#60 David Lewis-Peart on restorative circles and bridging community divides
“Many of us are afraid of conflict, but I also think conflict is, and has been, commodified in such a particular kind of way that exists on that larger scale, but it also exists on the individual level too. When I’m enraged and in conflict, there’s a marshalling of resources around that rage and conflict that are diverted away from other aspects of my life that would otherwise utilise that energy and that resource. ”
In what ways have reactive activist efforts at restorative community work furthered divide between ‘marginalised’ communities and groups characterised as ‘oppressors’? How can we reimagine reparative work in community so that it holds space for reflection and pause, both integral for long-term systemic change but also acceptance of the multiplicities and complexities that make up our individual and collective bodies?
Today we are joined by David Lewis-Peart, a Toronto-based writer, educator and former TedX speaker whose work looks at identity, race, masculinity, mental health and the concept of the GRACE Principle.
He holds a diploma in Human Services Counselling - mental health and addictions, with certification in Life Skills Coaching, and additional training in Facilitating Restorative Circles, and Family Group Conferencing. He has previously been a member of faculty in both Child and Youth Care and Social Service Work programs in Toronto, Brampton and Oakville.
David has been a founding lead on a number of community service and arts-based initiatives supporting Black and other groups. A former minister, David was co-founder and former coordinator of the spiritual-arts community Sunset Service Toronto Fellowship, honoured by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation in 2014, and again in 2016. In 2015 NOW Magazine Readers Choice Awards recognized Sunset Service as Best Activist Religious Group - Runner-up, with David later being appointed by the Chicago-based Parliament of the World's Religions as Co-Chair of the Next Generation Task Force in 2017.
David has been the recipient of several awards for his work in community-building including the TD Canada LGBT Youthline Award for Achievement in Social Services, the Toronto Community Foundation – Vital People Award, and the inaugural Walden New Thought Awards recognizing socially conscious leaders globally in 2019.
He has regularly contributed to national publications such as Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC), Huffington Post Canada, and Global News, engaging as a thought leader on issues of race, identity, restorative practice and working across difference.
What will be covered:
David’s calling into restorative community work and its facilitation
David’s work with communities which have historically been marginalised such as communities of colour, 2SLGBTQ, poor and unhoused, people living with HIV/AIDs, children and youth with mental health issues and those in the child welfare space
Some of the tensions that David has seen/worked with between community groups, most currently around racial tensions between communities of colour (particularly Black and Indigenous communities) and European descended groups, and relationships between the ‘oppressed’ and the ‘oppressor’ characterisations in social justice work
The furthering of community divides by ‘mainstream’, reactive activism
Breakdown of the GRACE principle and the concept as humanising community work to include the “messy, missteps and misspeaks”
Centring courage and good intention for community and relationship-building work
Re-conceptualisation of systems to focus on the body and community level
Commodification of conflict and rage which perpetuates reactionary ‘activist’ modes of thinking and furthers divide
