About Reconciling Truth

Reconciling Truth is a blog devoted to the examination of transitional justice efforts, past and present.  Dave Whitson, a history teacher and co-Director of the Legacy Project, is the editor-in-chief.

While extensive news coverage is paid to international conflicts and acts of violence in general, when the bullets stop flying the cameras leave.  The survivors – victims and perpetrators alike – are left to put the pieces back together, but this process can take many forms.  Will the emphasis be placed on justice or settling scores?  On punishment or amnesty?  How will truth be discovered and documented?

The lessons we learn on an international level have relevance on the personal one.  How can we as humans move beyond bitterness and recrimination and work towards common understanding and tolerance?  The field of transitional justice may offer us some critical insights into this process.

Reconciling Truth comes out of the Legacy Project, an independent initiative launched by Dave Whitson and Greg Bennick in 2006.  The Legacy Project brings students to countries scarred by violence, connecting young Americans with local activists, freedom fighters, and other important figures, while also visiting memory sights.  The student groups are accompanied by a film team, allowing us to document the interviews, conversations, and reflections, so that we can share our findings with a larger audience.

Since 2006, the Legacy Project has led full-scale student/film trips to Poland and South Africa, a smaller-scale student-only trip to Chile and Argentina, and an independent scouting trip to Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.  Information on all of these trips is available on the Legacy Project site.