Critical Reflection #7: Steps Toward Transitional Justice
According to the Direct, Structural, and Cultural violence video posted by HarvardX, “structural violence represents the systematic ways in which some groups are hindered from equal access to opportunities to goods and services that enable the fulfillment of basic human needs” (2017). For example, marginalized groups of people, such a low-income and people of color (POC) may have restricted access to necessary resources such as education and health care. When Paul Farmer discusses the notion accompaniment, he is speaking to the idea of “…sticking with a task until it’s deemed completed by the person or people being accompanied, rather than by the accompagnateur” (Farmer, 2011). In other words, when working with oppressed and underserved populations, it’s important for those being assisted to acknowledge the end of the task, rather than the person providing the service. For example, at the Ritter Center, if a community member is homeless and needs help finding temporary or permanent housing, the task isn’t complete until the community member considers it to be. When looking at accompaniment as a policy, I see it as policy makers getting input from the people that will be impacted from the policy. Paul Farmer (2011) discusses an idea of what accompaniment as a policy would look like after the Haiti earthquake. He states that “there was an outpouring of humanitarian relief after the quake…”, yet “…almost none of the direct relief money went to Haitian authorities, and very few of the reconstruction contracts are going to Haitian firms…” (Farmer, 2011). Although the United States donated a lot of money to help aid the devastating effects of the quake, there was a disconnect from the actual civilians and officials in Haiti. By having an open dialogue between both parties, the U.S. could have better assisted Haiti.
Tervalon and Murray-Garcia (1998) stated that “cultural humility incorporates a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation, and self-critique, to redress power imbalances…” One of the most significant aims of the cultural humility model is that it attempts to emphasize the point of institutional accountability. Transitional justice aims to “directly address past abuses, and rails against the tendency in politics to ‘forget and move on’” (Desmond & Page, 2018).Therefore, having structural-level understanding of power dynamics is crucial to understanding transitional justice because those in higher power have to realize the impact of their power. Those who hold more power in relationships with power imbalances have more opportunities to correct past doings. If those who hold a lot of power aren’t able to realize their impact, it would be hard to even grasp the concept of transitional justice.
I think the Ritter Center has taken small steps to address issues on the level of transitional justice. Although the Ritter Center is not a huge organization and only serves one community, by providing food and housing assistance, they are giving back to those who have been impacted by these issues. I think another step the Ritter Center could take, if they haven’t already done so, would be to get involved with policy makers in Marin County. By getting involved with these elected officials, they could have a greater impact on the “past abuses” many of the community members have faced.
