Judge Linda Parker swore in nine Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners on November 4th before over 300 people gathered at Cobo Hall for the occasion. The metro Detroit effort is only the second Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the United States. The Commission draws its inspiration from nearly 30 such efforts internationally. Naomi Tutu welcomed the group, sharing the experiences of the South African process. She stressed the important role of the South African commission in moving her country toward healing, offering the hope that we, too, could use this opportunity to create a just future.

The Commission was also inspired by the work in Greensboro, North Carolina. There the Commission focused on the Nov 3, 1979 killing of 5 labor organizers. Nelson Johnson, one of the survivors of the attack, and his wife, Joyce, were convinced that the truth of that day needed to come to light if their community was going to move forward. Under the guidance of Bishop Desmond Tutu and representatives of the international community, the Johnsons launched the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission process in the U.S.

Joyce Johnson explains their motivation. “On that day, Klan and Nazi members interrupted preparations for a legally scheduled parade through neighborhoods in Southeast Greensboro. These gunmen killed five people and wounded ten others. The African American neighborhood in which this event occurred was terrified and our city thrown into shock. Although there have been three directly related trials, a full accounting of the relevant factors connected to this tragedy has yet to be entered into the public record and the public consciousness. The Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Process is providing opportunities for the entire city to heal engaging the questions of…how can we learn from this episode of our history so as not only to prevent such occurrences in the future, but also to transform this tragedy into triumph for truth and good will?

The mandate for the metropolitan Commission is much broader than a single event. At the core it reads:

“Racial disparities have had a disproportionate effect on the region’s African American population, but they have also limited the quality of life for all our citizens. We share a linked fate. The geographic fracturing of Metro Detroit is also a fracturing of hope for the future. Many young people with the opportunity to do so choose to leave the region and move to other more diverse metro areas. Despair and a lack of hope in the future fill the lives of many who stay. The failure to build a just and inclusive community greatly diminishes our collective potential, as well as our regional promise. A brighter tomorrow can only be built upon a willingness to confront these difficulties with a shared commitment to both truth and reconciliation.”

Following the swearing in ceremony another 200 people gathered to explore the role of race and place in the region. Here Dr. Gloria House talked of the “stubborn, unrelenting racism that has fractured social relations in Detroit since the 19th century.” Kurt Metzger of Data Driven Detroit provided graphic illustrations of the latest effort to continue the fracturing of the African American community with the redistricting of the state in ways that defy logic and insult justice.

People gathered in workshops to talk of education, food security, health disparities and neighborhood efforts at restorative justice and reconciliation.

The hope for this process was evident. As was the skepticism. People questioned how much the commission reflected the community and how much foundation or corporate interests would shape it.

Reflecting on these concerns, Nelson Johnson encouraged people to see this as “an opening of a new political space. It can become what we make it.” “I believe,” he said, “that this is a process that the whole country needs.”