Help Eliminate Racial Disparities with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Save to Favorites

The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) is a Los Angeles non-profit organization that focuses its work on the civil and human rights of insular minorities and vulnerable communities.

Our organization initiates and conducts impact class action litigation, provides technical support to other providers of legal services, and engages in advocacy work on selected issues impacting vulnerable low-income groups with legal injuries. Several of our projects are described at our web sites: www.centerforhumanrights.org and www.casa-libre.org.

CHRCL is currently seeking volunteers and interns who are committed to creating significant social change in advocating for human rights. Belief in the importance of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions has been shared by many faith-based and political leaders around the world. The use of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions ("TRCs") and equivalent bodies, such as truth projects, appears to be accelerating. In the last thirty years, at least thirty-two TRCs have been established in twenty-eight countries, and half of these have been launched in the last decade. TRCs are independent bodies that help communities address problems together. TRCs essentially recommend legislative remedies to social, political and economic problems. The issues Truth and Reconciliation Commissions have addressed in the past include racial, cultural and religious disparities and past wrongs in many countries. Traditionally, Truth and Reconciliation Commission's seek to affect positive social change using good will, understanding, healing, and compassion -- the antithesis of violence or illegal means to achieve social accountability and change. Our project involves exploring whether a Truth and Reconciliation Commission can be established to explore the roots of slavery and its impact on African American communities today. Interns and volunteers will perform duties as needed, including, but not limited to, conducting extensive research into both the history of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions as well as racial disparities in various aspects of American life, assisting staff with drafting of reports on related subjects, or building awareness in the community of the need for a Truth and Reconciliation commission.