BCC in the Carolina Peacemaker

by the Beloved Community Center

Dec. 21, 2007

[The BCC's trip to South Africa was featured in the below article in the Carolina Peacemaker. You can link to the article on the Peacemakers website here.]

Beloved Center members journey to South Africa
by Jeanna Covington, Carolina Peacemaker

A blanket of clouds gathers atop a mountain. The view from ground up resembles a white cloth draped upon a table. And after the clouds rescind from the mountain, the apex favors a profile of a human face.

The water from the coast is a bright blue, the artwork, ubiquitous, and shantytowns are flanked by summer vacation homes.

Women disc jockeys play music and provide commentary in a women-owned radio station.

Mothers meet with world leaders and view footage of a process charged to identify the exhumed bodies of loved ones.

These were some of the images seen by a 23-member delegation, led by Rev. Nelson and Joyce Johnson of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, on a recent trip to South Africa.

“It was a beautiful, powerful and most meaningful trip,” said Rev. Johnson who traveled, with his wife and Lewis Brandon, coordinator of grassroots history at the Center met with the Peacemaker on the morning of Monday, Dec. 10 and spoke of their experiences in the country.
The travelers, associated with the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project (GTCRP), were ages 7-80. They landed in Johannesburg on Nov. 13 and returned to Greensboro on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

Naomi Tutu, a daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, resides part-time in the U.S., and accompanied them on a tour of her homeland.

The trip was funded by an award received by the Johnson’s in 2005 for their work as two of the initiators of the GTCRP. The Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award provided organizational support for the Beloved Community Center and funding for further leadership development and learning for the Johnson’s. The couple decided to travel with colleagues, families and friends to South Africa —home of the Truth and Reconciliation Initiative of which the Greensboro process is based.

On Nov. 3, 1979, in Greensboro’s former Morningside Homes neighborhood, Ku Klux Klan and Nazi members opened fire on demonstrators during a “Death to the Klan” rally led by the Communist Worker’s Party. Five individuals were killed and 10 wounded. Television camera crews and print journalists were on hand to provide coverage of the rally. The shootings were captured on film.

However, the Klan and Nazi members were acquitted of all charges in two criminal trials in which they claimed self-defense. Six years later, in a civil trial, they and police were found liable for one of the deaths.

The GTCRP was organized in 2003 by citizens hoping to renew meaningful dialogue about the tragedy of Nov. 3, 1979 and bring truth, justice, reconciliation and healing to the city.

In June 2004, the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (GTRC) was formed, becoming the first truth and reconciliation commission in the U.S.

A 529-page report that examines the Nov. 3, 1979 event was released by the GTRC in May 2006 on the campus of Bennett College for Women.

The delivery of the document was deemed by some members in the community as the end of the truth process, according to Rev. Johnson.

However, “It is truly the...beginning,” he said. “People have to think of the Truth work as a process where the community lays a foundation on which to work. And we believe Greensboro is really in the early stages of that point.”

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SATRC) was established in South Africa following the end of apartheid—a system of legalized racial segregation in an era that lasted from 1948-1994. Public hearings were held to allow individuals to speak out against violence done to them and/or others. Perpetrators could also speak and request amnesty from prosecution.

The Greensboro group during their visit stayed in the urban area of Soweto, located in the City of Johannesburg, in Gauteng, and on the same street as the homes of former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.

Across the street from where the Johnson’s resided was the Soweto residence of Archbishop Tutu. His wife, Leah Nomalizo, of more than 50 years, served as their host. The Archbishop was attending business in the U.S. during the delegation’s trip. He served as chairman of the SATRC, the court-like body based in Cape Town.

The group had several meetings scheduled, but unfortunately missed their first with South African President Thabo Mbeki - cancelled due to the group’s 24-hour flight delay. However, members of the delegation took part in several formal and informal meetings throughout their stay and visited various sites.

While sightseeing on top of Table Mountain, a flattop mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town, some ran into members of the African National Congress, South Africa’s governing party, and discussed labor movements.

They visited the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto and spoke with Antoinette Sithole, the sister of whom the museum is named. Pieterson was killed at the age of 13 during the 1976 Sowetto uprising in apartheid South Africa. Black students were protesting on June 16, 1976 a government decree that in addition to English, classes be taught in Afrikaans — the language of the apartheid government which oppressed the black South African population.

The delegation also met with Alex Boraine, chairperson of the International Center for Transitional Justice and the former deputy chair of the South Africa TRC. Boraine praised the GTCRP for its uniqueness. Other than Taiwan, Greensboro is the only other place in the world, according to GTRCP documents, which has a community-driven truth process.

In Cape Town, they visited the Desmond Tutu Peace Center, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, and the Trauma Center for Survivors of Violence and Torture. Issues were addressed concerning the psychological, social and medical effects apartheid has had on so many individuals, especially women, who are more concerned with the health of their loved ones than of themselves, according to GTRCP documents. Finding missing persons and educating individuals about the atrocities are also issues still being dealt with by post-SATRC members.

And 7.7 miles off the coast, where Mandela was kept in exile the delegation members found themselves on Robben Island and in front of the cell Mandela stayed in for 18 years. He was a political prisoner 27 years.

“I was really overwhelmed to tears,” said Joyce Johnson about visiting the jail.

The group also visited various restaurants, an all women-owned and run radio station; viewed a South African step show; danced; and built relationships.

The Johnson’s said going to South Africa was like a going home for them, especially for their youngest granddaughter who they say is known to be shy, but couldn’t stop talking once the plane landed.

“It’s almost a mystery,” said Rev. Johnson. “But a beautiful one,” he said about his granddaughter breaking out of her shell.

Members of the Greensboro delegation were able to share with their counterparts in South Africa experiences of their respective truth and reconciliation processes and of themselves. They were able to learn from each other.

For Joyce Johnson, the trip was deeply affirming: “Over and over we received affirmation and thanks.”

“I think they took courage from us and we took it from them.”

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