Whatchu Know About Restorative Justice?

What is the first thing you do in the morning when you get out of bed? Whose land do you wake up on? What is the history of how the land came to be there for you? As part of our series: Expanding the Breath, expanding Restorative Justice into family, society and workplaces we have a conversation with the Editor and Contributor of Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing Our Realties, Dr. Edward C Valandra/ Waŋbli Wapȟáha Hokšíla, about Settler Colonialism- the theft and illegal occupation of Indigenous land and the elimination of Indigenous peoples. Edward shares critical insights about who is a settler, how the near genocide of Indigenous peoples is the United State’s ‘first harm’, and the violent impacts Indigenous peoples continue to experience today. Throughout the conversation, we examine the limitations and strengths of Restorative Justice to effectively engage with Settler Colonialism, and grapple with Edward’s call to all Restorative Justice practitioners to address this ‘first harm’ in order to make the transformative potential of the Restorative Justice movement a reality. We also explore with Edward how non- Indigenous people can come into consciousness of this legacy of this ‘first harm’ by first ‘unsettling’ themselves with strategies and methods such as challenging their own ‘settler fragility’, thoughtfully practicing land acknowledgments and continuing to develop their ability to act against Settler Colonialism. Resources to Learn More: Link to: Anna Soole: “A Resource for Indigenous Solidarity” https://www.annasoole.com/single-post/2018/04/03/decolonization-a-resource-for-indigenous-solidarity Link to Colorizing Restorative Justice book: http://www.livingjusticepress.org/

“Restorative Justice work extends beyond the school.” In our training, CCEJ complicates individual views of trauma by acknowledging the historical roots of trauma in white supremacy, colonization, capitalism, cisheteropatriarchy. Having this deeper view of trauma is especially important for bringing Restorative Justice practices “home” to families of all kinds, a challenging process we get insights on from CCEJ’s Training Specialist, Mayra Serna. We begin this special two-part conversation by examining the power of storytelling within families to name, understand, and begin to heal trauma. Taking three generations of our own families as examples, we explore how systems of power have impacted their values and choices around disciplinary and resilience practices. We do discuss discipline methods within our families, please be advised regarding your own experiences and activations regarding such experiences. We close this first part by inviting listeners to explore their own family narratives through a series of questions to use in their own families. In part two of this series, we examine discipline and school by discussing various trauma and stress responses from school discipline practices, as well as historic uses of such practices. We also examine what questions Restorative Justice asks in connection to discipline. Mayra shares promising practices that incorporate parents and caregivers as leaders and contributors to school culture. Mayra discusses what a powerful support Restorative Justice can be for parent and caregiver communities, and how parents and caregivers are important to the successful implementation of Restorative Justice in schools.

“Restorative Justice work extends beyond the school.” In our training, CCEJ complicates individual views of trauma by acknowledging the historical roots of trauma in white supremacy, colonization, capitalism, cisheteropatriarchy. Having this deeper view of trauma is especially important for bringing Restorative Justice practices “home” to families of all kinds, a challenging process we get insights on from CCEJ’s Training Specialist, Mayra Serna. We begin this special two-part conversation by examining the power of storytelling within families to name, understand, and begin to heal trauma. Taking three generations of our own families as examples, we explore how systems of power have impacted their values and choices around disciplinary and resilience practices. We do discuss discipline methods within our families, please be advised regarding your own experiences and activations regarding such experiences. We close this first part by inviting listeners to explore their own family narratives through a series of questions to use in their own families. In part two of this series, we examine discipline and school by discussing various trauma and stress responses from school discipline practices, as well as historic uses of such practices. We also examine what questions Restorative Justice asks in connection to discipline. Mayra shares promising practices that incorporate parents and caregivers as leaders and contributors to school culture. Mayra discusses what a powerful support Restorative Justice can be for parent and caregiver communities, and how parents and caregivers are important to the successful implementation of Restorative Justice in schools.

“Without racial justice there is no justice at my school site.” Making Restorative Justice a reality requires dedication from school leaders through everyday choices. Joining us this episode is Suzanne Caverly, a middle school principal in the Long Beach Unified School District. Suzanne shares her experiences in navigating power dynamics in order to practice authentic restorative leadership in a school community. Suzanne also discusses why positive relationships with staff are an important and impactful foundation for creating a school wide culture that values each student’s dignity by investing time in creating real community. Underlying all of her reflections is Suzanne’s journey as a white educator to understand and act on her responsibility for challenging racism in her relationships with staff, students, and families. Suzanne closes her reflections by offering key lessons she’s learned for other white educators working to practice anti-racism in their classrooms.

