Lou Plummer has a beautifully written post reflecting on his memory as a young student of hearing the news about the The Greensboro Massacre. It’s a thoughtful post not just about the violence of that day but of how that moment is rooted in history and how we, at this moment, continue in the same struggle. The violence and effort to suppress people struggling for justice in 1979 is very much a part of our daily lives today.
From Lou’s post:
In November of 1979 I was a junior high student in Jacksonville, NC when I heard on the news about what the media initially called a shootout between the Ku Klux Klan in conjunction with a group of Nazis and Communist labor organizers in Greensboro, three hours away. I remember being confused that the Klan and Nazis, who in my mind were relics of a dark but distant past were still active and engaged in violence. And, I’d never even heard of Communists on American soil. It was a tumultuous time in America that month.
The US really is in a constant struggle with itself (as are humans everywhere). From day one of European contact it’s been violence and grift. Harsh but true. The the social dynamics of class conflict, the struggle of the compassionate working poor for their dignity and self determination continues to be opposed by other working poor doing the bidding of oligarchs and tyrants. 500 years ago. 100 years ago. Today. Struggle always.
“We who believe in freedom cannot rest.” - Ella’s Song, Sweet Honey in the Rock