By Lauren Fardig-Diop, originally published by U of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education
Schools have a long history of flawed systems of justice with failed results, mirroring our wider society. What if we broke out of the institutional mindset and looked to Indigenous philosophies to inform Restorative Justice alternatives?
In the Western tradition there’s a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top—the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation—and the plants at the bottom. But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as ‘the younger brothers of Creation.’ We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn—we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example. They’ve been on the earth far longer than we have been, and have had time to figure things out. They live both above and below ground, joining Skyworld to the earth. Plants know how to make food and medicine from light and water, and then they give it away.
—Robin Wall Kimmerer, from Braiding Sweetgrass
I have been blessed to be paired with Dr. Camille Wilson, and to have met with her twice regarding my project and problem of practice. She has been a wonderful thought partner as I parse through research to find something that fits my project. One of the things we noted in our first meeting was that much of the research that’s out there is framing restorative justice as a program to introduce, rather than approaching the topic as a philosophy or way of thinking about being in relationship with other people, so she set out to look for research of successful implementation in schools or communities. This brought her research back to RJ’s indigenous roots, so I have been spending my fall reading, learning, and taking in so much.
One of my major struggles here as I work on this account is myself. Thinking about this work in an anti-capitalist way, I am not prone to think about selling or convincing anyone that they must do this work or use these practices. I want to show folks the deep work of restorative justice, through storytelling, and sharing. I do not want to “sell it”, I want to breathe the work, model it, use it with fidelity and great respect to my teachers, and to the cultures that I learned it from, who gifted these practices to me.
Are schools the right location for this work? I question myself, as I exit public schools, and am looking at the systems there as antithetical to the Indigenous framing of the work. In order for this to work in schools, we must believe in each student as poised and possible, like a seed in need of the right soil to grow. Do we actually see young people that way? Do we want to hold them as part of a beloved community, even in their moments of mistake or misjudgment? My cynicism with how I’ve watched students be discarded from schools during crises, when they needed more care, doesn’t align with how I view or see students.
Native American history month reminded me of a different lens. As I honor the Council of the Three Fires, comprised of the Odawa, the Ojibwe and the Potawatomi tribes–who stewarded this land long before land ownership was a concept, before settler colonialism killed so many with guns and germs–I realized these peoples offered some answers in their lifeways. How would the conversations we have about justice, education, and humanity change if we prioritized Indigenous ways of including each person as valuable in our society? How would schools and culture transform? I can’t wait to find out, and to work in connection with tribal and Indigent communities on bringing our whole selves to the classroom, to the school house, and to the circle.
This perspective also reminded me that the work of restorative justice is part of a larger struggle. That struggle involves the value of humanity, whether it’s the stories of Indigenous peoples or the cause of Palestinian liberation. The work of restorative justice is meant to bring people together, to share values, stories and experiences, and to foster locations for healing and repair, in schools, in families and in communities. During a year in which genocides in Palestine, Sudan, and in so many other places are broadcast daily, where inhumanity and intolerance is on the rise as fascism sits in our most powerful seats of government, it is important to remember, and my reading has underlined this point, that struggles for self-determination, rights to land, power and government are all connected across the globe.
I have some prior knowledge of restorative justice from my own classrooms and school communities in New York and in Michigan – but was my experience anomalous? I am grateful to dig deeper into research around work on reservations, and in school systems across the country to inform my work. Are there other successful school programs out there that aim to use this work holistically, to truly co-create schools with young people? There must be!