The Braxton Institute fosters physical, emotional, and spiritual sanctuary for those building a more just, joyful and sustainable world.
OUR REPARATIONS FOR LAKELAND NOW! CAMPAIGN…
In 2021, in response to decades of activism by Legacy Lakelanders, most notably the Lakeland Community Heritage Project, the City of College Park, Maryland publicly apologized for past harms to to the Lakeland community and established a Restorative Justice Commission. But the work of the Commission stalled. By empowering Lakelanders, both local and in the Lakeland diaspora, and launching an extensive education program for the public, the Braxton Institute has revitalized the process through teaching, community dialogue and collaborative strategic planning led by Lakelanders. Together we have documented harm and traced a history of resistance, beginning with an examination of the enforced incorporation of Lakeland into the City of College Park in 1945. With support from the Decolonizing Wealth Project and the leadership of team Joanne Braxton, Richael Faithful, Rebecca Parker, and Sophie Bouwsma, we have at once supported the work of the Lakeland Restorative Justice Commission and offered models of healing justice and repair, awakening more Lakelanders and moving them to the center of a process that is increasingly inclusive, authentic, and worthy of community trust, building momentum and consensus along the way. The Joanne M. Braxton Institute for Sustainability, Resiliency and Joy is honored to be a partner in this important work. Read more here.
The Braxton Institute is a Liberated Capital Decolonizing Wealth Fund 2023 Grantee Partner for Reparations for Lakeland Now!
Lakeland Reparations Timeline
June 9, 2020
The City of College Park’s Mayor and Council passed Resolution 20-R-16 renouncing systemic racism and declaring support of Black lives. Read the full proclamation here.
August 2023
“400 Years of African-American History Commission Convening” sponsored by the United States Department of the Interior in Hampton, Virginia. This was the first federally-hosted convening on Reparations.
November 21, 2023
Dr. Joanne M. Braxton, President of the Braxton Institute for Sustainability, Resiliency and Joy, made a report to the Commission on a substantial grant received by the Braxton Institute from the Decolonizing Wealth Foundation (DWF) in support of obtaining Reparations for Lakeland Now!. Dr. Braxton outlined some of the key features of the campaign and introduced the Reparations for Lakeland Now! team. She also thanked the College Park Restorative Justice Commission for picking up some of the unfunded aspects of the campaign, such as the residency by Mindy Fullilove. 2024 “For Love of Lakeland” reparations education project announced.
November 30-December 2, 2023
“Evanston National Reparations Symposium for State and Local Reparations” sponsored by FirstRepair.
Representatives of the Braxton Institute and the College Park Restorative Justice Commission attended the second annual Reparations Conference in Evanston, Illinois, together with other members of the Reparations for Lakeland Now! team.
January 23, 2024
Dr. Braxton and Braxton Institute VP Richael Faithful attended the Restorative Justice Commission of the City of College Park, Maryland. The Commission formally recognized collaborations with the Lakeland Community Heritage Project and the Braxton Institute in support of to carry out the mission of the College Park Restorative Commission.
March - August, 2024
For Love of Lakeland: Reparations Education Project
October 24, 2024
Liberation Ventures Research Symposium: “Decolonizing Planning Studio Pedagogy: Grappling with Tensions and Dissonances.” Presentation by Reparations for Lakeland Now! team members.
December 4-6, 2024
Reparations for Lakeland Now! team members present at First Repair National Symposium in Evanston, Illinois.
““Knowing we may not always have eyes to see or ears to hear the many faces of oppression, we honor the voices and insights of women and people of color as primary sources of expertise in the work of justice and healing- locally, nationally, and globally. ”
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“What’s the Braxton Institute? I am often asked. A ministry of teaching and healing, our purpose is to foster a more just, joyful and sustainable world. We are people of color led. We bring voices from the margins to the center. We stand in our own truth as we know it, for each person carries a spark of the Divine. Our theme this season is Repair, Transform, and Thrive, with a focus on Reparations -- land and money-- for harms done to Black and Indigenous peoples, Wellness for black clinicians and thought leaders, and Thriving for trans and non-binary lives in an increasingly dangerous world.”
Dr. Joanne M. Braxton
Recent Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving Program:
At the Braxton Institute we celebrate Black History Month all year long! This month’s program brings together a group of courageous descendants of Jesuit enslavement who spend long hours in genealogical libraries and state archives documenting the paths of ancestors separated by the internal slave trade, focusing on the connections between Maryland and Louisiana. Using DNA and the tools of genetic genealogy, they meet “new” relatives whose connections are unknown, as well as fresh opportunities for re-membering, re-claiming and memorializing those enslaved ancestors whose identities and stories are being returned to us by the tender care of these descendants. Learn more here.
“There must be spaces where authentic selves engaged in interdisciplinary discourse can come together to address inequality and work for social justice.”
