Stewardship
Stewardship is the name of a way that RJIM practices embodying the indigenous worldview that created Restorative Justice processes and inspired the Transformative Justice lens. This is a practice that we have built inspired by our teachers, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Edgar Villanueva, Adrienne Maree Brown, the people behind Community Centric Fundraising, among others. It is a practice that transforms donors, staff, board members, volunteers, interns, participants, everyone, into stewards of the work of RJIM.
“The essence of the gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a “bundle of rights,” whereas in a gift economy property has a “bundle of responsibilities” attached. Through reciprocity, the gift is replenished. All of our flourishing is mutual.”
We become caretakers, arriving to this work with our gifts and entering into a web of mutual relationships — where all give and all receive. Some gifts are monetary, others are material, others are immaterial (time, wisdom, network, etc).
“We are in an imagination battle. Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown and Renisha McBride and so many others are dead because, in some white imagination, they were dangerous... Imagination gives us borders, gives us superiority, gives us race as an indicator of ability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s capability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone’ else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free.”
As stewards in a relationship, we imagine a different world. A world of connection, safety, accountability, and healing. We engage in this imagination battle through events and activities that ask us to heal, learn, or do within ourselves or our communities. Together, we engage our imaginations to the service of our collective liberation. These events include trainings, talking circles, think tanks, coalition building, and many others.