thursday, november 20, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 64
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Activist offers impressions of Greensboro unrest
By Ward Wright Triplett III
The lecture activist Phillip Thompson
gave an audience of some 300 last night
was designed primarily as a report of events
that led to last year's Greensboro killings .
But, by the time Thompson was finished,
many other impressions were left not only
of the Klan, but the American govern
ment. Thompson, who is chairperson for the
Revolutionary Youth League and a com
mittee member for the revenge of the CWP
five, was a last-minute replacement for
Nelson Johnson, who was detained in
Greensboro due to the unrest Thompson
said is building there.
The cause of the problem is the inno
cent verdict of six Klan and Nazi party
members in the killing of five Communist
Worker Party members last year. Thomp
son explained the story behind the killings,
and what took place directly after.
'it was a planned assassination,"
Thompson said after running down a list
of the people killed. "The people killed
were all shot in the head or the heart, there
were no mistakes made."
Thompson said that the day of the kill
ing, the police, who had guaranteed protec
tion for the march, if the demonstrators
agreed not to carry arms, mysteriously
disappeared 5 minutes before the shoot
ings, and toter said they had lost direction
of the march, had had trouble with the
radio, md then were on lunch break.
Thompson said it was the feeling of his
people that the police and the government
were behind the killings.
"The Klan and Nazi had no idea of who
the leaders were, and those were the
people who were killed. The only people
who would know that would be the
government."
Thompson, a Philadelphia native now
living in North Carolina, said it was later
discovered that Bernard Bergovich, a mem
ber of the Treasury Department, had
infiltrated the Nazi party shortly before
the assassinations, and that it was he who
supplied the hit list. He also said a known
former FBI agent, Ed Dawson, was riding
in the first Klan car. Dawson is now a
member of the Greensboro police force.
The main point of Thompson's discus
sion however was how and why the govern
ment used such groups as the Klan to per
petuate this violence.
"The only way to get rid of the Klan is
to get rid of the system that gives breed to
it," Thompson said.
"For years, the American government
has been run by the ruling class, they're the
ones ripping us off, not the Japanese, not
the Arabs, or anyone else they're pointing
the blame at. This is the same thing the
Klan is saying. They tell poor whites
that the reason that you can't get in
school, and you can't find a job is affirma
tive action, it's these blacks."
The reason for the marches in the first
place, Thompson said, was to tell people
that their problem was right here in the
government, not overseas, which he felt
Long delay expected before
new LTS buses reach city
By Betsy Miller
Although a bond issue providing $3 mil
lion for improvements in the Lincoln
Transportation System was approved in the
Nov. 4 election, Lincoln residents will not
see new benefits immediately.
Jerry Olson, LTS general manager, said
the biggest item in the bond issue. 12 new
buses, will not be in Lincoln until March,
1982.
Olson said the delay is caused because
the Urban Mass Transit Administration
must approve Lincoln's portion of bond
funding before the buses can be ordered.
The bond provides that Lincoln tax
payers contribute 20 percent of the S3
million with the Mass Transit System
Administration supplying the remaining 80
percent.
After the federal administration approv
es the LTS application, bids for providing
new buses will be accepted and then the
buses must be manufactured, Olson said.
The buses will cost about SI. 5 5 million,
according to Olson.
LTS will also receive four handi-vans for
transportation of the handicapped.
These should be in Lincoln within six
months, Olson said.
New bus shelters included in the bond
issue should be in place by the end of the
year and the LTS garage, located at 710 J
St., will have its planned solar heating syst
em by July 1981, according to Olson.
The new buses will be 40 feet long
compared to the 35-foot buses LTS now
has, but the new supply is still not enough
for Lincoln, he said.
"Even with the arrival of new buses,
we'll still have a continuing problem with
a shortage of load capacity," Olson said.
Olson said the four new handi-vans LTS
receives replace four older units, so the
system will actually not be increasing its
number of vans.
Olson said, however, that the total LTS
fleet of nine handi-vans will now have only
one older model vehicle.
The bond issue will cost Lincoln home
owners $2 per year for 10 years, a total of
$600,000.
was dangerous to the fascism the American
government is trying to develop.
"The United States is building for a
World War, it's the only way out of the
economic situation they're faced with. Only
this time war is not against Vietnam, it is
against another imperialist power."
