Leaders of two initiatives at the University of St. Thomas are co-sponsoring a keynote address followed by panel discussions Oct. 13 that will explore racial injustice and ways to heal through restorative justice: naming the harm, discussing its ramifications and finding hope.

“It includes the fact that our brothers and sisters of color experience harm in our society,” said Father Daniel Griffith, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, liaison for restorative justice and healing for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and as of Sept. 8, founding director of UST School of Law’s Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing.

Father Daniel Griffith

Father Daniel Griffith

“It is my hope that we raise a greater awareness of what restorative justice is and a greater awareness of the harms of racial injustice,” said Father Griffith, who also is a Wenger Family Faculty Fellow at the law school.

Keynote speaker for the 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. event, which will be held at the School of Law’s Schulze Grand Atrium in Minneapolis, is Yohuru Williams, a distinguished university chair and founding director in 2020 of UST’s Racial Justice Initiative. That initiative aims to support racial justice education, facilitate research and dialogue, and explore community partnerships. It was announced in the weeks following the May 25, 2020, police-related killing of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“The racial justice issue is so important because of racial disparities in our state, which are among the most acute in the country,” said Father Griffith, citing Black-white gaps in education, homeownership and income in Minnesota.

RACIAL DISPARITYAccording to a Feb. 25 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis report, the disparity in Minnesota between white homeownership and Native American and other households of color is the fourth largest in the country, and stem from a series of racial policies and practices. For some racial and ethnic groups, such as Black Minnesotans, the gap is increasing, the report said. A 2019 Federal Reserve Bank report pointed to figures from Minnesota Department of Education and Office of Higher Education officials indicating 24.7% of Black students demonstrated college readiness, compared with 68.9% of white students. According to a National Public Radio Planet Money report June 2, 2020, U.S. Census data showed the median Black family in the Twin Cities earned $38,178 a year, less than half the median white family income of $84,459 a year — one of the largest gaps in the nation. The Black-white income disparity across the state was second only to the District of Columbia.

Williams is a noted scholar of the civil rights and Black power movements. His books include “Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven” and “Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement.”

Yohuru Williams

Yohuru Williams

His talk will center on the critical role that understanding the history of racial discrimination plays in restoring justice. Two panel discussions will follow: one including a UST law school graduate and two law school students who will talk about local community restorative justice programs in which they have participated, such as the Circle of Peace Movement in St. Paul, the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute’s Come to the Table Initiative and Restorative Justice Community Action, both in Minneapolis.

A second panel, on the role of faith and understanding in seeking racial justice through restorative justice, will include Rev. Curtiss DeYoung, CEO of the Minnesota Council of Churches, and Robert Vischer, dean of the law school, who co-teaches with Williams a course on race and the law.

Opportunities to discuss racial disparity and support social justice efforts in Minnesota and the archdiocese will continue to grow, Father Griffith said. The Oct. 13 gathering is the first event sponsored by the law school’s Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing, and it hits one of three key focus areas for the effort: responding to racial injustice. The second and third areas are identifying and helping heal the harm done by institutional and leadership failures, including clergy abuse in the Catholic Church but also more broadly; and societal and ecclesial polarization.

Healing circles, led in part by Father Griffith, with people sharing their stories and the Church acknowledging the harm done, have been part of efforts at restorative justice in the archdiocese in the wake of its $210 million bankruptcy settlement in 2018 with more than 400 clergy sexual abuse survivors.

EVENT DETAILS“Exploring The Intersection of Social Justic and Restorative Justice,” 4–6 p.m. Oct. 13 at the University of St. Thomas School of Law’s Schulze Grand Atrium, 11th Street and Harmon Place, Minneapolis. Register here.

Now, as part of his role as liaison for restorative justice in the archdiocese, Father Griffith said that last November he was asked to address the challenge of racial injustice during an appearance at St. Thomas More in St. Paul. That could be the first of efforts to include parishes in the archdiocese in such restorative justice initiatives, he said.

“We’re hopeful that this new initiative can be a source of truth and the prophetic call in the Church to name harms and bring Christ and his healing mission” into difficult situations, Father Griffith said.