their website at www.gtcrp.org.

Publisher's Note: *Sandi Smith and author Bennett-Wilkes are both members of the Bennett College for Women Class of 1972.