This is a program created to give our youth the opportunity and space to discuss relevant topics and issues such as non-violence, peace, decision-making skills, and resilience.

One Book Baltimore’s broad group of local community-oriented organizations will connect students and community members to increase student discourse to develop actions toward peace and anti-violence through schools, libraries, and other community spaces, with the dual goals of promoting literacy and enriching our community.

This initiative is made possible through the efforts and contributions of Baltimore City Public Schools, Baltimore Ceasefire, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, Johns Hopkins University, Arts & Minds Labs, Maryland Humanities, and the T. Rowe Price Foundation. These efforts are further supported and amplified by the partnerships with Barnes and Nobel, the Maryland Book Bank, CityLit Project, and others.

Why I Write

One of the reasons I write is that when I do, I find out what’s on my own mind. Like my best friend from elementary school, for instance, who loved my jokes even when I didn’t think they were that funny. Or my grandpa, who raised a family in tough times, and kept them all together. Or the time I ran away from home, and I had that rare experience where, for one quick moment, I knew exactly what I wanted out of life – which wasn’t to run away!

While we’re on the subject – my grandpa, who everyone called Papa, was a very cool guy. He owned and worked his own farm and, in his spare time (which he can’t have had much of with nine children), he ran the molasses mill in the town, where he turned stalks of sugar cane into hot molasses for anybody who brought him their crop. When my mom and her siblings grew up, most of them became a part of the great migration, in which thousands of Black people fled the segregated South to start new lives in the North. Papa missed his children sorely and made sure that all nine of them visited often and brought their own children with them. He didn’t ask much when we visited– just a few quiet minutes sitting next to him under the carport. And like my favorite characters in books, he was always ready with a story.

I’ve always been a writer in one way or another, and I’ve always been an activist for social justice, fighting to end mass incarceration and create a safer world. One of the most exciting aspects of that work is in the growth and development of restorative practices, also known as restorative justice.

Restorative practices—as highlighted in Play the Game—are a set of principles that people and communities can use to address conflict and harm. Like any good tool for addressing the hard things that happen between people, the foundation of restorative practices is to build strong and durable relationships among people, so that they’re better equipped to handle painful conversations and difficult decision-making. A central theme of restorative practices is that they recognize the humanity of all people, which may seem simple, but tends not to be the case with systems that are based in punishment. Restorative practices, on the other hand, are about leading people to accountability and healing, rather than punishment. 

Restorative practices are a way of life that’s older than my grandpa and, for most people in the United States today, fresh and new. Like so many important movements for justice, young people are providing important leadership in using restorative practices, and in shaping the way our country understands them. 

Before passing out the books to students, please check out the book review.