Participatory processes

Before (and repeatedly alongside) the Reimagining Communities work of Families for Justice as healing (FJAH) are listening tours. What do people need? The demands of FJAH and The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls are based on years of listening tours that are a form of participatory research. Further, ongoing and repeated participatory processes require community control. The mutual aid organizational structures that provide peer support make evident the commitment to participatory processes.

Another important part of the participatory processes guiding FJAH are around transformative justice processes. How can we hold each other accountable? And how can we create environments where organizations can create spaces where people can talk about the harm they have caused without being re-criminalized? The healing work that FJAH does is often threatened by legal systems that force disclosure in the criminal legal system, rather than long-term approaches to healing that bring people on both sides of harm together. James asks, “What does justice look like for you?”

QUOTE

It’s important that the community has control over what we do. … We do believe that if we get the infrastructure running and operating like a well-oiled machine in your community, it could significantly decarcerate women and girls and lead to a better community for us all. However, a lot of communities have the same needs, but from a different emergency response, if that makes sense.

Some communities may have a higher unhoused population and some communities may have a higher population where folks don’t have jobs or some communities may have more substance use. Some communities may struggle more with mental health, and so finding that balance in different communities, but still using the infrastructure is important. And that’s what community control really means. How do we actually get on the ground? Listen to the community and figure out what are the needs of that specific community, but still use the same infrastructure and the same tools that we have in place that we know.

— Sashi James

ART

Semente is a multimedia artist who has explored freedom through mural and site installation that is participatory. In this video, they talk about a room mural where others responded to prompts written on the walls of a communal living space.

READINGS

ACTIVITY

Think of someone who has caused you (relatively minor) harm. On a sheet of paper write down the harm that was caused and how you think they might repair the harm done. With a friend (who is not the person who caused the harm), share your idea for repair. Get their feedback, and write a request for repair to the person who caused you harm, considering the feedback of the friend (to the extent that it is useful). Finally, reach out to the person who caused you harm and ask that they repair the harm done. Write down how you feel after sending the request.

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