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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-26-2023 Human Rights CommissionHuman Rights Commission September 26, 2023 Regular Meeting — 5:30 PM Emma J. Harvat Hall, City Hall Agenda: 1. Call the meeting to order and roll call 2. Reading of Native American Land Acknowledgement 3. Approval of the August 22, 2023, meeting minutes 4. Public comment on items not on the agenda. (Commentators shall address the Commission for no more than 5 minutes. Commissioners shall not engage in discussion with the public or one another concerning said items) 5. Correspondence 6. Updates on Outreach and Engagement by the Police Department �. Racial Equity & Social Justice Grant • Organizations & Commissioner list for Fiscal Year 2023 Community & AI-Iman (Maliabo) Center for Worker Justice (Kollasch) Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County (Ismail) Great Plains Action Society (Jons, Paul Shantz) Wright House of Fashion (Lusala) Natural Talent Music (Pandya) • Informational Session for 2024 via Zoom Wednesday, November 8, 6 -7:15 p.m. Wednesday, November 15, 12-1:15 p.m. 8. Collaboration with Recreation Department on Upcoming Programs • Indigenous Peoples Day, October 9 (Paul Shantz, Jons) • Mental Health Celebration, October 14 (Maliabo, Pandya) • All Around the World, November 18 (Lusala, Jons, Maliabo) 9. Commission Committees • Building Bridges (Maliabo, Paul Shantz, Pandya) • Reciprocal Relationships (Lusala, Channon, Jons) • Breaking Bread (Kollasch, Pries, Ismail) 10. Human Rights Breakfast Ceremony • Selections • Introduction, Award Presentation, Closing 11. Staff Announcements 12. Commissioner Announcements (Commissioners shall not engage in discussion with one another concerning said announcements) 13. Adjournment Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all City of Iowa City - sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in these events, please contact the Office of Equity and Human Rights at 319-356-5022 or human rig hts(a,)iowa-city.org. Agenda Item #2 Native American Land Acknowledgement Prepared for the City of Iowa City{s Ad Hoc Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Human Rights Commission PURPOSE Iowa City owes its existence to the many Indigenous Peoples who were the original stewards of this rand and who were subjected to manipulation and violence by non-native settlers, invaders, and governments in order to make this moment possible. Acknowledgement of this truth is central to our work toward reconciliation across all barriers of difference and injustice. Starting with aM Native American Land Acknowledgement, this Commission will bear witness to the legacies of violent displacement, migration, and settlement that have marginalized those who were the first inhabitants of this land. We must also address the mistreatment and exclusion that Native Americans continue to face today. The Aid Hoc Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Human Rights Commission encourage the community and City of Iowa City to join us in these efforts through the use of a Native American Land Acknowledgement. LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To be head at all public meetings and events: "we meet today in the community of Iowa City, which now occupies the homelands of Native American Nations to whoa we owe our commitment and dedication. The area of Iowa City was within the homelands of the Iowa, Plekwaki, and Sauk, and because history is complex and time goes far back beyond memory, we also acknowledge the ancient connections of many other Indigenous Peoples here. The history of broken treaties and forced removal that dispossessed Indigenous Peoples of their homelands was and is an act of colonization and genocide that we can not erase. We implore the Iowa Citycommunity t commit to understanding and addressing these injustices as we work toward equity, restoration, and reparations."' LEARN MORE Native Governance Center Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement US Department of Alerts and Culture: Honor Native Land Virtual Resources and Guide Meskwaki Nation - History p ciol thanks to the University of Iowa Native American Councilfor their work and guidclnce, as well a members of the public, for their input. Agenda Item #3 Draft Minutes Human Rights Commission August 22, 2023 Emma J. Harvat Hall Commissioners present: Jahnavi Pandya, Doug Kollasch, Kelsey Paul Shantz, Sylvia Jons, Suyun Channon. Commissioners absent: Bijou Maliabo, Ahmed Ismail, Roger Lusala. Staff present: Stefanie Bowers. Recommendation to City Council: No. Meeting called to order: 5:32 PM. Native American Land Acknowledgement: Paul Shantz read the Land Acknowledgement. Approval of meeting minutes of June 27, 2023: Kollasch moved, and Paul Shantz seconded. Motion passed 5-0. Sponsorship Request: The commission approved $250 to the Asian Pacific Islanders American Public Affair (Iowa City Chapter) for Welcoming Week. Welcoming Week is a national event where organizations and communities bring together neighbors of all backgrounds to build strong connections and affirm the importance of welcoming and inclusive places in achieving collective prosperity. Motion by Kollasch, seconded by Pries. Motion passed 5-0. Request to change the name of the Native American Land Acknowledgement to the First Nations Land Acknowledgement: Pries will send other commissioners more information as it relates to this request. Pries would like