Restorative Justice relies on and builds community for and by healing, simultaneously building a strong community which cares for each other and resolves conflict. Foundational to this process is the understanding that institutions, not people, are the enemy, according to bell hooks in her conversation with George Brosi, in Appalachian Heritage (Brosi and hooks). The beloved community defined by Brosi is “the relationships among those working for change and the desired result of these efforts. In other words, those of us working for institutional change endeavor to become a beloved community among ourselves as we are striving for all of society to exemplify the beloved community.” (Brosi and hooks)
Reconciliation
Within this beloved community we must allow for reconciliation, which is achieved by understanding that the other individual is not the enemy, and like hooks says in her conversation, the language inherent in our discourse is one “infused with the politics of domination.” (Brosi and hooks) Take for example “argument is war” metaphors, a concept developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in Metaphors We Live By. Lakoff and Johnson explain that the language which we use to speak about conflict (arguments), have war terminology built in, for you can “win or lose” an argument, your argument can be “shot down,” or your claims can be “indefensible” (Johnson and Lakoff). This perspective in our language reveals a lot about our culture and how we treat conflict of any kind. By approaching an argument by war, we are approaching conflict in a way where the other person is our direct enemy and where we are attempting to win a verbal war against them. There is no middle ground and no community, there is only me versus my enemy.
Baked into our language, and therefore our culture, the relation of war/politics of domination take an intentional approach to shift away from this perspective which we may not even be aware of. Central to this language shift is also understanding the binary built into our language. This binary can refer to binary gender like the man/woman dualism but more broadly refers to the placement of one as more deserving or worthy “on top” and another which is subjected to the one “on top.” The same binary structure is present in the creation and enforcement of race, where whiteness holds power over other racialized categories under this system of racial capitalism. Other common binaries built into our culture are Culture/Nature and Object/Subject where one is held over the other. These binaries are also a part of our language, like the way that Western culture, particularly the USA, sees nature as a resource for taking and using or how we see bodies as human capital.
The other binary baked into the carceral system—and our language—is that of I/other(enemy)—when thinking about punishment or generally when interacting with others. It is crucial not to develop such a relation of war for community to thrive. Currently, under the carceral system, we see others through this I/enemy lens which means that if someone, through the eyes of the biased law, commits a crime then they are the enemy against everyone else and are no longer a part of the community and are therefore treated as such, and are sent away.
Why Restorative Justice?
Restorative justice allows for community to thrive, Restorative justice is community, through conversations surrounding restorative justice and being intentional in our language and seeing others through the lens of community and an ethic of love and care we can begin to approach Doing away with the I/other we can build a beloved community which works hand in hand with restorative justice towards a new way of conflict resolution, and which begins to erase the relation of war inherently built into our language and our way of viewing conflict and punishment. Restorative justice strengthens the community and changes the way that we see conflict, without an enemy and without domination of the other.
Sources:
Brosi, George, and Bell Hooks. “THE BELOVED COMMUNITY: A CONVERSATION
WITH BELL HOOKS.” Appalachian heritage 40.4 (2012): 76–86. Web.
Lakoff, George., and Mark. Johnson. Metaphors We Live by / by George Lakoff and Mark
Johnson. London: Chicago UP, 1980. Print.