“There is no justice without truth” Reverend Nelson Johnson

North Carolina, Greensboro – He said, “There is no justice without truth, and without justice, there can be no healing and reconciliation.” NC . Latin link Reverend Nelson Johnson, co-founder of the Community Project for Truth and Reconciliation and co-director of The Beloved Community in Greensboro.

“We are almost covered in lies and lies these days. We need a truth and reconciliation process,” said Joyce Johnson, co-founder of the Community Truth and Reconciliation Project and co-director of the Beloved Community in Greensboro.

The Community Truth and Reconciliation Project, which has already started in Greensboro, will be launched statewide from October 4-8.

“We will have clergy leaders from all over the country and other foreigners and keynote speakers,” said Reverend Johnson.

“North Carolina is going to look for the truth, and push for the truth. So we can really be the state that we need, and hopefully impact North Carolina and bring the same process to this country,” Joyce said.

Divisions are well established, what is the healing process?

Reverend Johnson explained that one of the most important parts of the October meeting will be two days of grassroots training.

“This comes to help people understand how to build a movement that advocates the truth and the best of the other,” he said.

“We want to train people to listen deeply, go beyond words and feel what the other person is trying to say. Then respond to the person with respect even when you don’t agree with it.”

Reverend Johnson and the Basic Lies

The pastor stressed that people were deceived by historical lies

“I would point out that our dear poor white brothers and sisters sometimes assume they are poor because Latinos who cross the border take jobs or African Americans stay in bed and don’t want to work,” he commented.

Johnson believed that speaking with respect could cross the historic trenches of a division that had closed against one another.

“We have to go beyond historical facts,” he said.

The process of searching for the truth

Reverend Nelson Johnson has stated that if you don’t start seriously the process of searching for truth and faith, you’ll never get there.

“Our children will not even experience some of the positive things that we have been through because we are in a dangerous place in this country,” he said.

“If we start together and build it on truth first, because you can’t base it on falsehood, we’ll begin to see that all people are really the same,” said Joyce Johnson.

He said, “They have different talents that have been presented, but they are still equal before God and they should be equal before us.”

“Look at the other person’s potential”

Reverend Johnson noted that the biggest challenge is helping people see the beauty and potential in another person.

“I have seen some beautiful flower gardens in red, blue, and yellow. They do not fight each other. Indeed, one’s beauty multiplies that of another,” he embodied.

And we have to believe that the dignity of one person can enhance the dignity of the other and that we can value each other.”

For her part, Joyce Johnson stressed that the biggest challenge is infidelity.

“If we think we can’t do it, if we believe the lie we can’t do it, then we definitely won’t.”

“You have to be bold and create a space where the poor, the homeless, elected officials, business people, the African-American community, whites, Hispanics, Asians, everyone come together. Speak and bow and start hearing each other.”

Face the truth of our history

Calmly and passionately in his words, Reverend Johnson stated that “until we face the truth of our history, there is no way out.”

“Because to get out you have to follow the path that led you in, and that’s what we’re trying to do here.”

“We hope to touch something in your heart and soul to help you believe that we can change the situation we are in. We can do it but we must do it together in our own way.”

Referring to the October 4-8 statewide summit, Joyce reiterated the call and emphasized that we must believe that we can and must walk toward each other in truth, justice and reconciliation.

“An assembly of God’s people talking together, listening to each other and discovering how we take another step toward freedom and justice. And conclude the love that we all so much deserve.”

Truth and Reconciliation Commission project

In 1974, in Uganda, a process known as the Truth Commission was used for the first time to bring about healing of the wounded.

A truth commission is a process that attempts to “tell a version of the story that includes the experiences and voices of the victims, recognizes their humanity and rights, and attempts to come to terms with abuses in all its many dimensions.

Truth commissions can help shatter false assumptions and myths about the past and identify the systematic policies and practices that lie at the heart of abuses.”

These efforts can “help communities come to terms with how something like this could happen and what needs to be changed to prevent similar abuses in the future.”

By 2005, more than 40 such initiatives had been put in place, the most famous of which was the South African Truth Commission.

In the United States, the first such effort took place in Greensboro, North Carolina