Dismantling Racism Teach-In
June 15, 2020
Noon – Virtual Online Program
6:00 pm – Historic Grace AME Zion Church, 229 S. Brevard Street, Charlotte, NC
Please RSVP through eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/its-been-a-long-time-coming-a-restorative-justice-clt-teach-in-tickets-109025642632 or email Schindlerj@queens.edu.
How do we go forward with so much tragedy due to racism behind us? In the conversations we have had through listening sessions, door-knocking campaigns, and monthly meetings, over and over we have heard the refrain, “It’s been a long time coming.” Restorative Justice is appropriate here as wealth has been colonized for generations as demonstrated in the research of the Leading on Opportunities Task Force report. Decolonizing wealth addresses philanthropy’s white supremacy problem and offers solutions.
From 1960-1980, thousands of Black residents of Charlotte who lived in the Brooklyn neighborhood (uptown’s Second Ward) were effectively displaced when the city and county adopted the nationally-trending policies of urban renewal, which were termed by novelist James Baldwin “Negro removal.” Charlotte had a vibrant Black Wall Street developing in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Second Ward before these policies were passed. What if Brooklyn had been allowed to flourish? This is the question that lies at the core of the work done by Restorative Justice CLT. We seek to rectify decades of inequity by focusing on healing processes and restoring resources to the Black community in Charlotte.
“The conversation around equity is now a buzzword in philanthropy. I’m excited that they were having it, but folks have to really understand that it is so much deeper than diversity. It is about equity, it is about a shift in ownership and a major shift in power. The sprinkling of dollars in the way that it’s currently happening will never, ever, ever repair the harm that’s been done. It’s really just kind of throwing nickels at the problem. I’m pushing us to really think and imagine something really difficult. How can philanthropy play a role in true reparations? [In] using these resources and really getting excited about the investment in giving back and restoring what has been taken away? Versus the idea of hoarding wealth and growing our endowment. – Edgar Villanueva, Color Lines, October 23, 2018
Sponsored by Restorative Justice CLT, the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice, and Myers Park Baptist Church.