How Honest Do We Want to Be? A Journey through my Human

“We all face death in the end. But on the way, be aware to never hurt a human heart.”
– Rumi

The New Appeal For Human Rights

Before I came to Atlanta I decided to be a good student and read the recommended material. The piece that got me was the article about “A New Appeal for Human Rights,” written by a coalition of student activists in Atlanta. In the preamble of “A New Appeal for Human Rights,” the students declared: “We, as students who belong to Black, Latinx, Asian, Undocumented, Muslim, LGBTQIA+, and ally communities, have formed a coalition in Atlanta to assert our human rights and resist structures and assumptions that criminalize our existence.” (1)

The New Appeal for Human Rights is a second of its kind. The first one was issued on 1960 written by Dr Roslyn Pope, President of the Student Body of Spelman College, and signed by student leaders of the Atlanta Student Movement.

The moment I read the article, I could feel my heart beating faster as the first thought that crossed my mind was: “Finally it is happening, finally we are together, finally we are majority!”

But as we spoke on the first day of John Lewis Fellowship Program, “we don’t see the world as it is, but as we are.“ The New Appeal for Human Rights is my subjective wish of how I would like to see the world, but very soon I realized that not everyone shares my opinion and that people—due to their different experiences, different traumas or inherited traumas—can be more closed and self-centered. They often want to heal only through their own community.  At first, it came to me as a “cold shower”! Wow, why are they so exclusive? Why don’t they let me in?! Very soon I was reminded of my own invisibility and started to question my beliefs, wishes and assistance of the restorative justice. There, my journey started. The John Lewis Fellowship became not only a place where I academically upgraded myself, but the place that put me back into the struggle with my inner selves.

Restorative Justice[ (2) = Illusion?

While questioning what Restorative Justice is and how it could be achieved, I asked myself: am I too naive, do I forgive too easily to those who harmed my family, my community and me?

Everything depends on our narratives, how we create them, what we want to believe and often, profit from. Dr Roslyn Pope narrated that all the racism she experienced in the United States from white people disappeared during her stay in Europe. In Europe, she was loved and respected by the same white people. It is a state of madness where after questioning yourself what is wrong with you, you start questioning the other side as well. What is wrong with them?

But for the harmed who have been under constant oppression, it is not easy to move to the second question ‘What is wrong with them‘. Very often the harmed side, after being oppressed for a long time, develops the inferiority complex where they see themselves as bad and unwanted.

Once, those who get a chance to leave the “poisoned bubble” (3) and see the other sides of the world, they come to the acknowledgment that they deserve the same respect and dignity as every other human being; they are the ones who carry the fire in their hearts and strength to stand and speak up, such as Dr. Roslyn Pope.

However, that still doesn’t give us any sure answer on how to implement Restorative Justice. Is Restorative Justice just an illusion that tries to “calm down” the harmed side and distract it from its fight? That is the case in Bosnia & Herzegovina, where  war crimes are denied along with the identity of the harmed side.

Restorative Justice In The USA

Another reason to think of restorative justice as an illusion, are the problems that the Black community and other minorities in the United States have been facing for a very long time. Now, when a new history is being written it is even less possible to see the restorative justice as something real. Traveling through history with Dr Carole Anderson and learning about all possible kinds of oppression that the Black community has been going through in the South of the United States, from Good character clause, Literacy test to Poll tax it clearly shows us as Dr. Anderson said “If there is no laws, there can’t be a violation of the constitution.” Therefore the laws are built according to the perpetrator’s needs, ignoring the others, humiliating them and keep punishing them because they educate themselves, because they ask for the equal rights, because they, who are the citizens of the United States as much as every white person, deserve the right to vote. Bearing all this in mind, Restorative Justice is naturally put in the question. Because no matter which way you choose, the perpetrator finds the way to avoid the acknowledgment and if it is necessary represents itself as a victim.

If the real numbers are challenged, than according to what Mr Mawuli Davis said “the average black family would need  228 years to build the wealth of white family today.”

How to reach Restorative Justice in this case? Is Restorative Justice just a tool of continuation of the oppression? Would it be correct to let the new generations wash up the sins of their ancestors by simply saying, they were not part of the past time? But the past time is not the past as long as the evil idea keeps living, and that is the biggest issue.

