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ACCESS NOTES:

  • Our Zoom meeting is linked to a live transcription service, Otter.ai
  • Slides will be shared out afterwards

WELCOME TO INTRODUCTION

TO TRANSFORMATIVE

JUSTICE!

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WHO WE ARE

A support and discussion group for transmasculine and masculine-of-centre Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to learn about transformative justice, unlearn toxic gendered behaviors, and imagine what masculinity can look like outside of the white gender binary.

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Meetings on the last Wednesday of each month from 6:30 – 8 PM EST!

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Follow us on IG: @transformgender

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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THIS WEBINAR IS BASED HEAVILY IN THE WORK OF:

    • Mia Mingus
    • Mariame Kaba
    • Shira Hassan
    • Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
    • Ejeris Dixon
    • Mimi Kim
    • The Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective
    • BYP100
    • Transform Harm
    • Generation Five
    • Creative Interventions
    • Critical Resistance

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THE BASICS: WHAT IS TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE?

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WHAT IS TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE?

  • Definition: a political framework for responding to harm, violence, and abuse without further reproducing harm, violence, and abuse
  • Firmly rooted in abolitionist movements

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    • Harm consists of any actions that cause other people pain and suffering
    • Harm can be individual or institutional/societal
    • Harm must be contextualized

WHAT IS HARM?

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HOW DO WE CURRENTLY DEAL WITH HARM AS A SOCIETY?

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    • Punishment / punitive justice
      • Ranges from individual > institutional/societal
      • Does not lead to any real change for anyone involved
      • Does not mean the person who caused harm will not harm anyone else
      • Does not mean the person who caused harm understands why it’s wrong to cause harm
    • Jails / prisons / “carceral system”

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HARM VS. CRIME

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Any action that causes people pain and suffering

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Examples:

Domestic violence, sexual assault, employment discrimination

Any action that the STATE decides is harmful

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Examples:

Loitering laws

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HOW DOES THE CARCERAL SYSTEM CREATE MORE HARM?

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    • Structural barriers after leaving prison:
      • Employment discrimination
      • Not allowed to vote
      • Not eligible for public benefits, student loans, or public housing
    • Harm, violence, and abuse within prisons
    • “Disposed of” by society

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How can we deal with harm in a way that doesn’t cause more harm?

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THE TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE FRAMEWORK

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TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE:

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    • Does not rely on the state or carceral system
    • Does not create more harm or violence for anyone involved
    • Does cultivate what we know prevents harm and violence
    • Made up of:
      • Individual and collective justice
      • Personal and political transformation
      • Response and prevention

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TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE:

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    • Both addresses the harm that happened and why it happened
    • Sees oppression as the root of harm
      • “The conditions that allow violence to occur must be transformed in order to achieve justice in individual instances of violence.” (Transform Harm)
    • Does not say that TJ will cause all harm to go away
    • Does not believe in throwing away or disposing of people

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“CANCEL CULTURE”

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    • What is cancelling?
      • Withdrawing support, removal from community, public call outs, informing the public, refusal to work with them
    • Very valid critiques of the concept of cancel culture
      • Perpetrators are never truly “cancelled” because we live in a society that devalues and disbelieves survivors
      • We don’t have the power to cancel perpetrators
    • There is nuance to the concept of cancelling
    • Relies on the assertion that people can’t grow

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TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE:

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    • Believes in the inherent ability of every person to transform themselves and work not to perpetuate harm
    • Majority of people that perpetrate violence have been harmed themselves
      • “Hurt people hurt people”
      • “No one enters violence for the first time by committing it.” (Mariame Kaba)
    • Acknowledges that all of us have committed some form of harm in our lives AND all of us has experienced some form of harm at some point in our lives
    • Aims to transform all those involved in the process
    • A practice and a framework, not a system or an alternative

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HOW DO WE PRACTICE TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE?

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HOW DO WE PRACTICE TJ?

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    • No one approach to transformative justice but all approaches must:
      • Not rely on the state or carceral system
      • Not create more harm or violence for anyone involved
      • Cultivate what we know prevents violence and harm
    • Small-scale interventions and change
    • Personal transformation as a tool of political transformation
    • Different forms of violence require different approaches
      • Approach tailored to the harm – but always centers survivors

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BACK TO “CANCEL CULTURE”

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    • When is cancelling effective?
      • Holding an organization or public figure accountable
      • Not readily accessible, not willing to listen
      • Escalating pressure to take accountability
    • When is cancelling not effective?
      • Should not be the first response
      • Confronting
    • Consequences can often feel like punishment
    • Punishment takes away someone’s basic needs or ability to meet their basic needs
    • This is messy and there is no one right answer!

CONSEQUENCES VS. PUNISHMENT

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POD MAPPING

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    • “Pod” = those people that you turn to for support when you have experienced harm, witnessed harm, and/or committed harm
    • Relationship and trust are two of the most important factors in successful TJ interventions
      • Relationship-building is a core component of TJ
    • Not a popularity contest!
      • Most people can only name 1-2 people
      • Some people have no people in their pod

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Created by Mia Mingus and the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective (BATJC)

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