TheLoop21.com

By: Susan Anderson (follow this member)
Wed, 06/03/2009 - 00:00

We hear a lot in the news about racial conflict, and a lot less about racial reconciliation. But from South Africa to South Central Los Angeles, there are communities engaging in what experts call “restorative justice" to resolve the wrongs of the past and present.

In the U.S., restorative justice has many applications. There are models that seek alternatives to the criminal justice system, and punitive measures that target African American males. There are models that provide opportunities for the victims of racially-motivated crimes to air their pain and receive compensation.

At the same time, restorative justice is a worldwide movement. The process of restorative justice includes dialogue, the admission of guilt and apologies by offenders, and reparations for victims. The goal is to stop the escalation of conflict, crime and violence, and restore and heal relationships and communities.

The most famous example of the restorative justice approach is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. 

The Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa formed in 1995, after the establishment of a government under President Nelson Mandela.

Fifty years of systematic racial oppression and separation under apartheid were scrutinized by three committees of the Commission.  Masses of black South Africans came before the Commission to air their grievances and tell their stories.  The experience was harrowing, and for some, healing.

White perpetrators of injustice and violence — and blacks involved in racial violence - were encouraged to come before the Commission.  But, Commission Chair Tutu said,

"It is something of a pity that, by and large, the white community failed to take advantage of the Truth and Reconciliation process… Many of them carry a burden of a guilt which would havebeen assuaged had they actively embraced the opportunities offered by the Commission… Apart from the hurt that it causes to those who suffered, the denial by so many white South Africans even that they benefited from apartheid is a crippling, self-inflicted blow to their capacity to enjoy and appropriate the fruits of change."

For Americans, the lack of participation by whites in the Truth and Reconciliation process should be a warning. In a country where whites have benefited from the subjection of African Americans for centuries — much longer than the South African apartheid system, which took insidious inspiration from the U.S. segregation system — the only sure road to change is in white people taking responsibility, and leadership, in reconciliation efforts and reparations work.

Susan D. Anderson teaches, speaks and writes about African American history, politics and culture. She is the author of Nostalgia for a Trumpet: Poems of Memory and History, published by Northwestern University Press. She has been a Visiting Professor at Pitzer College, a contributor to the Los Angeles Times Sunday Opinion since 1999, and currently manages an archival program at the USC Libraries.

Photo by g-hat at flickr.