the group to compare the commission's Land Acknowledgement to that of the City Council. Staff will send out the information on how to register for the upcoming seminar being presented by Megan Red Shirt -Shaw. Racial Equity and Social Justice Grant: Three final reports from the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, MDC Iowa, and IC Compassion were reviewed. Grant informational sessions will be held on November 8 and 15. If commissioner's schedules don't work for both dates, one option will be to hold only one session, record it and make it available to the community. November 8 — Kollasch and Paul Shantz (both tentative). November 15 — Jons. Commissioners will continue to have conversations with their respective organization and arrange a time to deliver the checks. Staff will assist in providing the checks. Jons will create a template that others can use when having conversations with organizations. AI-Iman Center (Maliabo), Community (Maliabo), Center for Worker Justice (Kollasch), Houses into Homes (Pries), Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County (Ismail), Great Plains Action Society (Dons, Paul Shantz), Wright House of Fashion (Lusala), Natural Talent Music (Pandya). Commission Committees: Breaking Bread — working on a time to meet and discuss work plans. Reciprocal Relationships — working on revising their goals as a committee. Building Bridges — working on recommitting to their initiatives. Partnerships with Recreation Department: a. Mental Health Celebration — October 14, RAL Social Hall (Maliabo, Pandya) — Has not met. b. Indigenous Peoples Day — October 9, RAL Social Hall (Paul Shantz, Jons) — Planning an event in collaboration with Great Plains Action Society for October 9 at Terry Trueblood Lodge. c. All Around the World — November 18, RAL Social Hall (Lusala, Maliabo, Jons) — Has been some email correspondence that have initiated conversations. Announcements of commissioners: Jons has been appointed to serve on the board of directors for the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council (ICFRC). The ICFRC is dedicated to promoting understanding of international issues through education, connection, and engagement. Paul Shantz gave updates on the ongoing book study "Bleeding Out" by Thomas Abt and reminded commissioners that September 21 is the United Nations Association's International Day of Peace. Pandya spoke on a train the trainers program she recently participated in entitled "Problem Management Plus". Pries attended a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) meeting and reported on the work of the TRC. Kollasch noted that it has been a very busy summer and believes there is more that the HRC should be doing specifically as it relates to LGBTQ folks. Announcements of staff: The HRC celebrated its 60th anniversary on August 20. There is a program planned for September 13 featuring Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for HUD Demetria McCain and a commemorative video that will be released the first week of September. Adjourned: 6:39 PM. The meeting can be viewed at https://citychannel4.com/video.html?series=Local/20Government. wo- 00 N N O N 01 00 00 oc N O O O O O O O O W N N N N N N N N N W � � O mo po d DON'T SAY GAY, UNDERSTANDING ANTI= LOBT01A + LAW TARGETING IOWA CLASSROOMS WIDNISDAY, OCTOBIR 4 5:30 - 7:30PM MEETING ROOM A+ LIVISTRIAM Keenan Crow, Director of Policy and Advocacy of Onelowa, will present an explanation of SF 496, Iowa's new anti-LGBTQ+ education law. Find out what the law requires of schools and how parents, students, and school staff can respond. 0 onelowa ZMftig IOWA CITY sW PUBLIC LIBRARY `NtRe�E1e� t�o,>� FFESTIV KFFNAN CROW DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND ADVOCACY AT ONE IOWA 491 October 9 15 - 7:30 PM Terry Trueblood Recreation Area • Free troditionol {Native American food • A cut turo1 celebration • Leorning activities for chiJdren A short presentotion from locol Indigenous Peop _~III . 1'reffil Li i y oi IOWA U 1) CITY OF IOWA CITY A&Z Human Fights C ommimion The following documents were handed out during the meeting. From: Annie Tucker To: Stefanie Bowers Subject: Continuing your work of educating community about systemic inequity Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 1:13:37 PM Attachments: Ten Lessons We Learned about Truth and Reconciliation by The Tmth Tellina Pnoiect Medium.html A ** This email originated outside of the City of Iowa City email system. Please take extra care opening any links or attachments. ** Dear Stefanie and Human Rights Commissioners, I have an idea I would like to share. It is related to the work I see you doing and the work of the Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). I appreciate the educational programming you provide. I am wondering if you would be interested in considering showing videos that highlight systemic inequity. There are probably many to choose from. I am most familiar with three: White Privilege 101, is comprised of footage of presenters and attenders at two years of the White Privilege Conference, which started in Iowa. It has instructions for post -viewing processing. Two other videos our nonprofit (Mediation Services of Eastern Iowa) has shown locally are from WorldTrust: Cracking the Codes and Healing Justice. Both can be found at httns://www.world-trust.org/films-1. We no longer have the DVD's for these locally. These also have free conversation guides available online. I think providing information on systemic inequity is always useful. I recently saw a quote that had me realize more fully the relationship between awareness of systemic inequity and the work of the TRC. (The duties of the TRC can be found here: httns://www.icizov.ore/eovemment/boards-commissions-and-committees/ad-hoc-truth- and-reconciliation-commission) The following quote is from an article, Ten Lessons We Learned about Truth and Reconciliation by the Truth Telling Project by David Ragland, Melinda Salazar, Imani Michelle Scott, Eduardo Gonzalez and Arthur Romano. David and Eduardo and Melinda are part of the facilitation team consulting with the IC TRC. The quote follows. The article is attached. Here is the quote. 