MOORHEAD — At this fall’s Symposium, Michelle Lelwica highlighted her experiences teaching Concordia students beyond the classroom in an unconventional setting: a juvenile detention facility.
Lelwica, professor of religion at Concordia College, discussed the impact that she has had on children within juvenile detention facilities in the Fargo-Moorhead area in her keynote session, “Hurting Kids: What Incarcerated Youth are teaching me about Whiteness, Compassion, Accountability, and Healing.”
In her new book, “Hurting Kids,” Lelwica talked about the conversations that she had with incarcerated youth and how they have taught her the true values of compassion, accountability and healing. The book explores the impact that religion, mainly American Christianity, has on the juvenile justice system.
“There’s insight that secular culture is not truly secular,” Lelwica said. “Those of us who have not been incarcerated are religiously and culturally conditioned to feel morally superior.”
Lelwica also discussed the immense harm on unconscious bias and privilege, especially when it comes to the juvenile justice system.
Lelwica teaches the course REL 379, Religion Race and Social Justice. Within this class, there is a PEAK component where students visit the youth in juvenile detention centers. The interactive aspect that inspired this portion of the class comes from the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson.
“You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance,” Stevenson wrote. “You have to get close.”
Lelwica invited math education major, Emma Benson, who took REL 379 course this summer to talk about her experience in the course.
“This class was the best class I’ve ever taken in my college career,” Benson said. “They’re trying to get better and to learn.”
Benson learned “more in this class than any other,” and is hoping to intern there this summer to learn more from the children.
“It’s not just ‘why are you here’, it is a ‘who are you?’” Benson said.
The class encourages students to look not only outward, but also inward, including looking at what Lelwica calls the “white savior complex.”
“Kids need to be empowered, not saved,” Lelwica said.
The “white savior complex” occurs when white individuals view themselves as rescuers of marginalized communities. Lelwica explained that it can be an unconscious, but highly toxic train of thought in a juvenile justice system.
According to Lelwica, learning about oneself within their self and their privilege can help combat the white savior complex.
“We go to the margins not to make a difference,” Lelwica said. “We go to the margins to be different.”
In writing “Hurting Kids,” Lelwica discussed the fear of “trauma porn”: the idea of retelling true events while sensationalizing the situation to make it consumable and entertaining content.
“How do you honor stories about trauma without sensationalism them for the entertainment of others?” Lelwica said.
Her book focuses on punitive responses to teenage wrongdoing, as well as calling for change and justice in systemic equity.
For more information on REL 379, contact Dr. Michelle Lelwica at lelwica@cord.edu
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