Barber to speak at Greensboro march
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 10, 2004 1:58 PM
A Goldsboro pastor will be one of the featured speakers during the 25th anniversary Truth and Reconciliation March in Greensboro this weekend. The event is to remember the shooting of Communist Worker Party members by Ku Klux Klan members.
The Rev. Dr. William Barber, senior pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church, will preach at an interfaith worship service Friday evening following a pre-march candlelight walk to the grave site of five labor and community organizers killed in November 1979. Sister Naomi Tuto, daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tuto, will also speak during the service.
The march will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
"It's a way of taking the Christian call for reconciliation very seriously," Barber said.
"You can't have reconciliation if you don't tell the truth, if you aren't honest about the source of the pain."
He said the model for the event is one that can be applied to other issues today.
"How we get along in communities, how we deal with the pain of the past, approaching difficult issues" are among the needs faced today, he said.
"People who have been enemies, if you will, in very difficult situations, can come together and not so much to prosecute."
He said the activities planned in Greensboro are open to anyone interested in attending and are "only the beginning."
"To make sure things like this are properly remembered, the goal is not to stay buried in the past," he said.
Barber said he is taking a contingent of residents from Goldsboro and the eastern part of the state. For more information about the event or traveling with the group on Friday, call the church at 735-9059 or visit the Web site at www.gtcrp.org.