Dear Erin,
Thank you for your note, and for your kind words.
back and forth:
I was the lady sitting on the floor directly in front of you with my biracial partner, Ralph, who was sitting on a couch behind me at yr talk in Milwaukee this evening.
I remember you both very well.
I didn't get an opportunity to tell you something I thought you should know. You had mentioned that cops hand out yr books to "trouble kids" and that yr books are circulated amongst gang members in prison, so I thought you should know about an interesting way your writing is being used here in Milwaukee. My partner was assaulted by a group of (white) men in May and we
I'm very sorry to hear that.
are doing a restorative justice community conference negotiation as opposed to a traditional criminal trial. As part of the community conference we had last week, we got to construct what we thought would be effective restitution. The restitution we got them to agree upon was that the offenders have to pay all of Ralph's medical costs and lost wages (the damage put him out of work for two months...he doesn't have insurance or any other benefits at his job, and these guys really lucked out because the injuries they inflicted could easily have resulted in a surgery that costs $30,000) but beyond that they have to write a letter to a member of Ralph's family, potentially correspondence with a prisoner who is locked up for the maximum of what they could have received (pending if they can find a prisoner who meets the criteria and is interested in participating), and mandatory reading of The Culture of Make Believe. Hopefully it will help them...it helped Ralph, he read it while he was recovering from his injuries this summer.
I'm deeply moved to hear this. This is one of the greatest compliments you could give me.
Thank you very much.
In solidarity,
Derrick
Thank you for your note, and for your kind words.
back and forth:
I was the lady sitting on the floor directly in front of you with my biracial partner, Ralph, who was sitting on a couch behind me at yr talk in Milwaukee this evening.
I remember you both very well.
I didn't get an opportunity to tell you something I thought you should know. You had mentioned that cops hand out yr books to "trouble kids" and that yr books are circulated amongst gang members in prison, so I thought you should know about an interesting way your writing is being used here in Milwaukee. My partner was assaulted by a group of (white) men in May and we
I'm very sorry to hear that.
are doing a restorative justice community conference negotiation as opposed to a traditional criminal trial. As part of the community conference we had last week, we got to construct what we thought would be effective restitution. The restitution we got them to agree upon was that the offenders have to pay all of Ralph's medical costs and lost wages (the damage put him out of work for two months...he doesn't have insurance or any other benefits at his job, and these guys really lucked out because the injuries they inflicted could easily have resulted in a surgery that costs $30,000) but beyond that they have to write a letter to a member of Ralph's family, potentially correspondence with a prisoner who is locked up for the maximum of what they could have received (pending if they can find a prisoner who meets the criteria and is interested in participating), and mandatory reading of The Culture of Make Believe. Hopefully it will help them...it helped Ralph, he read it while he was recovering from his injuries this summer.
I'm deeply moved to hear this. This is one of the greatest compliments you could give me.
Thank you very much.
In solidarity,
Derrick
This is really incredible, Erin. First of all, I'm so glad that your partner is healing from what happened to him, and second of all, I think it's really great that you both did something like this rather than falling into the norms of our justice system, which aren't always effective. I hope you're both doing well. :)
ReplyDeleteWe are both doing well. Thank you. :)
ReplyDelete