Berkeley Law’s International Human Rights Law Clinic (2021),“Forming the San Francisco Truth Commission: An Overview of Anti-Black Police Violence in San Francisco”, IHRLC Working Paper Series No.7.
Introduction
During the summer of 2020, the United States experienced the largest social movement in its history. Millions of people took to the streets in more than 550 of the country’s cities and towns to denounce anti-Black state violence and call for accountability and structural change.1 In San Francisco and around the country, protesters chanted the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Michael Brown, and others killed by police. These mass protests prompted a heightened national conversation around structural racism and White supremacy, vitalized police reform initiatives, and gave rise to calls for new mechanisms of justice and ac- countability, including truth commissions.
Truth commissions and other transitional justice mechanisms—such as criminal prosecutions, reparations programs, and commemorations—have been used by fractured societies worldwide to confront human rights abuses, fight impunity, improve accountability, and promote democracy.3 Over the last 40 years, more than 40 truth commissions have operated in a wide range
of political contexts, including in the United States.4 A truth commission is a temporary, independent, and victim-centered investigation of a pattern of acts of violence or repression that occurred over a period of time. Truth commissions investigate human rights abuses by collecting testimonies from the members of affected communities. The work of truth commissions has often culminated with the release of a report that provides findings and recommendations for redress and the prevention of future abuses.
The events of 2020 reinvigorated the public and political discourse focused on establishing truth commission initiatives in the United States. Congress is currently considering a resolution to form a U.S. Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation; the New York City government has established a Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission; and civil society leaders, such as members of community groups, faith-based organizations, and advocacy groups, have pushed forward truth commissions in Minnesota, Iowa, and other states to examine the legacies of racialized state violence.5
On July 1, 2020, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (D.A.’s Office) along with the district attorneys from Boston and Philadelphia and the Grassroots Law Project announced the formation of local “Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commissions” in each city. The goal of the pilot project is “to create a process for District Attorneys and their local communities to hear from victims of police and prosecutor misconduct, develop new pathways to justice, and re-examine what justice looks like for marginalized groups.”6 In San Francisco, the creation of a truth commission is a politically contentious endeavor: as this Working Paper documents, San Francisco city officials and the police union have historically resisted efforts to reckon with institutional racism. Even among people who agree structural change is necessary, opinions differ on how best to pursue and achieve it.