Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation: Looking back, moving forward
/It started as just another assignment. Serving as Deputy Chief of Staff in Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s (CA-13) office, I handled all judiciary related legislation, among them a resolution to create a US Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Commission. Little did I know that this resolution would not only be the culmination of all of my work in fighting for racial equity and justice, it would also change my life.
The Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Commission proposal (TRHT) aims to properly document and acknowledge America’s history of racial discrimination and inequality, both past and present, and to finally leave behind the belief in a hierarchy of human value. The process for this proper acknowledgement has already begun, with President Joe Biden announcing that he will reverse Trump’s 1776 commission via executive order. The commission, issuing its report on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, aimed at rewriting school curriculum through a conservative lens. It targeted feminism and multiculturalism, even going so far as to say the Civil Rights Movement resulted in programs that went against the ideals of America’s founding. Biden’s executive order will be an important first step in the process of understanding America’s history of inequality, a process which the TRHT could help continue.
I met with its original authors, Dr. Gail Christopher, Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter, and Mike Wenger who have been pushing this legislation long before it came across my desk. Speaking with them, witnessing their passion, and hearing about their years-long pursuit pushed me to learn more about the issue to truly understand the task at hand. The more I researched, the more I realized that this was the fight of our times, one whose time in the sun was long overdue.
As Ibram X. Kendi, historian, author and self-defined antiractist, reminds in his recent Atlantic article, “Denial is the Heartbeat of America”.“We [the American people] must stop the heartbeat of denial and revive America to the thumping beat of truth. The carnage has no chance of stopping until the denial stops.” This quote undergirds the very foundation on which TRHT stands. America cannot move forward until it faces and acknowledges its abhorrent past.
Although America maintains a hallowed history, the full truth belies a past that has championed and condoned white supremacy while turning-a-blind-eye to and/or sanctioning genocide, enslavement, internment and oppression. And yet, these atrocities, which are woven into the blood-soaked fabric of this country’s DNA and continue to devastate Black and brown communities, continue to be overlooked. We see its effects every day. Whether through deadly police force, mass-incarceration, housing discrimination, healthcare disparities, racial inequalities, environmental injustice or disproportionate poverty, America’s refusal to examine and dismantle its oppressive systems have and will continue to prevent it from ever moving forward towards healing.
The crucial first step is made by our nation finally accepting full accountability for our history of racial inequity and racism and how that history continues to hold us back. TRHT as action and framework effectuates how we can and must do this.
That is why I am calling for our inaugurated government leaders to take action. President Biden and Vice President Harris must establish a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation.
We have the political will and power to push this much needed commission. If this past year has taught us anything, it is that truth matters, especially when it is difficult, or even shameful. When we as a Nation and people are refusing and unwilling to face the truth of our past and the challenges before us, the consequences are literally life or death - which we have seen in the last few weeks.
The Commission will examine the generational effects of slavery and institutional racism against people of color and how our history impacts laws and policies today. It is an
opportunity to establish a vision of what our country will look like, feel like, and be like when we eliminate racial hierarchy and embrace our common humanity.
As both the pandemic and the most recent attacks on the Capitol have shown us all too clearly, truth, racial healing and transformation is a matter of survival.
In the words of my former boss, Congresswoman Lee, “Only by understanding our past, and confronting the errors that still haunt us today, can we truly move forward as a people and a country.”
It’s about time we start.
Shelly works on developing civic engagement and racial justice partnerships, as well as supporting stakeholders in those communities who use Instagram to further their goals. She previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, managing strategic engagement and policy reform. She was responsible for developing and advancing a proactive legislative agenda on racial equity and judiciary policy.
Shelly Marc is a Civic Engagement & Racial Justice Public Policy Manager at Instagram and former U.S. House of Representatives staffer.