RJ in Community and Practice

RJ in Community and Practice

If you’re looking for resources to support your practice, this is where you’ll find them!

Beyond the Mandate Continuing the Conversation: Report of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission
This TRC focused on what has happened to Wabanaki children/families between when the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was passed, and now, specifically centered on Maine’s child welfare practices.

As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda by Catherine Claire Larson
Based on interviews and research, this book returns to the boundary lines of genocide’s wounds and explores personal feelings through seven stories of those who have made the journey toward reconciliation.

Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing Our Realities edited by Edward C Valandra, Waŋbli Wapȟáha Hokšíla
The authors of color in this book raise issues about restorative justice and restorative practices, situated as they are in white supremacist settler societies that sustain roots in colonizing.

Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa by Antjie Krog
This book captures the complexity of the Truth Commission’s work with victims/oppressors of apartheid. This tale is Antjie Krog’s literary account of the mending of a country that was in colossal need of change.

Justice in Transition: Community Restorative Justice in Northern Ireland by Anna Eriksson
This book provides a unique account of the high-profile community-based restorative justice projects in the Republican and Loyalist communities that have emerged with the ending of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

As We Forgive
A documentary about four Rwandan neighbors and their extraordinary journey from death to life through forgiveness.

Encounter Point
A documentary that focuses on Palestinian and Israeli citizens directly impacted by the conflict and their responses to it.

Facing the Enemy
The daughter of a victim of the 1984 Brighton bombing in England seeks out the IRA bomber after he’s released from prison and they form an unusual friendship. (available on Netflix)

Kinyarwanda
The first Rwandan-produced film about the 1994 genocide, featuring Gacaca courts and reeducation camps.

Long Night’s Journey into Day
A documentary on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

My Neighbor, My Killer
A documentary on the Gacaca courts established after the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Risking Light
From the streets of Minneapolis, the aboriginal lands of Australia, and the killing fields of Cambodia come the powerful stories of three people who had the courage to step out of the haunting.

The Gathering For Justice
The Gathering for Justice is a social justice organization founded by Harry Belafonte in 2005. Led since 2010 by Carmen Perez, The Gathering utilizes Kingian nonviolence as a social application for change and civic engagement. The organization is unique in that we provide direct services, engage artists and cultural leaders as foot soldiers in grassroots mobilization, and consult and advise on legislative and policy initiatives while organizing in local and national communities – all to sustain and build this Movement, the essence of which is grounded in the Movement for Racial Equity.

The Truth Telling Project
We are a diverse, racial and gender community of organizers, activists, artists, writers, teachers, practitioners and scholars. Our Board represents a cross-section of individuals who are committed to structural change, truth telling, healing trauma and repair. Our Networks include Black, Brown and Indigenous communities from rural and urban locales. We share in common a vision for a future just, equitable, and sustainable society free of state-sanctioned violence and systemic racism.

The Little Book of Trauma Healing: When Violence Strikes and Community Is Threatened (Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding) by Carolyn Yoder and Howard Zehr
Carolyn Yoder, director of Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience programs, has shaped strategies and learnings from experiences into a book for all who have known terrorism and threatened security.

Decarcerating Care Series, IDHA NYC
IDHA NYC hosted a series of talks that sought to advance a discussion of alternatives to policing and criminal justice that is rooted in the lived experience of mental health service users and survivors. In this context, it is crucial to center the particular ways in which psychiatry has been used to exert control over Black bodies, not unlike the prison system.

A Restorative Circle in the Wake of a Police Shooting by Andrea Brenneke, Tikkun Magazine
An article talking about what happens when people midst crisis are able to meet in a space held and regarded collectively as different and sacred than the day-to-day.

Decolonizing Restorative Justice by Denise C. Breton, Unsettling Ourselves
An article calling for us to collectively work towards the decolonization of restorative practice through re-associating and honoring it within its indigenous roots.

Restoring Racial Justice by Fania E. Davis, Mikhail Lyubansky, and Mara Schiff, Emerging Trends in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Despite important overlapping interests, until recently, few racial justice advocates have embraced restorative justice (RJ), and the RJ community has largely failed to explicitly address race. Suggesting a convergence of the two movements, this essay presents an overview of RJ principles, history, and methods.

Healing Justice, a film by Shakti Butler
Healing Justice explores the causes/consequences of the American justice system and its effect on marginalized communities. The film walks back through the history of violence that has led to our current system.

Resources for Youth Activism
This document was compiled by SEE, YRJ and Youth Summit Youth Leaders to support youth and communities across NYC to unpack the trauma, anxiety, and confusion related to current events. It is a compilation of websites, articles, books, podcasts, and more to support youth with finding ways to have their voices heard and be leaders in taking action against the racial injustices occurring across our country.

