Author of case study: Marcela Torres Molano

Geopolitical location of space:
417 Arlington St.
Morningside neighbourhood
Greensboro, North Carolina 27406

Extant? Yes

Architect:
Original architect unknown

Timeframe RJ/TJ process in this space:

Start date of commission: 2004
End date: 2006. However, restorative initiatives continued taking place even when the commission’s mandate ended.

Background information:

In 1979, five members of the Communist Workers Party, participating in a rally against the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina, were shot to death by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis. In 2004, a private organization formed the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (modeled after commissions in South Africa and Canada) with the intention to investigate the events of 1979. During the commission’s mandate, streets, public spaces, and other community sites of the city became scenarios for the manifestation and reconciliation of the population. Church rooms and auditoriums, college campuses, and the main plaza of the city have all been used in the framework of the commission’s work by citizens and community organisations.

Is restorative justice actually taking place in this space?

Yes, the Beloved Community Center was the main venue for The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Is this space designed/arranged for safe listening?

Yes, public and private hearings were part of the commission’s work. As such, the spaces it used were adapted for these purposes. 

Who is the audience/the intended participants for this space?

Survivors, witnesses, police officers, judges, lawyers, former members of the KKK and neo-Nazi groups.

How or to what extent is this space public?

The center itself is located inside a church building (open to the public but privately owned). However, part of the commission’s work took place in public buildings and urban spaces within the city.

Physical/factual description of space:

Sites around the city:

1. The  Beloved Community center was the main venue for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A centre that functions in the Faith Community Church building, a two-storey brick structure, surrounded by a parking lot and an open green space.

2. The Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel at Bennett College was the venue for the Commission Report Release ceremony on May 25, 2006.

3. In 2017, every Tuesday afternoon, community members gathered in search of healing and reconciliation in The Government Plaza

4. The Edwards Church of Northampton and the site of the massacre have also been used for reconciliation in the last decades. Even though the commission released its final report in 2006, manifestations and gathering in the streets have been happening since the day of the massacre.

Analytical description of space:

From 2004 to 2006, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed in the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. The commission was intended as an inclusive response to the several failed prosecutions of Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party members that opened fire in a political and labor activists gathering on November 3, 1979.

Through the lenses of race, class and politics, the commission held public hearings and private interviews with survivors, witnesses, police officers, judges, lawyers, and former members of KKK and the American Nazi Party. In 2006, a final report on the causes and consequences of the 1979 event was presented to the public.

In 2017, a second initiative called Healing Tuesdays, Toward Healing Greensboro occupied the main plaza of the city. The community gathered in the public space of the Government Plaza as a reconciliation strategy. During the commission and in the years following its completion individuals and organisations have used the city, the streets, and the churches as scenarios for public gathering and reconciliation.