On the other hand it doesn’t mean that the harmed side won’t inherit the wish of causing the harm as their way of practicing the restorative justice and by that becoming the perpetrator. Prof David Hooker explained, that when you are being traumatized, when you are in traumagenic circumstances your moral code narrows. This doesn’t justify anyone, but explains the outcome.

The fact is that this kind of struggle is very often the one that individuals don’t get to choose. Therefore, no matter how hard or painful it could be, if we want to live in a peaceful society that grants us all freedoms; both sides, harmed and harmer need to find a way to a reconciliation. Harmed need to find ways of forgiveness, after the perpetrator acknowledged the wrong doing and once it starts finding the ways of possible restoration.

Is this possible? Is it possible to return the land, to gain the wealth of the white, rich society? I don’t have an answer to it. One thing is for sure, it will take a long time, it will take a few generations to come to the reconciliation, if it is possible. The first important thing is to keep moving toward progression is preventing new crimes, helping the hurt community to heal, prevent it from becoming the perpetrator and make sure that the perpetrator is held responsible for its wrong doings. Yes, we all could hate, history shows that is not hard for human beings to hate, but as Rix (4) said, I can’t and I won’t.

Power To People, People Are Power

The rules, definitions on which humans live upon are imaginary, made by humans and could be changed by humans. However, our imagination in the same time is our reality, it is our paradox from which we cannot escape. That’s why there has to be a constant battle of returning the power to people, giving them spaces and voices where they can speak up, be heard, and help them to learn how to listen each other stories.

I want to help my community to go out of our “poisoned bubble” and see the new worlds, the way they function and are being built, I want them to see and hear again, to never deny themselves or let others to deny them. I want them to be ready to hear the other side, because Mother is Mother, and suffering for the loss of her child cannot be measured, no matter to which side they belong.

If it is all an illusion, an imagination that gives us a power to create the world, let it be, let’s play, let’s create colors that have never been seen before, let’s create music that will destroy every noise.

I came to the end of my journey in Atlanta and I may say, after all questioning, I believe again: “When You Come For One Of Us, You Come For All Of Us” (5)

To the queen of all of the queens,
To the person who’s love is limitess, towards everyone,
To my Mother that I don’t mention too often.

ODE TO YOU WORLD!

We can relate to everything
And everyone,
Yet we end up being accepted for nothing
As no one.
Thank you all for making us feel that way,
And making our struggle harder than it is.
One of our poets used to say:
Kako bolan nema Bosne!
(How do you mean there is no Bosnia!)

If one day we decide to escape to our Narnia and
Stop trying to become visible
And loved by you…
Don’t be surprised
We all need a family to love us
We all need Love

And if we find a family in a goodness
That is opposite from yours
And then you wake up and try to see us,
Please don’t,
Don’t try to go there
Because things that are invisible to a human eye,
Are the things that are not meant to be seen anymore.
So all of you there be aware
We will always remain.
But finally intouchable, finally free
Far away from all of you
Who never cared.

May this song lead you through your dreams,
May reawake you through your dreams,
May stay with you to remind you
Of what emphathy is,
Of what selfishness is
And of what we, humans are.
Perfect in our imperfections,
Beautiful, still sad.

Maybe silly of me, maybe not
But I have always believed that
There is one God and we celebrate it in different ways.
I have always believed that
There is one race, Human race.
And what always helped us to remain alive is
Love.
Maybe silly of me, maybe not.

Until the time comes
That every blind person will see again,
I’ll continue to go to craziness
So I can escape from craziness.

References

1. Atlanta Student Coalition Releases “A New Appeal for Human Rights”, http://genprogress.org/voices/2017/05/16/45533/atlanta-student-coalition-releases-new-appeal-human-rights/
2. Restorative Justice is a way of recognition of the violations through which harmed had passed. Restorative Justice calls out the perpetrator to acknowledge its doings and help harmed not only to restore lost,, not only through the material means, but help their wounds to heal on a higher level, where they will be sure that they will be treated with the respect without any further discriminations and violations. (Sabiha Kapetanovic)
3. Your own community in which you have been prisoned.
4. Under my Hood Truth Experience
5. Atlanta Student Coalition Releases “A New Appeal for Human Rights”, http://genprogress.org/voices/2017/05/16/45533/atlanta-student-coalition-releases-new-appeal-human-rights/