Reclamation and Memory: Theological Roots of Decarceration in the Rural South

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay examines Growing Change, a decarceral, youth empowerment nonprofit based in rural North Carolina. To situate their work, the “human context” is presented, which details intersections of youth detention and state-imposed idleness. Following this, the “context of place” renders the history of prison labor that gave rise to campuses like the one Growing Change now occupies. In response, taken from an oral history given by the organization’s founder, the mutually reinforcing theological themes of memory and reclamation are foregrounded. Memory has to do with truth-telling, making legible the horror of prison labor as connected to its equally brutal and morally horrendous predecessor, chattel enslavement. Reclamation underscores the work of divine witness, the repurposing of land cultivated for domination into a place of care and community welcome. Drawing on this unique theological vision, the essay concludes with a series of reflections that imagine possibilities for extending this work beyond rural North Carolina.