Webinar: Truth-Telling on Race Relations in the US Context

This webinar will reflect on the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission, which dealt with a situation where native families “suffered unjustly under racially biased policies designed to disrupt community, disband traditional family structure and solve ‘the Indian problem’ by assimilating native children into white society.”

VA Case Study: National Truth-Telling gathering in Richmond, Virginia. In February 2016, some 20 national leaders in restorative justice work – led by the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Coming to the Table, and Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth — gathered at historic Richmond Hill for an inaugural conversation. Participants shared stories about their lives and work, participated in a ceremonial walk of Richmond’s Historic Slave Trail, and collaboratively envisioned and developed the broad outlines of a plan to launch a restorative justice-based Truth and Reconciliation process in the United States. Subsequent to the Richmond Hill meeting, a mapping exercise gathered specific data about the nature, extent of current truth-telling, racial healing, memorialization and social transformation initiatives across the United States and their connectedness with one another. Next steps will focus on connecting these various efforts.

Guest Bio

Dr. Thalia González is a Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Georgetown University Law Center and Associate Professor of Law and Politics at Occidental College (on leave). Her research and teaching interests center on contemporary questions at the intersection of law, politics, inequality, and systemic reform with a special focus on restorative justice, juvenile justice, and civil and human rights. Thalia is a nationally recognized expert in the field of school-based restorative justice and her work on disproportionality, the school-to-prison pipeline, and restorative practices has been utilized by educators, policymakers, county safety councils, think tanks, and bar associations. She has been published in leading law reviews and journals, including the New York University Review of Law and Social Change, Howard Law Journal, Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution, Ecology Law Quarterly, Fordham Urban Law Journal, and Journal of Law and Education.