1. The notion of reconciliation must be clarified before it can be accepted and implemented as an outcome of truth telling. On a very basic level, the concept of reconciliation is often linked to relationships and the idea of reuniting individuals and/or communities following some disagreement or discord. This idea is in effect nonsensical and in fact disturbing in those circumstances where there never was accord between people and communities, i.e., the capture of Africans who were brought to America to serve as slaves and experience other horrendous forms of oppression. However, where the concepts of "truth and reconciliation" are considered as a unit, reconciliation involves a coming to agreement about truth. Consequently, engaging in TRC-likened truth telling processes in the U.S. supports opportunities for the oppressed and the oppressors to come to agreement about the "original sins" and the perpetual harms, i.e., theft of life, liberty and land, Jim Crow, redlining, gentrification, police violence and other forms of structural racism — of those sins. Along those same lines, truth telling processes involves a coming to agreement about ways to support healing and repair related to the consequences of those harms. All of this quote seems important to me. I have highlighted the sentence that seems to indicate something that can be worked on: increasing the openness to hearing and recognizing the truth. I think your ongoing community education is part of preparing the community for openness and recognition of the truth, including the truths that will be told by community members in opportunities provided by the TRC and the truths that will be evident by the fact-finding the TRC will do. I wonder if you would consider viewing these videos and perhaps decide to include them in your community education. Perhaps you could make the videos available to organizations/churches/groups that could show them to their members or staff. (The World Trust videos are available to purchase as a streaming option. I wonder if that means if you own it, you can provide the stream link and the discussion guides to other organizations.) In any case, thank you for the good works you are doing. I just wanted to share this idea/opportunity with you all. Annie Tucker Ten Lessons We Learned about Truth and Reconciliation The Truth Telling Project Follow 11 min read Jul 30, 2020 David Ragland, Melinda Salazar, Imani Michelle Scott, Eduardo Gonzalez and Arthur Romano In the days and months following the murder of Michael Brown, Jr., killed by a Ferguson police officer in 2014, hundreds of activists, teachers, scholars and practitioners joined together to by their work in restorative justice, turned their attention to Ferguson as a flashpoint urging us toward a truth and reconciliation process in America to address racism and white supremacy. At that time, it was believed by many community leaders throughout the U.S. that the murder of Mike Brown and the worldwide attention it garnered offered this nation an opportunity to engage in a long-awaited reckoning with regard to racial injustice and subsequently, a necessary healing for its victims. It was in this milieu and without much funding that The Truth Telling Project (TTP) was launched. Intended as a powerful grassroots effort to design, implement and support community — led truth telling processes across the U.S., one of the primary goals for TTP was to offer families and friends of those victimized and killed by police a safe and welcoming space to tell their stories and share their truths. These truth telling processes served as an adaptation of Truth Commissions like that most prominently known in response to South African Apartheid. Generally, Truth Commissions are a type of social peace initiative dedicated to unearthing truths about past injustices and supporting national unification and reconciliation; they are usually implemented after a society's long-term experiences with government -sanctioned violence. Truth and reconciliation processes have been implemented with increasing frequency by nations to achieve social healing and reconciliation in societies where systems of human rights abuses manifest wounded communal groups and persistent social conflict. Since 1974 in one form or another, 40-plus truth and reconciliation processes have been held throughout the world, including those in: Germany, South Africa, Peru, Morocco, Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone, Guatemala, Honduras, Chile, Argentina, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Haiti and Canada. Even so, despite the hundreds of years and millions of lives impacted by endemic and systemic government -sanctioned policies and practices causing human rights abuses in the United States, no implementation of