Musings, page 6

3. Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

At the conclusion of hostilities in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa , progressive forces sought to resolve potential antagonisms subject to racial socio-economic and political strife during the decades of apartheid. Their efforts led to the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, principally led by the Honorable Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Similar to the apartheid regime in South Africa , New Afrikans in the United States suffered under a racial system of Black Codes and Jim Crow, forms of political repression, social and economic segregation, and state sponsored terrorism. At no time has there been a national determination to resolve political, social or economic antagonism born out of centuries/decades of racial strife for the exception of affirmative action programs that has been rollback. In recent years, as a result of the reparations movement, some corporations, cities and states have issued apologies for having been involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Despite these apologies, the systemic inequities prevail with devastating consequences on every vestige of life confronting the majority of New Afrikans.

The San Francisco 8 believes there is a need for a national dialogue and process to address these inequities, and forge a catalyst to heal America 's racial trauma. The SF 8 calls for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address these historic dynamics of socio-economic and cultural determinations that inhibits New Afrikans from developing the necessary psychological inducements towards self-reliance and self-determination.

Given these three calls for action and challenges, the SF 8 preserves and extends the history of struggle and goals New Afrikans has been seeking to achieve despite U.S. corporate-government continue efforts to destroy the legacy of struggle evolving out of the Black liberation movement. However, the San Francisco 8 believes the power of the people will prevail and change is inevitable, once a culture of resistance has been institutionalize in a mass and popular movement. It must be noted recently, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 5 other Noble Peace Prize Laureates issued an international call demanding all charges against the San Francisco 8 be dropped, and that Herman Bell and Jalil A. Muntaqim be immediately release from prison on humanitarian grounds. Moreover, as has many national legal and political organizations across the country, on November 6, 2007, in a vote eight to none, with one abstention, the City Council of Berkeley, California, issued a resolution demanding all charges against the S.F. 8 are immediately dismissed.

Thusly, it is mused the history of the U.S., Inc. judicial system function is the preservation of racist corporate monopoly-capitalism, and if it is necessary to trample over the civil and human rights of the poor and oppressed peoples' to do so, it will do so blindly and dutifully.

To learn more about the case of the SF 8 check: www.freethesf8.com or www.CDHR.org.
This article represents the political thinking of Jalil A. Muntaqim, and not a joint statement from the San Francisco 8. To learn more about Jalil, check: www.freejalil.com

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