Jonathan Johnson

Dr. Holden

American Social Movements

19 May 2015

Advocates For an American Truth and Reconciliation Committee

Wendell Berry, in his essay “Sex, Freedom, Economy, and Community,” provides a

trichotomy of human life. He suggests spheres of a private life, a public life, and a communal

life. The private and public will nearly always exist, but sometimes they can lead to the disrepair

of the communal life. The public and private are both built upon the needs and desires of the

individual. The community exists where individuals are willing to surrender some of their rights.

The public life allows for these rights to be regained, but often at the expense of community.

This is not a paper focused on recovery of communal identity, however. At least it is not in the

most general sense. I would love to dive deeply into consideration of where communal identity

has been lost and needs to be regained, but in this paper and project I want to begin to shape a

picture and strategy for a movement that I believe is urgently needed and ready to spring up,

the soil, sadly, is fertile.

Restorative justice is not a wholly original and new idea. It has a proper name that I did

not come up with. It is not even a terribly new idea in the United States. Individuals in

Greensboro, North Carolina strive for a localized Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Many

small institutions have programs in place for individuals to confront each other with a mediator, I

know all of my schooling sought to encourage this practice. I am tantalized by the picture I

imagine when my mind is free to consider what the nation would look like if there was a national

desire for restorative justice. The beauty of that future drives me to seek it, genuinely beyond

this paper and class, but my picture is not yet clear.

In South Africa, under the administration of Nelson Mandela, the Truth and

Reconciliation Commission was established. The commission was to mediate and facilitate

communication between victims of crimes committed under apartheid and the perpetrators of

those crimes. For perpetrators who submitted to the process, amnesty would be granted. Much

of this was led by Bishop Desmond Tutu who has since published his Book of Forgiveness. Tutu

outlines a fourstep process of forgiveness in this book that it would seem was the hope for all

working through the TRC. A similar system arose in Northern Ireland as a follow up choice

following a conviction without amnesty granted. It is my hope that we might see this in the

United States.

The way that the United States deals with crime is disappointing presently, though in

some cases possibly effective (possibly because I do think this could be debated, disappointing

because it is less than restorative). Especially in a country with a long history of racially charged

injustice in the justice system a system of Restorative Justice would work wonders.

Tutu suggests a dichotomy between retributive justice and restorative justice. Retributive

justice hitches on the public sphere that Berry outlines. There are impersonal laws to keep order

within the state. These are the principles that individuals agree to in order to prevent the return

to Hobbes’s “warre”. Retributive justice makes sense in the public sphere. Berry suggests that

the public sphere is concerned with respect for the individual. Public laws help to provide a

means for an abused individual to seek, well, retribution. Restorative justice brings all parties

into community. This community can be broadly or narrowly defined. If it is enough to say that

every person is the neighbor to someone else then community is formed on these grounds if, as

is more often than not the case, the identity is made on national grounds then a common

identity can be appealed to. This may prove difficult in the United States where the national

identity is rooted in the public sphere. We are a nation founded on the ideal of the respect of

individuals. This is well intended, but if not met by the greater justice of community can lead to

heartless law enforcement founded on violence and pain.

It is the hope and aim of this movement, at least of me in this hopeful movement, to see

the emergence of a judicial process rooted in bringing individuals to meet with each other and

seek peace rather than or prior to taking to court. It would be reasonable if this were simply an

optional path to be pursued after a conviction is reached. In South Africa the TRC served to

foster restoration between the sides or apartheid and offered amnesty to those who partook. A

similar system entered into Northern Ireland, in Ireland, however, there was nothing to ensure

amnesty and according to N.T. Wright’s mention of the process in his book The Problem of Evil

and the Justice of God many of those who sought this path did so after having served time. The

hope is for life to spring up in the midst of relationships in ruins. If there could be a governmental

agency devoted to this process it would be wonderful. If there could only be a national

association looking to mediate between victims and perpetrators that would still be a wonderful

starting point and perhaps with that a judge here or there might see this as a better option.

The basic framework for a process would be as follows. The TRC (or whatever

organization this may become) would contact victims of crimes and perpetrators. If both parties

agree counseling would begin. During these initial contacts the victim would be able to specify

the damage done. As the victim was comfortable and as the perpetrator appeared ready to hear

of this hurt the hurt would be conveyed. This would be followed by the long process of telling the

story of the wrong done. Both sides would be counseled through telling their story till healing

began. When eventually both are in a position to tell the story to each other they would be

brought into contact on the terms most comfortable for the victim. The victim would get to tell his

or her story to the one who wronged him or her and name the hurt and if willing hear from the

one who wronged him or her. This would lead to the step of forgiveness and possibly