formal, government -sanctioned programs to suggest the type of transitional or restorative justice apparent following most international truth and reconciliation processes has been made in this country. Consequently, there has long been a necessity for non -state sanctioned initiatives, like that intended by The Truth Telling Project, to be implemented in the U.S. To be sure,the international outpouring of grief and protest in response to Mike Brown's murder prompted an insistence within the Ferguson, MO community in particular, for truth telling first and foremost. This exhortation for truth telling was exacerbated by persistent occurrences of lethal police violence against unarmed blacks throughout the U.S. Consequently, it was within this environment of perpetual police violence and community outcry that TTP initiated its truth -telling activities. To begin, we met with community members throughout Ferguson and St. Louis, MO to learn how we might best support their needs for truth telling and healing. In the process of these meetings we learned that beyond telling their stories, many wanted witnesses to their experiences to also share what they observed as a way to further document truth and help build a case for the need to fight against racial injustice. After these initial meetings, we held a series of community events where stories were collected, documented and shared. And we have continued this process through our "Night of a Thousand Conversations" and "It's time to listen" campaigns. Today, nearly six years since the murder of Mike Brown and five years since the inaugural work of The Truth Telling Project, the degree to which blacks in the U.S. are confronted with systemic racism and its deadly consequences has only intensified, especially in light of the inequalities made apparent through the advent of the COVID-19 crisis. Currently, the black community in the U.S. is confronted with the deadly realities of two public health crises: Racism and COVID-19. In the midst of these crises, we are intertwined in a series of mass protests responding to the recent police murders of George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Sean Reed, and Breonna Taylor; the violent federal response of dispatching militarized police and forces against peaceful protesters — including Trump's Deployment of federal agents who have "disappeared" activists, and alarming levels of unemployment leading to shelter- and food insecurities near depression levels. What is as apparent today as it was in 2014 is that the U.S. is still in dire need of truth telling processes to allow communities to share their truths about the dire consequences of systemic racism as a means to prompt repair for its perpetual damages. The U.S. owes its citizens of color genuine and concerted opportunities to heal from this nation's "original sins" of slavery and genocide as perpetuated today through systemic racism and a criminal justice system frought with over policing, police abuses, profiling, and arrest and sentencing disparities. Consequently, conversations about widespread transitional and restorative justice processes that were ignited during the Ferguson movement are now gaining new momentum. We propose to embrace this moment by helping community leaders and activists to understand the power in truth telling processes, and we believe these processes will find a welcomed space in community, faith, educational and neighborhood centers throughout the U.S. Based on our lessons learned through offering truth telling spaces and forums, we are pleased to share the following ten points reflecting our experiences learning, designing and implementing truth telling processes to address the consequences of systemic racism at the community level. i. Truth and Reconciliation Processes must focus on highlighting urgent truths of the American Racial Caste system and the intersecting issues that impact Black Indigenous and POC (BIPOC) communities encompassing today's widespread The organizers of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRC) and other restorative processes in South Africa, Greensboro, North Carolina, Maine, Canada, and Northern Ireland were able to address urgent truths that the larger society was unwilling to address. Over time, some of these TRC initiatives have had a lasting and informative impact on our understanding of truth telling processes. Yet, today feels different because we have learned that the processes and policies we create and put in place must address structural inequalities present in every BIPOC community in the U.S., as well as the direct violence being waged by local and federal law enforcement against these communities. 2. The notion of reconciliation must be clarified before it can be accepted and implemented as an outcome of truth telling. On a very basic level, the concept of reconciliation is often linked to relationships and the idea of reuniting individuals and/or communities following some disagreement or discord. This idea is in effect nonsensical and in fact disturbing in those circumstances where there never was accord between people and communities, i.e., the capture of Africans who were brought to America to serve as slaves and experience other horrendous forms of oppression. However, where the concepts of "truth and reconciliation" are considered as a unit, reconciliation involves a coming to agreement about truth. Consequently, engaging in TRC-likened truth telling processes in the U.S. supports opportunities for the oppressed and the oppressors to come to agreement about the "original sins" and the perpetual harms, i.e., theft of life, liberty and land, Jim Crow, redlining, gentrification, police violence and other forms of structural racism — of those sins. Along those same lines, truth telling processes involves a coming to agreement about ways to support healing and repair related to the consequences of those harms. 