Linda Biehl is the co-founder and director of the Amy Biehl Foundation in
the U.S. and the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in South Africa. Linda's
relationship to South Africa and the genesis of these Foundations is grounded
in the life and death of her daughter Amy.
Amy Biehl was a dynamic, 26 year-old Stanford graduate who in 1993 was
awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study the role of women and gender rights
during South Africa's transition from the racist and brutal apartheid regime to
a free multiracial democracy. Amy was an esteemed human rights activist who
worked tirelessly towards ensuring all South Africans regardless of race or
gender assumed their rightful place in the emerging democratic nation. Just
days before she was due home, Amy was killed in an act of political violence by
a group of young black South Africans who were fighting to end apartheid and
saw all whites as their oppressors.
Four young men were convicted for Amy's death and in 1994; they were
sentenced to 18 years in prison. In 1997, the four men applied for amnesty to
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Linda and her late husband
Peter were strongly motivated by Amy's belief in the TRC to achieve restorative
justice for those who confessed to politically motivated crimes thus did not
oppose their application for amnesty. In 1997, under the watchful eye of the
world, Linda and Peter testified at the amnesty hearing of their daughters
killers. Instead of opposing amnesty they offered their support and challenged
the young men to link arms with them and together continue Amy's work.
Justice is central to Linda Biehl's message of peace and reconciliation.
Following in the footsteps of Desmond Tutu, Linda Biehl and the Amy Biehl
Foundation embrace restorative, rather than retributive justice. At a personal
level Linda Biehl embraced restorative justice by building a relationship with
two of the youth convicted for the death of her daughter. Today, those two
young men have been tremendous social activists in their community working for
the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust. At a professional level Linda works in
communities in South Africa as she continues to spread "Amy's magic".
Linda Biehl and the Amy Biehl Foundation have worked to fulfill three
important rights in the South African Constitution: the right to education,
the right to equal employment, and the right to health.
For Linda Biehl justice is more than rights written into an official
document; justice is converting those rights into reality.
From her death in 1993, to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation
Commission Hearings in 1997 and the current work of her Foundations, Amy's
story has been afforded significant media attention. Coverage includes: ABC's
"Turning Point" (4/94), CBS's "60 Minutes" and "60 Minutes II" (1/99, 2/00),
ABC's Oprah Winfrey (5/99), IRIS Film's Sundance Award winning "Long Night's
Journey Into Day" (1/00) and NBC'S "Today Show" (3/04). In the upcoming future
a major film will begin production.
