Restorative justice must revive what Black communities have lost
— Nelson Mandela
On the heels of Women’s History Month, we, as two Black female academics, authors and historians in the commonwealth, wanted to reflect on where America is in its long journey toward achieving racial equality, justice and inclusion for all its citizens.
Amid the backdrop of scurrilous attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris; Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis; Harvard University’s first Black President Dr. Claudine
Gay; and attacks on Black female academics nationwide around DEI policies, we wanted to spotlight some amazing Black women leaders in the commonwealth, both past and present. Women such as Lenora McQueen, who advocated for saving historic Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, and other powerful women such as state Sen. Louise Lucas, who has fought for economic justice for Black communities in Portsmouth and across the commonwealth; Del. Jeion Ward, and Lisa Winn Bryan, Ed.D., who do important restorative justice work with Preservation Virginia; and many others who have worked to hold Virginia to our original promise of equality for all, as a nation.
As we look toward the next American century and beyond, the term “restorative justice” must take on new meaning, and new power. The riveting and profoundly disturbing ProPublica-WHRO series on the redlining, eminent domain and gentrification in Newport News during the past 60 years, specifically due to the rapid growth of Christopher Newport University at the expense of the historic Black community known as Shoe Lane is the most recent example of systemic racial disparities and practices that have ravaged Black communities and Black wealth creation for generations. Let’s not forget that the colonial development of what would become America began with the slave trade in the Hampton Roads region in 1619.
Yet, here we are four centuries later, and we are still wrestling with the vestiges of our past. We must not shy away from our history, because it tells a story of where we find ourselves today in the larger American landscape on racial equity.
To that end, the Virginia legislature recently voted in favor of a commission to examine the displacement of Black communities in Newport News. Although this is a good first step forward, restorative justice must address systemic racism, community devolution, and how we fix those injustices.
Setting up majority-run commissions that offer empty apologies is no longer acceptable. There must be economic reparations, educational reparations and major changes at institutions such as CNU that have caused such harm to Black communities, not just by taking their lands and displacing them, but more importantly by keeping them out of the institutions of higher education once established.
According to the ProPublica reports, CNU has dramatically lost black enrollment over the past decade and is now at only 2% of Black students — and less for Black faculty — in a region that is more than 43% Black. This practice is not new; however, it has been a targeted practice of “urban renewal.” We must pivot and put an end to this practice because it only further displaces Black communities and generational wealth creation.
So, how do we go forward?
First, we must define what racial reckoning and social justice is. The father of environmental racism, Robert Bullard, Ph.D., defines it as, “any policy, practice or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (where intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based on race.”
Here are a few examples of what restorative justice could look like in Virginia:
The state Highway Marker Program administered by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources should receive more funding as it evaluates spaces to educate the public about the communities who live and serve there.
More grants to African American nonprofits committed to preservation and economic community development.
When localities are faced with proposals to build on land in Black communities, descendants should lead on policy and decision-making committees.
Community stakeholders that sit on these restorative justice commissions must be empowered to make decisions.
In the final analysis, these restorative justice efforts are meaningless if those who caused the harm are the decision makers as to how to fix the harms. Restorative justice practices must actually offer restoration of what is lost, and reparation to build what is to come in communities affected by racial inequities.
Colita Fairfax, Ph.D., is a professor in social work at Norfolk State University. Sophia A. Nelson, Esq., is a former adjunct professor and scholar in residence at Christopher Newport University in Newport News.