Closer to the Truth?
Written by: Linda Leigh Hargrove
My family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina in the winter of 2003. My time was divided between being a mom to two young children, a kindergartner and an infant, and getting a small at-home Web design business off the ground.
In my spare mements, I was writing my second novel. To say the least I was swamped, but not too swamped to be curious about Greensboro’s version of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Unfortunately, the best I could do was read about the landmark proceedings in the local newspapers and tabloids. I’d read a considerable amount about the Greensboro Massacre, the reason for the Commission. In fact, I had fictionalized it in my first novel. But I yearned to be in the mix, so to speak, to hear it all first hand, to join the conversation as a reconciler, if possible. The busyness of life prevented that.
Flash forward six years. The other day I found myself brainstorming about a new fiction series around the Greensboro Massacre. Characters, themes, scenes flooded my mind. And then this came across my virtual desk: Greensboro, Closer to the Truth. It’s a documentary about the massacre.
From the film’s Web site–
“On November 3, 1979, members of the Communist Workers Party were holding a Death to the Klan rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Suddenly a caravan rounded the corner, scattering the protesters. Klansmen and Nazis emerged from the cars, unloaded an arsenal of guns and began firing. Five people were killed in what became known as the Greensboro Massacre.
Greensboro: Closer to the Truth reconnects 25 years later with the players in this tragedy—widowed and wounded survivors, along with their attackers—and chronicles how their lives have evolved in the long aftermath of the killings.”
I plan on attending the Greensboro screening of the film. Visit this link and see if there’s a screening near you.
Do you think films like this can bring us closer to the truth?
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