“If you disagree with the prison system, then you should not agree or practice exclusionary discipline.” This episode we sit with Tobin Paap, School Culture Specialist with Green Dot Public Schools California, to discuss the role creativity and flexibility play in Restorative Justice implementation in schools. Tobin also reflects on the impact the long-term partnership between Green Dot and CCEJ has been successful, in large part because of the foundation provided by CCEJ’s 17 Restorative Justice Beliefs. Tobin provides reflections on how these beliefs have been incorporated into the structure and culture of Green Dot schools, especially the belief, “No one is disposable” as a way to understand and interrupt the school to prison pipeline. Tobin closes his conversation by sharing his experiences and growth as a white educator working with Black and Latinx youth in South Los Angeles schools and as a volunteer at the resistance camp for the Dakota Access pipeline camp in Standing Rock.

“Mentorship matters. I became a teacher to connect with young students, who had negative experiences in education.” In this episode with speak with High School Math Teacher, Victor J. Lee, about how he attempts to engage and meet students' needs, both before the pandemic and during distance learning. We hear direct examples of his use of Restorative Dialogue in the classroom. Victor relates his success in storytelling in building trust and humanizing himself as well as naming what he feels responsible teachers should be doing to build relationships with students. Victor explains why he chooses to be vulnerable for a greater purpose of relationships of equity with young people. We also discuss the responsibilities of educators working with young people of different identities than their own and the examining of implicit biases. Victor also provides strategies to engage students in this time of distance learning.

“If they’re not trying, that means they don’t trust me” The COVID-19 Pandemic has transformed our world. Schools have been at the center of responses to the evolving pandemic as they are at the heart of many communities. The question of how schools are responding to this unprecedented historical moment is one we’ll explore in this week’s episode. Our guest, Social Science Teacher, Kori Fernandez, from Green Dot Public Schools, shares how she grows a classroom culture that empowers students by making trust the foundation of her teaching. With trust at the center, Kori reflects on how her support for students during the pandemic has in many ways not changed, and how building community is not only possible in these times, but is urgent. Kori also shares her lessons for evolving as an educator and the need to stay open to change, especially when educating Black and other youth of color.

“The definition of restorative culture is building relationships” Guest: Kim Plaza, Assistant Principal, Camino Nuevo Burlington This season we will be hearing from some of our school partners who CCEJ has supported with training and coaching as they bring Restorative Justice practices to life. Kicking off our first episode is Kim Plaza, Assistant Principal of Student Supports, at Camino Nuevo Burlington, a charter school in Los Angeles, California. Our conversation with Kim explores what a Restorative culture is, how it needs to be nurtured and sustained, and how it can provide strength in unsteady times. Kim also shares insight into the ways a Restorative culture affects students’ understanding of accountability over time and staff retention and trust.

In the first episode of our series: Healing in the Community, we meet Educator, Poet and Yogi, Melvin Boyce II, about his journey with yoga and how his young students from Kindergarten to incarcerated or systems impacted youth inspired his journey as a teacher. Melvin talks about how young people continue to show up as teachers and why adults need to listen and learn from them at this time. In this talk we’re challenged to consider: what is the vision of school once this is over? While in this moment Melvin discusses why the practice and experience of stillness is important to us all and we hear how Melvin has utilized this quarantine time to create a ‘stillness family’ with live Instagram classes at @spokenyoga. Join our guided breathing practice of renewal and freedom towards the end. His meditations, poetry and soon to be included mindfulness meditations for young people can be found: www.deepred.bandcamp.com.

Care Bears, Dinosaurs, Nature, Love and Chickens. Come eat and join us at the table for this ‘mini-lunch-time’ episode to demonstrate the role of a Check In Question in community building. I sat down with work friends & RJ Practitioners, Jamelle and Tanya, for a lunchtime conversation to record our favorite check in’s. What occurred was an example of curiosity, discussion and resilience. We think of ‘check-in’ questions as opportunities for communities and families to talk about how they’re feeling, what they’re visioning, and for fun and laughter. We recorded our conversation a few weeks and want to center this feature of the work through a Restorative Belief of ‘Shared Joy and Vulnerability Build Meaningful Connections’ in any time, whether a time of stability or unsteadiness and concern. A beautiful feature of this work is that we don’t have to be in physical space to practice a check in question. We hope that you ask someone a check in question. May it be fun, may it be creative, may it be authentic. Share a check in question with us on social media.