sentencing. This is a difficult step. When a crime is committed against another human being that

human being is harmed. That individual may know best in what way, or he or she may still be

vindictive. In the first scenario he or she may be able to suggest something that could lead to

healing, in the other he or she may act not in health, but anger. It is not desirable to have

conditional forgiveness as this is hardly forgiveness, but an act of restoration would be in order

and this may be well negotiated in person. (For instance if an individual litters profusely this

individual could be fined which may or may not undo the harm done, but would inconvenience

the perpetrator, or he or she may be made to pick up litter, or he or she may be tasked with

caring for the earth and possibly relating to it more.) Finally, when forgiveness is reached be this

through an action of restoration or good will the two would have a choice to renew the

relationship and begin a new chapter or release the relationship.

A movement like this would bring those who believe in peace, I hope. I think a number of

incarcerated individuals would seek this. Individuals who have done damage through driving

under the influence have already connected with the process. I would hope that this could enter

as an option that Christians would jump to be behind. I think that would be difficult, however,

many christians believe that justice and security should outway forgiveness. This is not the

picture we get from the gospel.

I would hope that civil rights advocates and the ACLU and all who work civil rights cases

would be allied with this. This was the method to begin healing after South Africa’s Apartheid

and I believe the means by which genuine healing may actually come to this country. There

would be many MADD parents who would be opposed to something of this kind, but perhaps

others who would like to seek the chance to forgive the individuals who took their children from

them. The wide array of victims and perpetrators would yield those seeking the freedom of

forgiveness and those who would be against it. I think the Occupy Movements would be a hard

sell, but if they could see straight they may see how this is a stronger way to overcome Wall

Street and corporate corruption.

The foundational strategy would be communication. A comprehensive, but easy to

approach text would be a helpful tool. This would outline examples of Restorative Justice

elsewhere from the TRC of South Africa to similar practices in Ireland to the unique system in

New Zealand. It would identify specific areas where this may be approachable. It would have an

underlying thesis arguing for the community of the world and the nation and not just the public

interaction of it. This book would then accompany speakers who would go wherever possible to

students.

In addition I would seek to make contact with families of victims and perpetrators who

would be willing to go through the process of reconciling through Desmond Tutu’s Fourfold

Path. Though we would never want to turn people away I would try and seek cases that might

gain attention so that the story that the media show and the the social media tell might be a

story of hope and renewal rather than hate. The struggle is against the tendency of people to

respond to negative reaction more strongly than proactive action. While this is to an extent

against retributive justice it is fully for restoration. It would be harder to promote pro-action, but it

would not be possible to maintain integrity and be reactive.

I cannot underestimate the importance of regular publications to promote communication

within a movement and to promote the movement with others. Written word is still important in

this age and so a regular blog would be maintained, but more than that a careful planned and

artfully done youtube channel could do a lot to draw people in. This channel might discuss a

variety of issues related to this one. It would be a way to speak to the concerns of allies while

also communicating our aims. Further I would seek individuals to be present on the real hearts

of the internet the meme and blogging sites like reddit, tickld, tumblr, even 4chan. It has struck

me how powerful the internet communities on these sites could be if they were mobilized.

The most important campaigning field would be the church, though. Restorative Justice

is the work of forgiveness and forgiveness is a movement by God above all else. It would be

important to be present at conferences. It would be important to be grabbing the ears of

presidents of these and superintendents and bishops. If even the church alone can live in a way

of restoration then the world can be changed and this social movement will be a success.

Finally we would lobby. We would lobby judges and voters. We would lobby towns. Our

country will struggle to administer communally grounded justice, we do not have a national

community. Eventually there would be the hope that restorative justice could be the national

norm and recognized constitutionally as a more able partner to the retributive system as it

exists. There is after all a place for retributive justice, but it should be limited. If electable judges

face voters who want a system that encourages communication between victims and

perpetrators then they may be more inclined to do so.

This social movement will not succeed in my lifetime as I would hope for it to. As Bishop

Ken Untener of Saginaw puts it we are only ever a “step along the way to a future not our own.”

I am not looking to save the world or change it more than I am given the peace to I merely wish

to work to encourage people to forgive rather than sue. To love rather than to hate. I will

measure success with each case. If a single pairing of parties is able to come together in peace

where others would live with hatred then that will be success. If many do that is still better. If a

single community adopts a practice where the first thing that is done when a crime occurs is a

step to heal then it will be a success. If the United States can establish a program by which

victims and perpetrators and rioters and looters and police officers can all come together to

meet and talk to seek love and peace then that will be total success. An established committee

focused on Truth and Reconciliation would be the largest scale goal, but the small matters

would be success enough. If it is enough for angels to rejoice it is enough for me to rejoice as

well.