Final Posting from Reid Mihalko’s Accountability Pod

This post marks the final post from Reid’s accountability pod within the formal accountability process. Our aim here is to close any loops that remain open. As you will recall from previous posts, this process has shifted away from a restorative process with a particular person and into a wider community accountability process rooted in transformative justice. Changing the aim from a restorative process to a transformative one was one part of how we collectively made this process by doing it. There are no exact maps for doing transformative justice, instead, each situation requires a process that fits the participants. We have done our best to document the process, but remain open to questions and feedback.

Interpod Communication:

As planned when we discussed phase out, contact between the accountability support pod and the survivor support pod shifted to email. No new issues have been brought to either pod’s attention. We are, as ever, grateful to Aida Manduley and Sarah Sloane for their work and willingness to work until the end of the formal process.

Reid’s Ongoing Mentorship and Personal Work:

Reid has begun working with M’kali-Hashiki and will continue to do so after the accountability pod disbands. It should be very clear that M’kali-Hashiki’s role is not one of accountability, but one of working with Reid to understand when he’s missing something crucial due to his privileges, and providing feedback so that he can take those missing spots and learn how to fill them in. Reid is also continuing to work with the therapist he has been working with since February 2018.

Reid’s Content Audits:

Through the process, it became clear that the person who needed to be doing the content audit was Reid. By completing his own audits, with oversight from members of his accountability pod and M’kali-Hashiki, Reid is able to put into practice what he has been learning and offer some measure of evaluation for what he has learned over this past year.

What’s Left for the Accountability Pod:

Reflecting on this past year is an important part of our process, however, it is not something that can be rushed. In early 2019 members of the accountability pod will offer their own reflections on this process, aiming to provide information for others who might be curious or considering how transformative justice / accountability processes might be adopted by their own communities. It’s expected that these reflections will be posted in the same way pod announcements were, on individuals member’s Facebook pages, however, links will be collected and added to a timeline post, which will be the capstone to the formal process.

This process, like many where we are ‘making the road by travelling it’, isn’t clear-cut or pass/fail. There are parts that felt more successful than others, but overall the measure of success (a lasting change) is yet to come. We know that there was a ton of education, support for Reid’s taking accountability, and community involvement. Our hope is that those efforts and expenditure of energy pay off, not just in Reid’s behavior and actions, but in our communities.