Études de cas
Justice réparatrice
* For image references, please scroll to the bottom of the page.
Author of case study: Marcela Torres Molano
Geopolitical location of space:
417 Arlington St.
Morningside neighbourhood
Greensboro, North Carolina 27406
Extant? Yes
Architect:
Original architect unknown
Start date of commission: 2004
End date: 2006. However, restorative initiatives continued taking place even when the commission’s mandate ended.
In 1979, five members of the Communist Workers Party, participating in a rally against the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina, were shot to death by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis. In 2004, a private organization formed the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (modeled after commissions in South Africa and Canada) with the intention to investigate the events of 1979. During the commission’s mandate, streets, public spaces, and other community sites of the city became scenarios for the manifestation and reconciliation of the population. Church rooms and auditoriums, college campuses, and the main plaza of the city have all been used in the framework of the commission’s work by citizens and community organisations.
Yes, the Beloved Community Center was the main venue for The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Yes, public and private hearings were part of the commission’s work. As such, the spaces it used were adapted for these purposes.
Survivors, witnesses, police officers, judges, lawyers, former members of the KKK and neo-Nazi groups.
The center itself is located inside a church building (open to the public but privately owned). However, part of the commission’s work took place in public buildings and urban spaces within the city.
Sites around the city:
1. The Beloved Community center was the main venue for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A centre that functions in the Faith Community Church building, a two-storey brick structure, surrounded by a parking lot and an open green space.
2. The Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel at Bennett College was the venue for the Commission Report Release ceremony on May 25, 2006.
3. In 2017, every Tuesday afternoon, community members gathered in search of healing and reconciliation in The Government Plaza
4. The Edwards Church of Northampton and the site of the massacre have also been used for reconciliation in the last decades. Even though the commission released its final report in 2006, manifestations and gathering in the streets have been happening since the day of the massacre.
From 2004 to 2006, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed in the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. The commission was intended as an inclusive response to the several failed prosecutions of Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party members that opened fire in a political and labor activists gathering on November 3, 1979.
Through the lenses of race, class and politics, the commission held public hearings and private interviews with survivors, witnesses, police officers, judges, lawyers, and former members of KKK and the American Nazi Party. In 2006, a final report on the causes and consequences of the 1979 event was presented to the public.
In 2017, a second initiative called Healing Tuesdays, Toward Healing Greensboro occupied the main plaza of the city. The community gathered in the public space of the Government Plaza as a reconciliation strategy. During the commission and in the years following its completion individuals and organisations have used the city, the streets, and the churches as scenarios for public gathering and reconciliation.
est auteure, conférencière, chroniqueuse et podcasteuse dans les domaines de l'architecture et des arts décoratifs. Elle termine sa maîtrise en histoire de l'art à l'Université Concordia, à Montréal, et détient un baccalauréat en commerce avec une majeure en marketing de la John Molson School of Business. Elle a étudié la psychologie industrielle à Los Angeles, en Californie. Sicotte est l'auteure de deux ouvrages publiés sur le design (2015, 2018) aux éditions Cardinal.
est candidate colombienne au doctorat au Département d'histoire de l'art de l'Université Concordia. Elle a une formation en design architectural et en activisme communautaire et détient une maîtrise en bâtiment et design urbain de la Bartlett School of Architecture à Londres, en Angleterre. Ses intérêts se concentrent sur l'art socialement engagé, les mouvements sociaux, l'activisme collaboratif dans des scénarios post-conflit, l'art produit collectivement et l'art produit en relation avec le cadre bâti.
est candidat au doctorat en sciences humaines à l'Université Concordia. Ses recherches portent sur l'agentivité spatiale, l'esthétique sociale, les récits des jeunes et les représentations graphiques de la mémoire urbaine. Il a publié sur la relation entre les enfants, le jeu et l'espace public à Carthagène, en Colombie. Il a également travaillé comme éditeur sur des projets littéraires, dont Territorio Fértil, qui a reçu le prix María Nelly Murillo Hinestroza pour la littérature afro-colombienne.
est professeure agrégé et Chaire de recherche du Canada en architectures de justice spatiale (niveau 2) à l'École d'architecture Peter Guo-hua Fu de l'Université McGill, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Ses intérêts de recherche comprennent le logement à loyer modique et le design participatif, la protestation civile et le design urbain, ainsi que les paysages des campus et la race. Ses publications incluent le livre co-édité, Orienting Istanbul (2010) et le livre (auteure unique), Istanbul Open City (2018).
est artiste et professeure d'histoire de l'art à l'Université Concordia. Ses travaux portent sur les femmes et l'histoire du cadre bâti, les paysages urbains, la recherche-création et l'histoire orale. Elle a publié sur l'histoire spatiale du mouvement pour le suffrage des femmes, l'art public, les jardins et les politiques du changement urbain. En plus de ses recherches sur les espaces de justice réparatrice et transitionnelle, elle dirige un projet d'histoire orale sur les mémoires urbaines des montréalais et montréalaises.
est un ancien titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en interprétation de l'histoire orale (2016-2021). Il est professeur agrégé au Département de théâtre de l'Université Concordia et codirecteur du Centre d’histoire orale et de récits numérisés (CHORN) de Concordia. Sa subvention de la Fondation canadienne pour l'innovation en infrastructure lui a permis de créer le Laboratoire d'écoute active (ALLab) en 2018. Basé au CHORN, l'ALLab est un centre de recherche-création de premier plan pour le pouvoir transformateur de l'écoute.