3. Reparations is the midpoint between Truth and Reconciliation. Increasingly, the people of this nation are coming to understand that the healing being sought in TRC processes must include reparations. Covid-19 has lifted the veil to reveal how economic inequality influences health, education, debt and long term structural poverty. These structural conditions continuously retraumatizes descendants of slavery and genocide. Without reparations as the midpoint, truth and reconciliation processes cannot reconcile the harm done and cannot contribute to making this nation whole. That is to say, reparations are necessary and would represent a peace treaty. In fact, current movements and communities across the US are calling for reparations. To fail to hear this call constitutes a failure to address one of the original sins of the US from which every white person has benefited from regardless of their ancestral connection to the transatlantic slave trade. 4. White People need to learn the truth about US history and listen to Black, Indigenous, and other Peoples of Color's (BIPOC) diverse experiences of systemic racism and discrimination. The Black and White power construct is not universal in every community. In some communities, Indigenous people are victimized differently, specifically by the white settler colonizer class. In other communities, anti -blackness among various non -Black communities of color, such as in the LatinX, Asian American and/or Islamic American communities, is an internalization of racism. While BIPOC communities experience similar forms of oppression, they are very different. As a result, when speaking about Black trauma, it is important to avoid derailing conversations by white insistence that other non Black racialized groups are not being discussed in that particular instance. This is a tactic that centers whiteness and white fragility. In my organizing community, we are committed to intersectional, decentralized, women and LGBTQIA plus — centered organizing and movement building. BIPOC communities are organizing internally to address and support each other's identity centered issues. 5. Truth processes must utilize decolonial, intersectional, LGBTQIA, feminist and climate justice focused frameworks emerging from current social discourses that acknowledges the generations of on the ground activism and organizing that contributes to our understanding. Dr. Fania Davis (2019) notes that the activism and restorative justice work must be connected to the work on -the -ground as they offer important and related insight to social transformation. Dr Davis argues in "Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice" that racial justice must be a core dimension of how restorative justice is understood. In this sense, restorative justice and racial justice activism, especially in this movement, must be closely aligned and connected to any truth and reconciliation process. 6. Truth and Reparations processes must be localized to focus on the complicity and use of unjust law enforcement, discrimination and policy at every level of government from town, city and region. Each community needs their own decentralized, but networked truth telling process where communities can first engage with each other separately, and then between and amongst each other in fluid ways. Every community has people who are working toward justice for those targeted by the racial, gender or political majority. The local level must translate to interdependence with a decentralized national effort, given the role of federal policies, national trends and corporations that have local impact. 7. All of the Truth must be told and racialized groups from communities targeted must have space and be supported in telling their truths telling in ways that their trauma is not on display. Because truth processes require honesty and accountability there must be affinity spaces along racial identity lines in preparation for honest dialogue about history and present conditions. No singular community should not be expected to hold pain and be on view for everyone. As a result, having separate affinity, therapeutic and healing spaces available until truth — tellers are ready to speak in front of multiracial groups is necessary. In the early days of Ferguson, Truth Telling Project organizers hosted spaces so white people could talk freely and be educated so they would not be a part of further traumatization when brought to multiracial hearing spaces. 