This audio offering is a distilled version of a panel discussion held on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, 2020, at the inaugural Reclaim Justice: A Restorative Justice Conference, hosted by The Restorative Center in partnership with Southern University Law Center. Is restorative justice the key to remembering and reclaiming who we are, both collectively and individually? In this reflection, I explore that question—inviting us to consider the possibility that justice is not found in punishment, but in the tender, courageous work of witnessing, telling, and becoming whole again through story. I share my perspective on restorative justice not merely as a practice of repair, but as a sacred act of re-storying—an artform meant to heal the fractures of trauma, rupture, and division. Through this lens, restorative justice becomes a means of remembrance, a way to reclaim both personal and collective identities that have been silenced or distorted by harm.