It’s Deeper Than That!: Restorative Justice and the Challenge of Racial Reflexivity in White-led Schools
This paper uses critical race theory to analyze several case studies focused on the experiences of two restorative justice coordinators (RJCs), both Black women and how they understood and responded to perceived racial injustices in urban schools with white leadership.

Black Women’s Blueprint and Restore Forward
Black Women’s Blueprint (BWB) was founded by survivors for survivors committed to healing and transformation. The organization began in 2008 around kitchen tables, at backyard barbecues and in huddles on living room floors, when women and girls of African descent, many of whom were survivors of sexual violence bore witness to each others stories of being denied bodily sovereignty and dignity both inside and outside of their communities.

A Human Being Died that Night by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela reflects on her interviews with Eugene de Kock, the commanding officer of state-sanctioned death squads under apartheid. Gobodo-Madikizela conveys her struggle with internal impulses to hold him accountable and to forgive.

Being with the Energy of Forgiveness
Individuals, communities, and representatives of nations in conflict who have found the courage to engage in face-to-face restorative dialogue with the person or parties that harmed them reflect on forgiveness.

The Restorative Parenting Podcast by Mint House UK
The Restorative Parenting podcast is a space to talk about how we can incorporate restorative principles into family life. None of us are experts in parenting (or want to add to the noise of ‘parenting advice’) but wanted to gather to discuss our own highs and lows of restorative parenting and how we can find support and learn from each other.

Thanksgiving and the Doctrine of Discovery
A poignant essay by Rev. Sara J. Wolcott on the origins of the first harm, and how we can unsettle our views around Thanksgiving.

Designing for Justice
“We’re fans of the novel application of restorative justice theory that has become architect Deanna Van Buren’s life work – dreaming and creating physical spaces for folks to feel loved and learn about restorative justice. Hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross, Deanna sits in conversation with her and Fania Davis to share how she arrived to this work.

Transforming Our Systems, Transforming Ourselves: The Pivotal Role of Healing in Social Change Work
An essay by Prentis Hemphill, an abolitionist and social change agent, contemplates how the inner work is just as crucial to the external systems that we aspire to change.

As A Native American, Here’s What I Want My Fellow Americans To Know About Thanksgiving
“So what could I do, or bring to my family, that would reclaim the day in a way that was both healing and power-giving? My family decided that we would spend the day celebrating the survival of our culture, our language, our foods.”

26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets
Reflecting on ongoing struggles and police brutality, this 2014 publication by Beyond the Streets highlights healing justice modalities and how to support actions remotely.

Healing (Her) Historical Trauma, Black Land Sovereignty and Black Liberation Series

H.O.L.L.A!)’s Healing (Her) Historical Trauma, Black Land Sovereignty, and Black Liberation Facebook Live Series focused on dialogue, praxis, analysis, and community approaches to Black Liberation focused on Black Land sovereignty and land connection as ancestral practices with a particular focus on healing from Historical Trauma.

Care-Based Response Team
“The purpose of this report is to inform and open conversation with current community organizations, government agencies, and other stakeholders. We hope to build upon relationships that would strengthen the future of care-based response. We share this information with all those who have a stake in the future of emergency response in Washtenaw County, MI with hope for transformation that leads to thriving.”

How Do Unprocessed Legacies of the Past Affect Democracy Today? recording
In preparation for the U.S. Summit for Democracy and in collaboration with the Global Democracy Coalition, Think Peace Learning Hub recently an event in which their Executive Director Antti Pentikainen moderated a panel discussion entitled “How Do Unprocessed Legacies of the Past Affect Democracy Today?” Dr. Gail Christopher, the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity and former Vice President of the WK Kellogg Foundation, and Donald (Del) Laverdure, Esq., former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Indian Affairs and esteemed member of the Crow Nation tribe shared their perspectives on the role of racial healing in enabling a wounded society to reimagine itself as a nation.

Calling In: Loretta J. Ross’s Antidote to Cancel Culture
This article is dynamic interview with activist Loretta J. Ross who offers us her insights on why it’s necessary to embed calling in within our everyday practice.

Restorative Justice and Truth-telling in the US
Impact Justice hosted a talk on Restorative Justice and Truth-telling in the US, and some of the takeaways from the panel discussion were “as people harmed are most intimately aware of what they need to heal, we must therefore create safe spaces for them to share their stories and identify their needs.

Growing Justice
An article that offers a more in-depth analysis of why we need both/and (restorative justice & transformative justice) rather than either/or, by Cameron Rasmussen and Sonya Shah.

UC Berkeley to repatriate thousands of ancestral remains to Indigenous tribes: ‘Restorative justice’
An article covering UC Berkeley’s recent decision to return the remains of Indigenous ancestors to their tribes. UC Berkeley joins Vassar College and the University of Tennessee in taking this important step.