“Is Restorative Justice Appropriate for Faith Community Discussions About Racism?”

My thesis paper for PAX 571 Restorative Justice: Principles, Theories and Applications is submitted. The PowerPoint for presentation is roughed out and I’ve watched the videos that describe how to create and add a video on VoiceThread.

I mentioned to a few folks that the paper almost killed me. Well, not literally of course, (I’m Irish so I exaggerate for emphasis,) but since the last time I wrote anything with footnotes and a bibliography was in 1979, it was a lot. And the sense of jubilation when it was finished definitely came back to me from my grad school days.

One of the reasons it felt slow going was how one thing kept leading to another. Between the time I started the paper and when I submitted it, two significant, related local Restorative Justice events were announced. Minneapolis City Council Member Andrea Jenkins proposed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the city and it passed unanimously by council. Shortly after that, the Star Tribune reported initiatives led by the Minnesota Council of Churches including a ten-year plan aimed at addressing racial healing.

In each case, I hit the pause button on the paper, did more research, more edits, to see where that information best fit in the case I was making. Affirming, but slow progress.

Back to the presentation now. Stay tuned.