In the spring of 2004, Mayor Bloomberg had recently established mini police stations in a handful of schools and a couple of high profile incidents involving NYPD’s over-extension of their authority in schools had just occurred.
I am an Afro-Caribbean Muslim, a mother, and have a Masters of Social Work in Leadership and Community Forensics.
Growing up in Crown Heights in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn, I was always aware of the need for restorative justice and practices, but I didn’t know what to call it then. They were needed in my family, and the community at large.