Jay Mimes and Daralee Vázquez García: Restorative Justice: Navigating Safety through Darkness

Sat, Mar 16 2024
8:20 pm – 8:35 pm
Central Library

BPL Presents Night in the Library


Darkness is often seen as something abstract and other, outside of ourselves. The current criminal "justice" (legal) system in the US operates on this reasoning, encouraging us to buy into a binary of us vs. them: the innocent civilians and the cruel criminals. Restorative justice implores us to think differently, to tap into our shared humanity to uncover and name the root causes of crime, violence, and harm. In this session, Daralee and Jay will be exploring the different types of restorative justice frameworks, the nature of criminality and criminalization, and how communities can function to heal and liberate us all.

Jay Mimes (they/she) is a healing justice practitioner, facilitator, strategist, and culture worker currently based in Brooklyn, NY. They have organized and co-created several political spaces for over a decade, including a student walkout against police brutality in 2014; an Indivisible chapter in the wake of the 2016 election; and a transformative justice circle in Brooklyn in 2021. She has served in multiple leadership roles, including the NYC-DSA Queer Caucus and the National AfroSocialists Caucus. Through the lens of lived experience as well as transdisciplinary theories of race, gender, queerness, and media literacy, Jay's approaches have helped establish empathetic frameworks for sustainable movement and emotional growth among her peers and comrades. Radical love, rage, hope, and joy are all key ingredients in Jay's vision for an abundant future with solidarity at its core. 

Daralee Vázquez García is a former Department of Education High School teacher, a non-profit, and a higher education adjunct lecturer. With 20+ years of experience, she is now advancing as an independent educational consultant. In her capacity, Daralee is an educator, a nonviolence practitioner, and a circle keeper with a lens on racial justice, healing justice, and transformative justice. Daralee helped embed restorative justice practices in public schools, community-based organizations, and non-profits as an alternative to the punitive measures experienced in institutions throughout New York City. Creating a culture of curiosity, liberation, truth, and repair, she believes people can transform and heal collectively. Daralee, also a mother to an amazing human being, divides her time between two lands she calls home: Brooklyn, New York, and Isabela, Puerto Rico.

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Add to My Calendar 03/16/2024 08:20 pm 03/16/2024 08:35 pm America/New_York Jay Mimes and Daralee Vázquez García: Restorative Justice: Navigating Safety through Darkness

Darkness is often seen as something abstract and other, outside of ourselves. The current criminal "justice" (legal) system in the US operates on this reasoning, encouraging us to buy into a binary of us vs. them: the innocent civilians and the cruel criminals. Restorative justice implores us to think differently, to tap into our shared humanity to uncover and name the root causes of crime, violence, and harm. In this session, Daralee and Jay will be exploring the different types of restorative justice frameworks, the nature of criminality and criminalization, and how communities can function to heal and liberate us all.

Jay Mimes (they/she) is a healing justice practitioner, facilitator, strategist, and culture worker currently based in Brooklyn, NY. They have organized and co-created several political spaces for over a decade, including a student walkout against police brutality in 2014; an Indivisible chapter in the wake of the 2016 election; and a transformative justice circle in Brooklyn in 2021. She has served in multiple leadership roles, including the NYC-DSA Queer Caucus and the National AfroSocialists Caucus. Through the lens of lived experience as well as transdisciplinary theories of race, gender, queerness, and media literacy, Jay's approaches have helped establish empathetic frameworks for sustainable movement and emotional growth among her peers and comrades. Radical love, rage, hope, and joy are all key ingredients in Jay's vision for an abundant future with solidarity at its core. 

Daralee Vázquez García is a former Department of Education High School teacher, a non-profit, and a higher education adjunct lecturer. With 20+ years of experience, she is now advancing as an independent educational consultant. In her capacity, Daralee is an educator, a nonviolence practitioner, and a circle keeper with a lens on racial justice, healing justice, and transformative justice. Daralee helped embed restorative justice practices in public schools, community-based organizations, and non-profits as an alternative to the punitive measures experienced in institutions throughout New York City. Creating a culture of curiosity, liberation, truth, and repair, she believes people can transform and heal collectively. Daralee, also a mother to an amazing human being, divides her time between two lands she calls home: Brooklyn, New York, and Isabela, Puerto Rico.

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