Greensboro’s Child

Andy Burton Coon is an award winning independent documentary filmmaker, editor and videographer. He began filming Greensboro’s Child in 1997, while pursuing a Media Production degree at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro. As his research progressed into the tragic story surrounding the Greensboro Massacre of 1979, Mr. Coon became exposed to firsthand accounts of corrupt justice and an archetypical clash of America’s social class structures.

The project quickly became his passion.

Greensboro’s Child was completed in 2002 and soon thereafter submitted to film festivals across the country, receiving honors at the 2002 North Carolina Film and Video Festival for Best Independent Documentary and the Chicago Digital Film Festival for Best Researched Documentary.

In May 2004, the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission — an independent, democratically selected body – was formed to uncover truth and provide a healing transformation for a city left divided and weakened by the events of Nov. 3, 1979. As a resident of Greensboro since 1992, Mr. Coon viewed the formation of the GTRC as a sign that the community needed to extend the conversation surrounding the community-shaking events from 26 years ago. As a result, he continued documenting unfolding, related events by filming the GTRC public hearings and working closely with people within the process. While Greensboro’s Child is a finished piece of work, the story of that day will continue on this blog and around the Greensboro community.

On The Horizon

While documenting the September 2005 public hearings of the GTRC, Mr. Coon was exposed to the story of Butch Stewart, testifying in an attempt to provide the commission with a greater understanding of how the local police operate. He spoke of his son, Gill Barber, a 22 year-old man shot to death by a county deputy. At the time of the shooting, Barber was naked, bloodied and incoherant after his car slid off the road and crashed. As strange as those circumstances sound, the police report would apparently have you believe that it was an open and shut case of necessary force. Meanwhile, the autopsy says otherwise as it refutes much of the final report.

Mr Coon is currently in the research phase of this story, his next independently produced project.