Traditional systems of law and punishment inadequately
address the persistent epidemics of racial
injustice and historic inequality that have
plagued America for four centuries. These
institutions cannot account for crimes
committed against Black people and the deep
intergenerational trauma they endure.
Therefore, some people propose an American
version of the South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Such forums
provide restorative
justice--healing among victims, perpetrators and the community
rather than retribution--accountability for atrocities committed, recognition of suffering,
and recommendations enabling reform and redress.
Over seven years beginning in 1996, the South
African TRC held public hearings on the evils, violence and human
rights abuses committed under apartheid. Two thousand victims and perpetrators testified on their
experiences. However, the process had flaws.
Not all victims could testify, and none
received economic restitution. Critics
believed few whites were prosecuted because of
political expediency.
Other nations such as Germany, Belgium and Canada have undergone reconciliation to tackle their
colonial and genocidal atrocities.
Moreover, American states and cities, including Greensboro,
N.C., Iowa
City and Maine formed commissions to confront racial injustice and
historic inequality. A Tulsa
Race Riot Commission recommended reparations payments to the victims of
the 1921 massacre of the Black community of
Greenwood—“Black Wall Street”—by white mobs.
The Oklahoma legislature rejected reparations,
opting for college scholarships for victims’
descendants, a memorial and economic
development.
Further, inspired by South Africa, district attorneys in
Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco are
convening Truth,
Justice and Reconciliation Commissions targeting police brutality, broken police-community
relationships, racial injustice and inequities
in the legal system—seeking public input to
rebuild the justice system.
Similarly, in the midst of COVID-19 and the murder of
George Floyd, Rep.
Barbara Lee (D-CA) proposed a U.S. Commission on Truth, Racial
Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) to assess
the effects of slavery, institutional racism
and discrimination on people of color, and the
impact of history on present-day policies.
Historic inequality fuels our current crises, requiring a
national reckoning on white supremacist icons
and institutions. “America seems to have a
talent for maintaining a culture of turning a
blind eye to the grand evil that organized
white men do, whether it is the greedy Wall
Street, brutalizing police, enslaving prisons,
racist NFL, predatory casting couches in
Hollywood or the treacherous Confederacy,”
said conceptual artist, activist and writer John
Sims. Through his work, Sims has burned
and buried the Confederate flag, repurposed plantations and
advocated for repealing racist laws to further
discourse and reconciliation.
“The Confederacy, its history, symbols and current
narrative have never been brought to justice.
This escape from justice – the legal, moral
and spiritual kinds – is all too familiar when
the crimes involve black people, reminding
many of the killers of Emmett Till, Trayvon
Martin, the young men in Algiers Motel in
Detroit in 1967, and scores of others,” Sims
added.
Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commissions hope to
resolve conflict by discovering and exposing a
legacy of wrongdoing by government and
society. America cannot move forward without
confronting its past.
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