I’ve been waiting to tell you this news for some time. Today, Equal Justice USA officially welcomed the Restorative Justice Project onto our team. Impact Justice, an ally organization in the justice movement, has been operating the Project, launched by the visionary sujatha baliga, since 2015. Impact Justice felt like now was the right time… Continue reading Expanding Our Vision to Include Restorative Justice
Tag: criminal justice reform
Equal Justice USA Welcomes the Restorative Justice Project
Spinoff from Impact Justice Completes EJUSA’s Practice Model with a Response to Harm that Aligns with Mission and Values Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) announced today that it was growing to absorb the Restorative Justice Project, which is being spun off by Impact Justice. The Project will join EJUSA’s existing slate of programs that are transforming… Continue reading Equal Justice USA Welcomes the Restorative Justice Project
One Part of Transformation
After the dust settled on the 2022 elections, we spent the dark weeks of winter getting grips on the balance of political power across the country. And here we are. February. The plunge into legislative sessions is squarely upon us. Some states are already nearly done for the year, but the buzz is still loud… Continue reading One Part of Transformation
How Do I Talk to My Kids About Gun Violence?
Early last week I got an automated message on my phone from my kids’ school that there was an active shooter within two miles and that the school was under a shelter-in-place order from the Charlottesville Police Department. I went through the arc of emotions: fear to worry to curiosity to a trust in my… Continue reading How Do I Talk to My Kids About Gun Violence?
What I Know Today
They didn’t tackle me so much as deliver a hard body check. My phone — I was listening to a voicemail — fell to the ground but I kept my feet, off balance for a second before turning to face one of the guys mugging me. We were under a street lamp on a normally… Continue reading What I Know Today
Blocking Black History Is Just The Beginning
Black History Month ended yesterday. It’s traditionally been a month where we celebrate the achievements of Black people, some iconic and some lesser known but still vital to U.S. history. Our history is deep, long, complex, and incredibly inspiring to me. It is also an important lens for our work, which is why the growing… Continue reading Blocking Black History Is Just The Beginning
The Death of Tyre Nichols
We remain shaken by the murder of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man and father of a 4-year-old son, at the hands of Memphis police in a horrifying display of brutality. The pain we all feel is the too familiar, relentless trauma that policing inflicts. We have been here so many times before. After Minneapolis… Continue reading The Death of Tyre Nichols
Dr. King wanted us to act
When I was in college, I served on a committee planning the University of Michigan’s renowned Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium. That year, Michigan brought Dr. Cornel West, the philosopher, activist, and professor, to campus as the symposium’s keynote speaker. He was a hero of mine (and still is). As a planning committee… Continue reading Dr. King wanted us to act
Imagining the Possibility of Safety
At the beginning of the summer, our executive director, Jamila Hodge, sat on a panel in a crowded gymnasium in Newark talking about transforming the justice system. “The system is going to do what it’s going to do,” she said. “It is a machine, and it was built for a purpose, and that was to… Continue reading Imagining the Possibility of Safety
What Is Trauma-Informed Policing?
Six Newark, NJ, residents and five police officers sit in a semi-circle in a local community center. They’re listening as a Black man, mid forties, recounts a tale of being hit in the head by a police officer as a teenager while hanging out with his friends after school. As he finishes his story, he… Continue reading What Is Trauma-Informed Policing?