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TRUTH, RECONCILIATION, ACTION A young woman's death inspires her parents to serve South Africa

by Patricia Wright

"PROUD TO BE LED BY OUR DAUGHTER" - Linda and Peter Biehl at UMass. (For larger view of Ben Barnhart photo, click in right navigation.) MANY PEOPLE LOSING A LOVED ONE to violence must find their thoughts turning and returning to the scene, trying or trying not to imagine what happened. Peter and Linda Biehl know much more exactly than most parents in such circumstances how their daughter Amy died. In 1993, as a 26-year-old Fulbright scholar in South Africa to help with preparations for the country’s first democratic elections, she was stoned and stabbed to death in a black township by local youths who had been attending a Pan-Africanist rally and mistook her for a white South African. The Biehls know this in some detail because, four years later, they heard the young men who struck the blows describe them before a session of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission established by the post-apartheid government. IN A THREE-DAY VISIT TO UMASS in November, the Biehls performed the remarkable feat of recounting Amy’s death at least half a dozen times, at a series of gatherings, without the least sign either of self-pity or of having cloaked the event in anecdote. The accommodation they’ve reached with their daughter’s death seems to have less to do with the time that’s passed than with what they’ve done with it. In 1994 they launched a foundation to carry on her commitment to human rights, democracy, and the aspirations of women and children. In 1997 they became the only Americans to participate in the Truth and Reconciliation hearings, testifying in support of the commission’s goals and stating that they would not oppose amnesty for her murderers. The Biehls' involvement in community development projects in South Africa has grown into a full-time commitment to which they expect to devote the rest of their lives. Chancellor Marcellette Williams, meeting these zealous but unassuming people for the first time in South Africa last year, was so impressed, she’s said, that as they sat and talked she realized with some embarrassment she was edging closer and closer to them – “as if some of what they had might rub off on me!” The chancellor invited the Biehls to UMass to explore ties between the Amy Biehl Foundation and faculty and students with interests and connections in South Africa. She invited them, too, as part of her commitment to communicating “a strong ethical base, a sense of civic responsibility, openness to difference, and a sense of purpose and community service.” By bringing the Biehls to campus, said the chancellor, she hoped to offer the campus an opportunity to meet with two people who live these values every day. “I’VE OFTEN TRIED TO IMAGINE what those last moments were like for her,” said Peter Biehl at the Fine Arts Center on the evening of November 9. His daughter Amy had been deeply moved, said Biehl, by the Emily Dickinson poem that begins “I heard a fly buzz when I died;” and ends “And then the windows failed, and then / I could not see to see.” What he’s tried to imagine is not the horror of his daughter’s death, but how she faced it. One of Amy’s great strengths, he said, was preparation. He believes she was prepared to face death. Seated in armchairs on the stage of the concert hall, the Biehls were engaged in the major event of their visit: a public conversation called “Living Values: The Life, Death, and Legacy of Amy Biehl.” The event included a screening of part of Long Night’s Journey Into Day, a film about the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa that highlights the Amy Biehl story. Footage of Linda Biehl listening as the murder was described was particularly harrowing. BUT AS IN ALL THE CONVERSATIONS in which the Biehls took part, this one, firmly grounded in their daughter’s life and death, was mostly about her legacy. “Amy left a legacy that is as clear and as prepared as she was in life,” said Peter Biehl. “I would love to feel so prepared.” “We try to work the way Amy worked,” said Linda Biehl. “Don’t ever question the adage ‘A little child shall lead them.’ We’re proud to be led by our daughter.”

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Truth, reconciliation, action

TRUTH: larger image

COMMENCEMENT 2001: a catchup

IN A HEARTBEAT: a faculty response to September 11

LOSSES, RESPONSES: ten alumni lost; six alums' response

RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY: Coolidge Bridge project underway

RECONSTRUCTIVE: larger image

HIGHLIGHTS: rich fish - sounds grotty, but pogy oil’s good for you

Fish: larger image

Damp distinctions: water polo fourth in U.S., shower research scores Ig Nobel

Damp distinctions: larger image

Usefulness U: the Translation Center

Plus: Acid rain update, UMass bragging rights, and the soles of insects