Overview
Speakers explore the meaning and practice of accountability, emphasizing self-reflection, relationship, community care, transformation, and repair rather than punishment.
Defining Accountability
- Accountability involves apology, making amends, and behavior change to prevent future harm.
- Being accountable means recognizing the consequences of one's choices and taking responsibility for them.
- It requires sitting with difficult feelings and understanding why harm was caused.
- Accountability is seen as an active, ongoing process, not a one-time event.
- True accountability includes self-accountability, community accountability, and accountability in relationships.
Elements and Process of Accountability
- Apologize genuinely for harm caused.
- Make efforts to repair harm when possible.
- Reflect deeply on the causes and conditions that led to harmful behavior.
- Commit to long-term transformation and behavioral change.
- Own one's actions—do not deflect, deny, or minimize responsibility.
- Recognize that accountability requires vulnerability, self-reflection, and engagement with shame and discomfort.
Community and Relationship in Accountability
- Accountability is a commitment to stay in relationship or community despite harm.
- Communities must develop shared norms and definitions of accountability, revisiting them regularly.
- Emphasizing empathy, care, and socialization towards compassion helps make accountability a cultural norm.
Challenges and Considerations
- Accountability processes can be long, complex, and emotionally demanding.
- Not all who cause harm will fully admit or process their actions, but community and survivor needs still count as accountability.
- There is no process that can undo past harm, only opportunities for repair and change.
- Accountability should feel achievable and not overwhelming or punitive.
Accountability vs. Punishment
- Accountability centers humanity, relationship, and repair, contrasting with punishment, which denies humanity and casts people away.
- Embracing accountability means leaning into change and collective growth rather than isolation or exclusion.
Recommendations / Advice
- Normalize regular self-inquiry about responsibility and impact.
- Foster environments where admitting harm and pursuing repair are supported and encouraged.
- Promote collective definitions and practices of accountability within communities.