Harper Lee once wrote "You never really know a man
until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his
skin and walk around in it." As an opening quote in "To Kill a Mockingbird" it
is a powerful reminder of the path to empathy and understanding.
In recognition of National Crime Victims
Rights Week (April 22nd– 28th) the Center For Restorative Youth Justice (CRYJ)
has offered this Youth Exhibit to the Flathead Community - focused on unfolding
and uncovering the ripples caused by crime, and honoring the voices of those
most impacted.
CRYJ’s programs work one-on-one with youth and victims of
juvenile crime to ‘reweave the fabric’ of relationships (community, family,
peers) in ways that promote true accountability, inspire connection, and
increase community safety. Conversations with victims and community members
allow youth to focus on what steps are needed to repair the real harm caused by
their actions, and to create opportunities for victims and youth to move forward
in positive ways that reconnect them to our
community.
Description of Exhibit: For
this exhibit CRYJ youth participants worked to gather voices and perspectives in
an attempt to discover not only how victimization and harm can separate us as a community - but how we can use empathy and
understanding to come together. When choosing to walk in another’s shoes the
choice is made to listen to those who wish to be heard, and to see the truth in
others who wish to be seen.
This exhibit is titled "Images and Voices: Road to Repair"
and is built to be an interactive artistic piece where the observer also becomes
a participant. The project encompasses real voices and images of local youth, as
well as voices of victims - providing an opportunity for you as the community to
view both the outside and inside experience of these two populations and to
offer words, wishes, or hopes for healing and growth.
What do we do as victims of crime to move forward, to find
safety and our voice when both feel so far away? What does the world say about
teenagers? How do we exist in a world of stereotypes and external pressures
while trying to hold on to some sense of who we are? One of the goals of this
project was to interview teenagers about what other people (especially adults)
think about them, and to describe the ‘inside person’. Youth participants were
also asked to look through statements and quotes from real victims of youth
crime in our community - broadening an understanding of the far reaching impacts
a single decision can make on the world around
us.
The goal of this exhibit is to honor voices - to create
ways to repair and rebuild relationships. To step aside from judgment - to offer
our hopes, to find the goodness in each other. To restore.
The Images and Voices: Road to Repair
will be on display at FVCC from April 23rd
through April 26th, in Colter Coffee from April 27th-May 27th, and in the
Park Side Credit Union Whitefish Branch from June
1
- June 8th. We hope you will participate in this exhibit and encourage others to
as well.For more information about CRYJ’s Restorative Programming please visit our website at www.restorativeyouthjustice.
Shareen
Springer
Executive Director
Center for Restorative Youth
Justice
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