8. We need a culture of repair. If we want social transformation, white people must have a personal stake in Truth and Reparations processes. Policies at every level of government privilege white families with access to loans, land, education centering their perspective, presence of protection without harassment and attention by law enforcement. Consequently, white people have systematically benefited from violence against black people. No one act of kindness or one check will ever be enough, but support from white communities help to restore what was taken, not only during slavery, but in housing, employment discrimination, and in the countless other ways racism has plagued this nation. This is a partial repair, a beginning. Social transformation of this society begins with an understanding that actions taken now can play a role in repairing the past, and those actions over time can make us stronger. Reparations are not just for black people. White folk, and others who have benefited from oppression, have the greatest access to their humanity only through these truth and repair processes. This is necessary because there must be accountability for the racial harm of slavery and the world build through the enslavement of millions of Africans. There can not be an expectation for Black people to accept apologies, heal when the behavior is systemic and continuing, or forgive perpetrators, and those who benefit from Black suffering without full repair. Reparations are also rooted in mental, physical and spiritual healing. Restitution, return of what was stolen includes shifting culture and educating about the real history. Compensation, cash, as well as guaranteeing that the practices, behaviors and policies that created the harm do not repeat. Read the series on reparations in Yes magazine for more information. Click here to read more. 9. Racial capitalism is the problem. As a matter of practice and culture, money and its blind pursuit despite the moral implications has become a sacred act in American society, and as a result it must be on the table. This is why scholars argue that if white people want racial reconciliation they should engage in reparations processes. Yet, in this moment of movements, truth and reparations processes cannot be only about closing the racial wealth gap, this challenging time must call the system of capitalism in question. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. argued that if we fail to change away from the triplets of evil militarism, racism and materialism, our society will implode. The triplets of evil are interconnected and reliant on the American system of racialized capitalism, where anything is possible and even good, if it makes money. The theft of land, indigenous genocide, and sale and misuse of black bodies during and after the end of the US slave trade were the original inputs into the capitalist system. Capitalism requires never-ending inputs, which include the exploitation of workers, theft of more land through gentrification, colonialism that continues in places like Palestine, and extraction from a finite set of resources that can not be replaced and cause harm to mostly BIPOC communities. Ending capitalism must underlie our thinking in any truth and reparations process. Click here to read more. io. Truth -telling and reparations are a reality and already happening. When I have conversations on social media or with people who are not tuned into these conversations, many act as if I am talking about something unrealistic, or not possible. But many communities have gotten their act together to work on addressing the root causes of ongoing trauma for communities marginalized by racist, violence and exploitation. A few examples from around this country of reparations work include: Providence, R.I mayor recently passed an executive order for a Truth and Reparations process. Read more here; Asheville, NC has passed reparations legislation; California's Assembly recently passed a reparations bill; Rep. Barbara Lee unveiled the House Bill "Urging the establishment of a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation." David Ragland is one of the Co -Founder and Co -Director of the Truth Telling Project and Director of the Grassroots Reparations Campaign; Melinda Salazar is also a Co -Director of the Truth Telling Project and Founder and Director of the Seacoast Peace Academy; Imani Michelle Scott is a Truth Telling Project board member, scholar and consultant in the areas of human communication, conflict analysis and peacebuilding. Having worked fervently for the last two decades to advance the causes of peace, social justice and equity throughout the world, she has been honored to share the national and international stage with esteemed human and civil rights activists; Eduardo Gonzalez is a human rights consultant and sociologist, specialized in transitional justice. A Peruvian national, he participated in his country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at the end of a twenty-year internal armed conflict. Later, as an expert, he contributed to the establishment and operations of truth and reconciliation processes in about 20 countries, providing technical and strategic advice. Arthur Romano is a Truth Telling Project board member and Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution at the George Mason University Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter School of Conflict Resolution. 19 1 Written by The Truth Telling Project 353 Followers We implement & sustain grassroots, community -centered truth -telling processes to share local voices & educate for structural change & the elimination of racism. Follow More from The Truth Telling Project National Night Out. City High Day in the Life of Police Officer/EMS. Welcome Festival Event Mercer Park. ROTC Stair Climb 9/11. Kirkwood Community College Interview Process. Climate Fest BOLT. Community Violence Intervention. Linn County Detention Advisory. Guinness Book Pink Ribbon. Tre Hall new Community Outreach Specialist. RAGBRAI and BNC Breakfast story.