...Greensboro in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s had a bunch of referendums to go from the system where all the councilmembers were elected at large to a district system that would ensure people who lived all over the city were represented, as well as ensuring minority representation on the council.
...The good old boys defeated every district system that was proposed. In one election those opposed to the district system and minority representation outspent those in favor of the district system by a 6-to-1 margin.
One of the most outspoken opponents of the district system was former Mayor Jim Melvin, who was mayor from 1971 to 1981.
Who would have thought?
...in 1981, the city wanted to annex an area with about 15,000 residents in the northwest. One piece of correspondence said the annexation would increase the white population of Greensboro by 13,000. The US Justice Department refused to allow Greensboro to annex that territory as long as the City Council was elected at large because it would make it so much more difficult for a black candidate to win.
...The Justice Department did agree to allow Greensboro to go ahead with its annexation after Greensboro notified the Justice Department of the new district system, but there is no indication in the correspondence that the Justice Department ordered the current method of electing the City Council.
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"John, I was one of the ones fooled by your arrest-for-taking-pictures article. I think the fact that the article was believed by me and so many others shows how sorry the bureaucrats and the police are viewed in Greensboro by a lot of people."
"Obama is trying to denigrate the United States,
not raise it up.
...He doesn’t even want the US to lead;
he wants to follow the lead of other countries."
John Hammer
"Following the heinous atrocities of the murdering Muslims in France, the major propaganda organ of the left, national progressive radio, followed up with various hushed and revered interviews of American Muslims and American Muslim sympathizers. And what is interesting is during all of these interviews, national progressive radio, much like President Obama, could never bring themselves to utter the words Islamic terrorism."
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"Shame on you for printing the Bicentennial Garden story without noting that it was a fictional piece of work. I won’t be able to trust anything I read in The Rhino anymore."
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"Let me get this straight. There is a group of people who want the Aycock building’s name changed because it was named after a 1912 North Carolina governor who rubbed elbows with a few white supremacists? That same group wants a KKK, Neo-Nazi, five-person slaughter site memorialized? Even Otis is confused."
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"I noticed Al Sharpton likes to point the finger at the problems of the world. For example, not enough diversity in Hollywood films. Why doesn’t he talk about the 500,000 blacks-on-blacks killing each other?"
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"I’m calling about taking the photos in the park. I would like to personally apologize to Mr. & Mrs. Callahan for the way that they were so unfairly treated. A verbal warning would have sufficed. The police officer should be reprimanded and the city councilmember should be fired for not knowing what goes on in the city. Do they even know that there’s a camera on every street corner and on every policeman’s head? Probably not. They’re a bunch of sorry – well, thank you."
Editor’s Note: I would be glad to apologize to Liam and Bridget Callahan, but they don’t exist, nor does the policeman. But the sign is real and the councilmembers are real also."
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"I just wanted to say that the grandest thing about king Hussein Obama’s speech tonight was the fact that Sister Kay Hagan was not in attendance.
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This is in response to the person that called in and said we are not a Christian nation. We are a country that was founded on Christianity. And because we are one nation, under God, we have risen to greatness. If you notice, when the liberals start to take God out of everything, our level of life in the country goes downhill, and downhill fast... I don’t remember any teachers having sex with students. I don’t remember any of the bad things that’s going on in the school system now. It didn’t happen then. The graduation rate was higher."
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"Your ill-conceived column of Jan. 15 was, and is, a slap in the face of all law enforcement, and particularly the Greensboro Police Department. Satire in the era of quote, hands up, don’t shoot, end quote was just stupid. Shame on you, John Hammer. A former loyal follower."
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"It’s nice to know that people at the Rhino Times and other people that call in when they go to work, they work the whole time nonstop. They don’t stop to talk to anyone. They don’t stop to text anyone... Same with a cop who’s sitting in a parking lot texting. He might be on his break. He might be texting someone back at the Police Department. You have no idea what they’re doing. So, until you spend the whole shift with them, you need to hush up about it."
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"This is in reference to the word massacre for the historical marker in Greensboro. If you want to use the word massacre, Rev. Johnson’s name, Rev. Nelson Johnson’s name should be attached to that. It should be Rev. Nelson Johnson’s massacre."
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"...these people at Natty Greene’s, it sounds to me like they want some sort of handout from the City Council or the county commissioners, you know? It sounds like they’re just begging somebody for something like a forgivable loan."
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I believe the overwhelming majority of Greensboro could not care any less about what occurred on Nov. 3, 1979 and is tired of the continuing discussions on the topic...
“The bigger issue for me
is that in a city of almost 300,000 people,
we continue to have just a handful of people
who live their lives looking in the rearview mirror.
...That’s what holds Greensboro back
— a small group of people
who make an industry of racism and unhappiness,
marketing all that’s unpleasant and negative
no matter how long ago these things occurred.”
Mike Barber
...Nelson Johnson issue the challenges and dares on the days leading up to Nov. 3 but continues to deny any responsibility or recognize the consequences of his own actions.
There is no need to furnish a plaque for the KKK rally,
which has caused this city so much strife
over these many years.
It is one of the darkest days in Greensboro history.
Roy Carroll's Rhino Times
I personally disagree with the placing of any state historical marker to recognize the radicals on either side of the fight or the tragic event of Nov. 3, 1979.
Anonymous
