#Reparations4LakelandNow! Campaign

Our Reparations For Lakeland Now! Campaign…

On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, the Restorative Justice Commission of the City of College Park formally acknowledged its collaborations with the Braxton Institute in the support of Black lives and especially the historically Black community of Lakeland, Dr. Braxton’s hometown, which was decimated by eminent domain and by policies of planned shrinkage that benefitted the City of College Park, the University of Maryland, the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. With support from our partner, the Decolonizing Wealth Project, the Braxton Institute has lifted the work of the commission and the voice of the community. Standing on the shoulders of those who went before us, we are building consensus and momentum by offering models of healing justice and repair and by moving more Lakelanders to the center of a process that is increasingly worthy of community respect and trust. We are honored and excited to be a part of this necessary work. And we are grateful to the Decolonizing Wealth Project for making it possible.

 Six strategies for repair:

1  DOCUMENT HARMS AND IDENTIFY THE IMPACTED DESCENDANTS:

This critical initiative to expose and document the devastating impact of urban renewal, gentrification, and encroaching exclusionary development on the strong, resilient, and determined community of Lakeland. For decades, this community has been subjected to deliberate and covert policies that have eroded its economic, social, and cultural fabric, displacing residents, destroying livelihoods, and silencing the voices of those who bore the brunt of the harm. The City of College Park Lakeland Restorative Justice Commission has issued an RFP for a harm report, and a contractor selection process is underway. When completed, the harm report will provide a comprehensive and unflinching account of the multifaceted levels of harm inflicted upon this community, including the loss of homes, resources and relationships, businesses, and cultural heritage, as well as the emotional trauma and mental health impacts that have resulted from these actions. We are collaborating with the Lakeland Restorative Justice Commission and have also designed a backup plan using the “Embrace Boston Harm Report” and the “California Reparations Report” as models.

2. REMEMBER LAKELAND’S HISTORY OF RESISTANCE:

 Collecting and archiving the papers of James Alfred “Billy” Weems (1937-1980), a legacy Lakelander and College Park sanitation worker who published his own newspaper and conducted a one-man campaign to stop urban renewal until his untimely death. Contributing other materials to the Lakeland Digital Archive owned by the Lakeland Community Heritage Project (LCHP).

3.    BROADEN EDUCATION:

Holding community-led convenings and educational events that advance public awareness of the need for reparations and offer successful models that could apply, using the Black Lives Matter Reparations Toolkit as a resource.

4.     BRING A TRAUMA-INFORMED LENS TO THE NARRATIVE AND TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:

Offering workshops that will provide trauma-informed safe space to help heal divisions and distrust, strengthen Lakelander’s leadership capacities and tell a fuller story using the Braxton Institute’s model for “Dialogues on Resisting and Thriving” which employs practices such as narrative medicine, ritual, and healing music to address collective trauma. Offering two Town Halls as well as our signature Reparations as Peacebuilding training to Lakelanders, members of the Restorative Justice Commission, College Park city council members and the general public.

5.    FORGE CONSENSUS FOR A CONTEXTUAL MODEL OF REPARATIONS. 

Holding a series of community dialogues, bringing together community leaders, fact witnesses and experts, representatives from community organizations as well as Legacy Lakelanders, for educational programs, trainings and strategy sessions, culminating in a second Town Hall as part of a 2-day convening held in Lakeland in May 2024, and emerging with a contextual model for repair.

6.    BUILD MOMENTUM AND ADVOCATE FOR REPARATIONS: 

By deploying a vigorous communications strategy and a meticulous communications plan, we have stepped into the gap left by the city’s failure to adequately publicize the work of the Lakeland Restorative Justice Commission. We have put public pressure on the City, County, and University to implement the community’s emergeging consensus demands of Reparations4LakelandNow!

Campaign Leader:

Core Leadership Team:

We are supported by Reparations leaders from Evanston, Illinois, Asheville, Tennessee, and Shelby County, Tennessee and Howard University Law School and other experts who will participate directly in our community-led convening and advise our team on strategy and best practices.

Advisors:

Communications:

Movement for Black Lives Reparations Now Toolkit