Truth, Learning, and Change

Donna Bivens, Meghan Doran and Jacqui Lindsay had the honor of representing the Boston Busing/Desegregation Project November 3-5 at the seating of the first Metropolitan Detroit Truth & Reconciliation Commission on Racial Inequality. The Michigan Roundtable—the sponsoring organization —has been building toward a truth commission since 2008 through its examination of  the past injustices that led to the current state of racial segregation  in Metro Detroit. 

The seating of the Commission  commenced a fabulous conference called Race2Equity. The conference included international and local speakers who gave presentations on everything from the history of race and a place in Metro Detroit to explorations of truth processes around the world to how to write your own story.

Keynote speaker Naomi Tutu told us “Our story is our whole story. It all comes together leading to who we are today. That part that shames us and the part that makes us proud is our story. If we’re striving for justice and wholeness we must have the whole truth, the whole story. History can teach us if we listen to history.”

For those of us working on the Boston Busing/Desegregation Project it was inspiring and gave us new energy for our project for truth, learning and change. Over the next weeks we’ll be sharing some of the wonderful resources from the Conference on this blog.

This past summer the Boston Busing/Desegregation Project had the honor of having international truth project expert Eduardo Gonzalez of the International Center for Transitional Justice speak to the Learning Network about Truth seeking projects. BBDP was inspired by truth-seeking  processes around the world. We believe the Learning Network must learn about these processes in order to design one that works for Boston and for looking at the busing/desegregation era.

In his informative and fascinating talk and Q&A, Mr. Gonzalez addressed questions like: What is truth-seeking? Is it ever possible to “reach the truth” about social events?  How do you achieve the truth in a social initiative? What is a truth commission? We invite you to listen to this talk and invite your questions and comments about it.

Part 1-What is Truth Seeking?

Part 2- How Truth Can Be Achieved in a Societal Initiative