Freddie Owens. Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams. Travis Mullis. Emmanuel Littlejohn. Alan Miller. Five men, all of them executed over the previous seven days. The last time we had so much state-sponsored killing was in 2003. It has been a horrific week, and I suspect you feel the same heaviness that all of us at EJUSA carry. …
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Just a few weeks ago, I flew to Bogalusa, Louisiana, to join several team members for a special day. They had spent the last year working with community members on a groundbreaking public safety plan. Read the Report On the plane, I continued reading “The Movement Made Us,” David J. Dennis Jr.’s account of his…
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Jen Pagan (she/her) is a Restorative Approaches Specialist with the Center for Restorative Approaches facilitating restorative circles and training school faculty and staff in restorative approaches. Sierra Scott recently sat down with Jen to talk about restorative justice practices and what it is like to facilitate restorative justice circles. Can you describe what restorative justice…
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At the Restorative Justice Project of EJUSA, we understand that the strength of our work lies not in individual efforts but in the collective power of our team and partners. Our approach is deeply rooted in collaboration, where each aspect of our work is interconnected and mutually reinforcing, creating a holistic and transformative impact across…
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I will remember this summer for many things, but three stand out: roller-coaster politics, the Olympics, and the heat. My goodness, the heat. When the heat won’t quit, I want to be in the water. I grew up not far from the ocean, learned to swim in a pool at a young age, grew comfortable…
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Leading from the back isn’t easy…especially when the voices upfront are powerful, dynamic, and fearless. Such was indeed the case in April when Will Simpson, EJUSA’s director of community safety and justice, had to ride behind the vortex of passionate progressive leadership that is Congresswoman Cori Bush, a brave survivor of homelessness who transcended her…
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On the morning of June 25, while attending the Giffords community violence intervention (CVI) conference, I along with several hundred other leaders, advocates, and practitioners heard the news that U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy had officially announced that gun violence is a public health crisis in our country. This was huge, a validation to so…
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Last weekend, a booming bass drum and blaring horns filled up the block where I live in Detroit, along with shouts of “No more silence, end gun violence”. It was an unusually hot June day, a marching band led the parade, and folks wearing orange held signs with the faces of loved ones. They were…
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Do you remember the 2015 Oscars? I’m guessing no, and that’s okay because that was forever ago. So I’ll remind you: all 20 acting nominations were for white people. For the second straight year! April Reign was, at the time, a media strategist active on Twitter. When she posted about the stunning absence of Black…
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I recently read a briefing from our allies at the Prison Policy Initiative, and it contained a startling figure: 19 million people in America are living with a felony conviction. That’s nearly equal to the entire population of New York. This reminded me of a friend. Her brother was once incarcerated. Since serving his sentence…
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