As we task ourselves with a goal of repair—mending damaged relationships, ecologies, and narratives—we might imagine responses to harms committed via and toward Misi-Ziibi/Wakpa Tanka/Mississippi by taking responsibility for those harms. Repair can be enacted, e.g., through reparations, ecological repair, and restorative justice.

Re: Reparations:
Which actions can our community of practice commit to that reckon with legacies of colonialism and white supremacy, and enact redress for those legacies, in movement toward healing across cultures and ecologies? How do these actions put victims of oppression and extraction—past, current, and future—in the drivers’ seat of their own healing?

Re: Ecological Repair:
Which moments of opportunity exist to steward damaged ecologies toward repair? What should stewardship entail amid already happening as well as anticipated shifts of climate change? If mending some relationships requires dismantling others, which values guide us in making those decisions? How can we be deliberate about making room for emergence as our stewardship proceeds: appreciating unforeseen outcomes as integral to what our stewardship entails?

Re: Restorative Justice:
Which river-related violations can be identified that have both caused broken or flowed from broken trust? What stories, conversations and activities can be facilitated that appreciate victims’ needs for healing, offenders’ needs to make amends, and the socio-ecological community’s needs for equity, resilience, and healing?