Author Aran Shetterly and the Library of Virginia recently hosted a discussion on his book "Morningside," about the 1979 Greensboro massacre.

The book covers the events of November 1979, when the Ku Klux Klan and members of the American Nazi Party attacked protesters at a "Death to the Klan" march organized by the Communist Workers Party. White supremacists killed five people and injured several others in a low-income community in Greensboro, North Carolina. The assailants fled the scene and were later acquitted in a state trial, sparking outrage and calls for justice.

Shetterly said the Greensboro Police Department and the FBI had knowledge of the Klan's plans to disrupt the protest but did not intervene, as these organizations were dedicated to protecting the status quo at the time. 

"People intent on sort of creating change and disrupting how a city works or how businesses work are going to face a tremendous amount of resistance," Shetterly said.

A 2006 Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission report concluded that both the FBI and the city's police department knew that white supremacists intended to disrupt the protest and did not act to prevent it. Greensboro's city council formally apologized for the city's role in the massacre in a 2020 resolution.

Shetterly noted that the Vietnam War was still fresh in Americans' minds, and some viewed the Communist Workers Party march as "a big contradiction." He said "they were more frightened by these radical labor organizers and racial justice organizers who said inflammatory things than they were of … the Klan that had a century of blood on its hands."

Some key figures in the fight for justice and equality have connections to Richmond. Shetterly worked closely with Rev. Nelson Johnson and his wife Joyce Johnson, community organizers in Greensboro who helped organize the rally. 

"This event didn't make them cynical, despite the fact that the police didn't protect them and the justice system couldn't handle it and the community they lived in ostracized them," Shetterly said. "But in a sense, recommitted them to seeking a better place for the marginalized and poorest among us."

Rev. Nelson attended Virginia Union University, while Joyce grew up near Hull Street in Richmond before moving to Durham. They now serve as directors of the Beloved Community Center organization, in Greensboro, which advocates for gender and racial justice. In a recent documentary, he emphasized the importance of pursuing truth, even when it reveals uncomfortable realities.

"We must strive to walk toward each other, in all of our diversity, as we seek the truth— even the bitter elements of truth," Nelson said.