Restorative Justice Education
OUR WHY
"If restorative justice and restorative practices are to be advantageous for everyone and not just for those who are able to benefit from the normalcy of whiteness, then restorative justice facilitators must do the work of decolonizing their ideas about justice and who is deserving of that justice" -Desiree Anderson
Our Vision
We envision a world of communities that centralize humanity and relationships in the process of acknowledging, uprooting and eradicating oppressive systems and practices. A world where every individual has the freedom to practice their values. A world where we restore who we are and what should be.
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Our Mission
Our place in the fight for liberation is to support communities in engaging in deep personal reflection and in identifying common value systems so that individuals of all identities feel heard, supported, and can engage in all opportunities equally, as their full selves. We intend to achieve this by educating communities on the core values and practices of Restorative Justice through the lens of Social Work, Equity and Community Empowerment.
Additionally, our mission will be lived out by honoring and operating from the worldview of interrelatedness of all life; the worldview of our indigenous ancestors. Our forever goal is to decolonize restorative justice education, eradicate oppressive practices and denormalize white supremacy in community spaces.
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OUR CORE VALUES DEFINED
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Decolonization: The active, intentional; and ongoing engagement with diversity; in the curriculum, in the cocurriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect; in ways that create awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions.
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Equity-Mindedness: “The term ‘Equity Mindedness’ refers to the perspective or mode of thinking exhibited by practitioners who call attention to patterns of inequity. These practitioners are willing to take personal and institutional responsibility for the success of their students, and critically reassess their own practices. It also requires that practitioners are race-conscious and aware of the social and historical context of exclusionary practices in American Higher Education.” (Association of American Colleges & Universities, Making Excellence Inclusive)
Interrelatedness: We operate by honoring the world-view that was gifted to us by our indigenous ancestors; African and others; the affirmation of the interrelatedness of all life. We especially honor indigenous African justice making, which tells us that rather than imposing punishment, we must take the opportunity to teach, restore and strengthen bonds, reaffirm social values and change social conditions that make interpersonal harm possible. It honors the humanity in every person and honors their contribution and interconectedness to the whole.
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