Betty Shabazz Academy Students Engage In Restorative Justice Training

Betty Shabazz Academy Students Engage in Restorative Justice Training and Converse with Congressman Bobby Rush

"I really enjoyed the field trip. Congressman Rush gave a lot of detail and backstory about the Black Panther Party and what it took for him to get where he is today. I love that fact that I got to meet him!" - Javier Cabrera, 8th Grade

For the second year in a row, the 7th & 8th grade students of Betty Shabazz Academy are engaged in a Restorative Justice Training program in partnership with The Greater Chatham Initiative. On Thursday, March 16, 2023, Betty Shabazz Academy students visited the Carter Temple AME Church on the south side of Chicago to engage in a conversation with Congressman Bobby Rush, who is also the co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party.

Restorative Justice practices focus on building trust within the community, restoring damaged social and interpersonal relationships, broadening the ways in which conflict and violence are understood and responded to. The restorative conversation with Congressman Bobby Rush focused on the Restorative Justice principles of holding people accountable while still holding them in community.