Moving Towards Right Relationship with Indigenous Roots

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Peaceful Schools NC strives to be wise and gracious stewards of the spaces and land on which we stand and the resources we leverage to provide training to the communities we serve. It is important to recognize the longstanding history of escape, forced removal and resettlement that has brought all of us to reside on this land. We respectfully and collectively acknowledge and value the Indigenous peoples and nations, who have been stewards of this land throughout the generations past, and the generations to come.

We recognize that North Carolina is currently home to the following Indigenous tribes: The Eastern Band Cherokee, Coharie, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi, Sappony, Tuscarora and the Waccamaw-Siouan, in addition to many other individuals belonging to Indigenous nations outside of North Carolina. We celebrate and honor the original and present-day Indigenous people of this land. Peaceful Schools NC is actively engaged in ongoing exploration and continued strategic action to respect Indigenous sovereignty and elevate Indigenous presence, needs, and contributions to our communities today, particularly as practitioners of  Restorative Practices. 

Over the past two years, the Peaceful Schools NC community of educators has been exploring an essential question: How can we share Restorative Practices while being in Right Relationship with our indigenous community and sacred practices?

While we remain firmly committed to the belief that the use of restorative practices has the power to transform communities, we have also learned that there are ways we can better care for the practice, its roots, and its impact on our communities. 

Based on our research, dialogue, and feedback from some members of our indigenous community, we’ve implemented changes for the 23-24 school year: 

  • Beginning each workshop session grounded in Trauma-Informed Practices

  • A newly developed, in-depth Land Acknowledgment (see above) that not only acknowledges the original stewards of the land, but that also addresses the historical context of the First Harm, the forced removal and colonization of unceded land 

  • A more comprehensive acknowledgement of the many lineages of Circles and Restorative Practices

  • Eliminating the language of a Talking Piece from our presentations, materials, and practices as it is a western appropriation of a sacred indigenous practice

  • Revision of how we teach circles both by leaning into our Quaker practice and further making it explicit that circles do not and should not replicate a sacred practice from another culture

  • De-emphaiszing circles as the main approach to community-building within classrooms and school communities as there are a myriad of ways to build relationships

Additionally we are engaged in ongoing work including: 

  • Further consulting with Indigenous elders within the field of Restorative Practices

  • Exploration of Land Back movements as a way to repair The First Harm 

  • Further reflection of our own personal development, relationships and queries as this is deeply personal work as well as institutional development

Our work is and will continue to be ongoing.  One tenet of the Quaker philosophy on which Carolina Friends School is built is the Pursuit of Truth and an understanding that the truth is continually revealed. We invite you into this journey of truth seeking with us.