Repair starts with you

The U.S. provides reparations in many forms every day. This conversation asks why the harms of slavery and racial discrimination have largely been excluded from that tradition.

“Rupture is inevitable. Repair is learnable. Every time you repair, your relationship grows stronger.” Learn the PACER method of how to quickly move from conflict to resolution.

Not Afraid by Eminem is a reminder that healing is often not warm and fuzzy. It can be messy, angry, fearful, and brave. 

Someone can have harmed us and still be someone we love. No Blame explores the difficult spaces between accountability, forgiveness, and setting the record straight for the hope of a brighter future.

13th explores the connections between slavery, segregation, and mass incarceration, asking what it means to repair harms that continue to shape society long after the original injustice has ended.

Done well, an apology can make a relationship closer and more trusting than it was before the harm was done. Learn how.

Racism is a grown-up disease. Let’s not use our children to spread it.

Accountability is more than admitting you were wrong. It’s the practice of understanding the impact of your actions and participating in the work of repair.

Every close relationship experiences conflict and disconnection. What builds trust is not avoiding rupture, but learning how to repair after it happens.

Traditions and systems put in place by slavery and colonialism have shaped our present inequalities and still need our repair.

Explore Jacqui’s story of being forcibly separated from her family during Belgium’s colonial rule and reflect on what meaningful repair can look like for harms tied to identity, belonging, and stolen histories.

Learn the story of Ruby Bridges, the six-year-old who helped desegregate schools in America, and reflect on what her courage teaches us about progress, resistance, and the ongoing work of repair.

Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With depicts the story of Ruby Bridges, challenging America’s idealized self-image. Art sometimes allows us to confront challenging aspects of our world that are otherwise hard to look at head-on.

Explore how moments of rupture between parents and children can become opportunities to build trust, resilience, and deeper connection through the practice of repair.

This article reflects on what meaningful repair can look like at a national level and why accountability matters even when repair is imperfect.

A playlist for reflecting on repair, healing, and reparations through music. Listen to songs about grief, resilience, joy, memory, and imagining what healing can sound like.

Learn how to say “I’m sorry” in a meaningful way. Explore the role of apology in repair, accountability, trust, and healing relationships.