First in truth.North Carolinians take pride in their "First in Flight" license plates. Now they can claim another first--the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Twenty-five years after Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan (k  ' klŭks klăn), designation mainly given to two distinct secret societies that played a part in American history, although other less important groups have also used and American Nazi Party This article is about the party formed in 1959, later renamed the National Socialist White People's Party. For the 1990s National Socialist White People's Party, see National Socialist White People's Party (Harold Covington). members killed five labor activists in a march for workers' rights,
the Greensboro community is calling for truth from the perpetrators and
the victims. Despite local news crews filming the murders, all-white
juries acquitted the men who pulled the triggers and plunged Greensboro
into years of traumatized silence.
In June, the six commissioners were officially seated. Five are local community leaders and the sixth is executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked together by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). . The commissioners were trained by the International Center for Transitional Justice The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical , which draws its methods from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Unlike its South African counterpart, the Greensboro commission was not initiated by the government, but by the community. "Fundamental to faith is the truth--a truth that liberates us from the bondage BONDAGE. Slavery. of falsehood," Rev. Nelson Johnson, a veteran civil rights activist who was an organizer at the 1979 rally, told Sojourners. "But truth, with all its bitterness and dark sides, needs to have with it healing and reconciliation. It is the reconciliation that transforms the truth. We often believe we can be reconciled without knowing what we really need to be reconciled about. The truth process in Greensboro will open up a way for our community to heal and model a way for other communities, who can adapt it to their particular situation." |
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