The Latest From LCJP: July Newsletter

How the first fully Spanish speaking conference has impacted LCJP

By David Cooley

Recently, I had the distinct privilege of collaborating with our Executive Director, Kathleen McGoey, in the process of facilitating a Community Group Conference entirely in Spanish. We were graciously supported in this process by our friends and allies Detective Edna M. at the Longmont Police Department as well as our bilingual volunteer/interpreter extraordinaire, Silvana M.

As Silvana talked with our young, responsible individual about the harms and impacts of shoplifting on the community, she shared her concern that when people see a young Latina woman stealing, the negative stereotype of Spanish speakers being criminals or of questionable character is reinforced. She spoke of the pain and frustration of personally experiencing prejudice at the hands of this stereotype and the desire for her daughter to live in a society where this story is no longer perpetuated.

I was struck, not only by the impact this feedback had on our young participant but also by the realization it could only be authentically delivered by someone who has experienced this kind of discrimination. I felt tremendous gratitude for Silvana’s presence and was reminded of how important it is for individuals to see their cultural and linguistic identities reflected in the faces and voices of those participating in their Restorative Justice process.

Hace poco que tuve el privilegio de colaborar con nuestra Directora Executiva, Kathleen McGoey, en el proceso de facilitar una conferencia comunitaria de Justicia Restaurativa, completamente en español. Fuimos apoyados en este proceso por nuestras amigas y aliadas, la detective Edna M. con el departamento de policía de Longmont y nuestra maravillosa intérprete/voluntaria bilingüe, Silvana M.

Mientras Silvana hablaba con nuestra joven individual responsable sobre los impactos y daños de cometer hurto en la comunidad, ella compartió su preocupación que cuando la gente ve a una joven Latina, haciendo este tipo de delito, se reafirma el estereotipo de los hispanohablantes como criminales y delincuentes. También habló del dolor y de la frustración de experimentar personalmente la discriminación debido a este estereotipo, e incluso mencionó la esperanza de que su hija pudiera vivir en una sociedad donde ya no se perpetúe esta historia perjudicial.

Me impresionó mucho, no solamente el impacto que tuvieron sus comentarios en nuestra joven participante, sino también la realización de que no habría sido posible entregar tal mensaje con autenticidad menos por una persona que realmente ha vivido este tipo de discriminación. Yo sentí una tremenda sensación de gratitud por la contribución de Silvana y me recordó de la importancia que tiene para los individuos el poder ver su identidad lingüística y cultural reflejada en las caras y voces de aquellos que participan en su proceso de Justicia Restaurativa.

Fundraising Achievements: Thank You!

On May 16th, LCJP premiered its documentary How To Love Your Enemy and because we have such incredible community members like you, we were able to exceed our fundraising goal to raise over $20,000 and engage 50 new donors! Our documentary was viewed by people all over the world, the message and work of LCJP reaching across the nation and the globe. Thanks to the generous spirit of our donors we can continue the transformative work of Restorative Justice in the Longmont Community.

Anti-Racism Education

In order to honor our commitment to becoming an organization that is anti-racist, LCJP will be actively engaging in anti-racism dialogue following a curriculum focusing on the stages of white racial identity model:

Read about Helms’ White Identity Development

The five stages are: contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudo-independence, immersion, autonomy. Each of these areas will include intentional reflection and discussion led by LCJP staff and will be supported by articles, books, podcasts and movies from both people of color and white allies.

For July our reflection will be on the first stage, contact. We will be choosing from the below materials to focus on:

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (Peggy McIntosh)

Podcasts:

NPR episode about Whistling Vivaldi

Videos:

Interview about White Awake

Interview about I’m Still Here

Articles:

Walking While Black (Garnette Cadogan)

Books:

White Awake (Daniel Hill)

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria (Beverly Tatum)