Former Counselor and Restorative Justice practitioner Tanya Suzuki gets on the mic for our last episode of Season 1. This last one begins with a discussion around wellness, accountability, and the introduction of Sharim Hannegan-Martinez’s Compa love where Tanya talks about love and dignity in relationships with young people. Tanya gives encouragement to do this work from a centered place in the body and describes how fully allowing feelings to be experienced can be a practice of resiliency. We finish with a special closing.

Do schools need a full time person in care of this work or are they best supported through a coaching model? This episode is a little geeky as we talk specifically about implementation within a school with veteran practitioner, Joseph Luciani, who served as one of the initial RJ Coordinators within the Los Angeles Unified School District. Joseph served for five years in this capacity in a school that utilized Restorative Practices from its founding. He talks about the first two years of implementation and funding. Then he and Gilbert talk about where harm Circles fit in implementation and how trainings have evolved to respond to adults learning needs in challenging resistance and supporting paradigm shifts. They end the conversation sharing how Restorative Practices have influenced their relationships.

Practitioner and scholar, Taharka Anderson, gets his turn on the mic as he breaks down schools as indicators of society and the treatment of students of color representing oppressions of these communities on a nationwide scale. He talks about how parents and communities are impacted by schools as well as how school policies are impacted through community activism. We then turn the conversation towards how grounding and centering or mood create a necessary container that supports adults in training for this work. This then shifts the dialogue to meeting needs and nurturance, and the gendered lens society can view this work through. Taharka explains how this work has activated his capacity to tap into Restorative choices. We finish this expansive conversation with a brand new game!

In this fun episode, host Jenny Escobar asks guest Gilbert Salazar about how theater, play and creativity connect to the work of Restorative Practices. Gilbert gives stories of how he has leaned into creativity as a tool for intervention when things haven’t gone as planned and offers four steps that he uses to be centered when having to be flexible and open to change in the moment. Then, unplanned, after playing a game Jenny and Gilbert enter a reflective space where they talk about worthiness. The overarching question in this episode is: ‘And then what would happen?’

Recorded over a year of work in schools, previous RJ in Schools Director and current generative somatics teacher in training and somatic learning practitioner, Belia Mayeno Saavedra, speaks with host Taharka Anderson about how Restorative Justice is a way of being within the intersections of Politicized Somatics, Transformative Justice, and systems of power; and how our bodies are shaped and impacted by these experiences, including how they contribute to our responses and reactions to relationships and conflict. Belia and Taharka talk about how RJ has influenced the examination of past conflict styles and how the work has impacted their language in how to make requests. They discuss how RJ uses language and space to advocate for needs as they unpack boundaries and accountability, as well as the calling out of this language as whiteness in family settings. The conversation lands on Belia calling in the importance of healing work and ends with a description of one of the ultimate goals of Restorative Justice. Listen to this episode twice or more! https://generativesomatics.org/

Dr. Jenny Escobar shares her journey of bringing spirituality, specifically intuition in her work with Restorative Justice from preparing herself to preparing training spaces. She shares how her use of intuition impacts participants, how ancestors and spirits work through all of us and how white identified folks can be impacted and influenced from this idea. Jenny describes how one question in Circle transformed a struggling group of teachers and she breaks down what folks need, to do this work, as well as shares how nature inspires her. Host Taharka Anderson shares a game about joy.

In our debut episode, we talk to former RJ Coordinator, Pierre Davis, who lays out his work with young women identified and men identified middle school students in Long Beach, the connections between sports and games in relationship building and community building; i.e. Restorative Practices and introduces us to what a ‘Restorative Choice’ is. We define the School to Prison Pipeline.Pierre also shares an exercise in expressing gratitude.

Welcome to Whatchu Know About RJ? Sharing Stories and Skills about Restorative Justice, a podcast of the California Conference for Equality and Justice. CCEJ is an organization dedicated to eliminating bias, bigotry and racism. This first series was recorded within a year of dialogue, reflection, and play with a team of trainers and practitioners of Restorative Justice working in schools. Restorative Justice is a multi-sided paradigm and set of practices that center needs and accountability in relationships to impact culture and community. This podcast is dedicated to anyone working in schools or teams, with students or adults. Why should you listen to this podcast? We are all in relationships- where we work, where we live and with ourselves. Listen to know more- whatchu you already know- about how relationships matter. Interested to hear more? Support CCEJ at: https://www.cacej.org/makeadifference/donate/ Follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CACEJ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ccejsocal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ccejlove/ Music: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/La_Inedita/Live_on_WFMUs_Transpacific_Sound_Paradise_with_Rob_Weisberg_April_4_2015/Chicha_Chicha