The U.S. certainly is the most visible country whose wealth was built – at least partly – on slavery. Passing legislation addressing the rights of those currently harmed by the consequence of African slavery would have far-reaching implications for the advancement of TJ. While it is so far difficult to gather bipartisan support at national level to pass such legislation, process is made on the local level. Are the events in the U.S. a prelude for positive developments in other countries?
Calls for racial justice have shaken the United States in the last few years. Mass demonstrations condemned police brutality against Black citizens, civil society organizations called to defund the police departments, protesters defaced or destroyed monuments dedicated to supporters of slavery, education boards debated how to teach U.S. history to children. In this scenario, transitional justice looks like a timely concept.
Why Historical Introspection and Reparation are Crucial
The police killing of George Floyd, caught in video, resulted in the strengthening of both grassroots mobilization and political action. At both levels, leaders invoked the need of historical introspection and reparation. Dozens of U.S. city councils and a few state legislatures passed norms establishing local truth commissions and reparation processes. In Congress and the Senate, Democrats sponsored legislation aiming at the study of historical reparations for slavery, at the creation of a truth commission on forced assimilation of indigenous children, and at the launch of a “Truth Racial Healing and Transformation Commission” (TRHT).
It is, however, quite difficult to gather bipartisan support at the national level to pass this kind of legislation. Therefore, the impetus has changed to the local arena. States like California and Maryland have established historical truth commissions: California, to examine its relationship with Indigenous peoples; Maryland, to clarify the history of lynching in the state. The governor of Maryland, a moderate Republican, has broken ranks with his party calling President Biden to establish the TRHT. In addition, dozens of cities have created commissions with different names “truth commissions” “racial equity commissions”, “reparation commissions” aiming at reversing situations of racial injustice.
The U.S. is not the only country whose wealth was built partly on slavery, but it is certainly the most visible. Any process aiming to make effective the rights of those currently harmed by the consequences of African slavery would have massive implications for the advancement of human rights and transitional justice.
“Transitional Justice”, “Racial Healing” or simply “Reparation” – Which Potential Lies Behind These Terms?
This blog has discussed in the past, the possibilities of using transitional justice tools, such as truth-seeking, for racial justice. But it is equally important to acknowledge that such a convergence would also transform profoundly transitional justice. First, recognizing structural and historic racism as a focus would result in long term historical analysis, well beyond the relatively recent events that are normally considered in transitional justice. Second, looking into such a remote past makes imperative to understand the impacts of abuse beyond individual direct victims, but to study and address intergenerational trauma.
The concepts practitioners of racial justice use for this process are extremely varied: some use the term “transitional justice”, yet others talk of “restorative justice”, “racial healing”, “reconciliation” or merely “reparation”.
The scope of truth-telling is being widened beyond the memory of the living, as the Maryland Truth Commission on Lynching does. New connections are made, with modern neuroscience and traditional healing, to address intergenerational trauma, a fundamental need to ensure that victims and communities can participate in safe conditions in processes that may otherwise revictimize them. New initiatives examine socioeconomic rights violations, such as urban segregation, pay disparities, differences in the quality of schooling, access to health, housing, and other basic services. Already cities across the country use the concept of “reparation” to englobe social programs consisting in vouchers for housing, health and education.
What is taking place in the United States may be the prelude to similar processes in other countries: the examination of the historical consequences of colonialist abuse, including the slave trade or the forced displacement and persecution of indigenous populations. Such a profound interrogation could have a positive impact in our understanding of current relations between ethnic and racial communities, patterns of international migration, and understandings about national identity.
