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Exploring Justice as Healing.

Henderson, James Sa'ke'j Youngblood
June 4, 2015

Source: (2005) In Wanda D. McCaslin, ed., Justice as Healing: Indigenous Ways. Writings on Community Peacemaking and Restorative Justice from the Native Law Centre. St. Paul, MN: Living Justice Press. Pp. 3-9.

“Our visions of justice as healing, embedded as they are in Aboriginal traditions, are concerned with equitable processes or ceremonies to resolve conflicts more than with substantive rules. When Aboriginals say a certain behavior or rule is wrong, they are constructing a cultural vision of justice. Our vision of justice as healing recognizes that when an appropriate healing process is clear but is not followed, expressions of abhorrence at the wrong and demands for justice are often subtle ways of tolerating wrongs. When we look for visions of justice, we should look at the best in our traditions of raising children, rather than consult Eurocentric books on justice. While we should be willing to dialogue about grand systematic European theories of justice in modern society, we should also clarify their failures and how they differ from our visions.” (excerpt)

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