Catch Up on the Conversation
Aparna Polavarapu – Executive Director and Founder, South Carolina Restorative Justice Initiative | Associate Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law
Debbie Billings, PhD – Mutual Aid Midlands
David Crockett – Soda City Bail
e.k. hoffman – SONG Columbia and Soda City Bail
Takeaways + Resources
- Making our community more livable, equitable, and just is an opportunity to collaborate and entirely reimagine what our community can look like for the safety and well-being of all Midlands residents.
- In the Midlands, efforts in restorative justice, mutual aid, and direct support for the release of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color in pre-trial detention are ongoing to make our communities more just for all who live here. Intersectional approaches that center race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability and immigration status ensure this work is equitable and sustainable.
- Each individual in the community brings different insights, experiences and resources. There are a number of different ways to get involved!
- Give to Soda City Bail, a community, volunteer-led bail fund focused on securing the release of Black, Indigenous and other People of Color from pre-trial detention.
- Join Mutual Aid Midlands virtual calls on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. Check out their Facebook for mutual aid project updates.
- Follow South Carolina Restorative Justice Initiative’s work on YouTube. Stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to connect!
- Mutual aid projects are a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions, not just through symbolic acts or putting pressure on their representatives in government, but by actually building new social relations that are more survivable. Most mutual aid projects are volunteer-based, with people jumping in to participate because they want to change what is going on right now (from Big Door Brigade).
- To learn more about mutual aid, here are additional resources from Dean Spade and Big Door Brigade.