Thompson said he felt that the biggest
obstacle to war was the fact that the U.S.
does not have an army ready to fight. Thus
in order to prepare for war, the U.S. must
institute fascism, wliich includes working
with groups like the Klan and the Nazis.
"The only way fascism can succeed is
by preventing whites and blacks from
working together."
"Facism takes different forms. In Ger
many you had the Jews being blamed for
all of its problems, and here it will be the
blacks and the communists. Blacks will be
made to be evil, the 'this is why you don't
have a job' reasoning."
The Klan is the perfect source to initiate
this, Thompson said. The riots in Miami,
and the murder incidents in Buffalo and
Atlanta are all a part of what could lead
to a race war.
"Sooner or later, someone is going to
start killing whites. Then, in return, some
whites will start killing blacks. Once that
gets started there will be so much emo
tionalism it will be hard to stop. And while
we're all fighting each other, they'll be
gin World War III and everyone will be
confused."
The verdict in Greensboro didn't sur
prise Thompson.
"It is now legal in this country to kill
communists and blacks," Thompson said.
"It has been proven in Greensboro that
nothing will happen to you if you do.
"There will be more attacks beyond a
shadow of a doubt," Thompson said.
"We try for a peaceful change in soci
ety, but we will be deceiving people by
telling them that. If America didn't let
Vietnamese have Vietnam, let the Chileans
have Chile, what makes us think they'll
let Americans have Amerca?
"It is up to us to improve ourselves,
they won't do it for us. If we wait too
long, we'll have the same thing that
happened in Nazi Germany going on here.
You can't say 'I'm a Nebraskan, and it
won't happen in Nebraska,' you have to
stand up now," he said.
i
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4
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fh.V. - I
David Lanoue, surrounded by demonstrators and
nouncing Nazis, KKK and facism in the United
concerned speakers around the Broyhill Fountain.
Photo by Mark Billingsley
onlookers, holds his poster de
States while listening to several
Black journalists step over the prejudice barrier
By Mary Louise Knapp
"Getting the foot in the door' is the most difficult step
for blacks entering the field of journalism, a panel of
black broadcasters said at Wednesday evening's "Blacks in
Perspective" program.
The program, sponsored by the Student Y, featured
journalists from Omaha television stations KETV-7,
KMTV-3. and WOWT-6.
Getting a job in journalism or in any other field re
quires "a lot of pushing," said Ray Metoyer, urban affairs
correspondent for WOWT-6.
Metoyer, a graduate of the UNL School of Journalism,
who first worked for WOWT as an intern while in college,
said that he has had to fight racial prejudice to get hired
and promoted .
"Once you get past the initial prejudice, you will get
respect," he said.
Blacks are expected to work twice as hard and twice
as fast as whites, not to progress, but just to survive, said
Mike Jones, a reporter for KETV-7.
Once hired, a black journalist faces additional problems
when trying to get promoted, he said.
"They (employers) will try to put you in a place where
you won't be noticed." he said. "You will have to estab
lish yourself enough to make them take notice of you."
Metoyer said that establishing contacts in the journal
ism field and sharpening skills learned in journalism school
outside of class are extremely important.
Jones advised would-be journalists to get involved with
community affairs, sharpen their writing skills, and learn
what is going on in the world. He said that many young
reporters are not sufficiently prepared to handle their
jobs due io lack of public awareness.
"Involvement brings awareness," he said. "As it is, you
are the eyes and ears of the people that arc not making
themselves aware."
Gerald Evans, a reporter for KETV, said that because
of racism, it is harder for black journalists to establish
credibility, and that tokenism is still a problem in many
broadcast stations.
"On the second day after I was hired, I was told by the
news director (former news director Lee Terry, who is
now Douglas County Election Commissioner) that i only
hired you for one reason. You're our token. "
Black reporters can bring a different perspective on
events to the media, and they should be careful not to
lose this unique identity, said Ben Grev, a reporter for
KETV.
On the other hand, Bob Runnels, a reporter for KMTV
3, said that black journalists should not worry about
racism, and "forget the fact that you are black." This does
not mean a loss of identity, but concentration on being a
person trying to get a job, he said.
msk tarsday
Model United Nations: Andrew Young is the keynote
speaker Page 7
AH For The Oranges: Oklahoma comes to Lincoln
Saturday for the Big Eight shoot-out Page 8
A New Breed of Heroine: Two new movies in Lincoln
offer stronger female roles Page 10
