Talk Humboldt: Yurok Tribal Court's Lori Nesbitt
In Yurok Tribal Court, reading to children is one form of restorative justice. "Yurok people care," says Lori Nesbitt. She's the Wellness Program Manager for Yurok Tribal Court in Klamath. Under Judge Abby Abinanti's leadership, Nesbitt's career has included helping turn parolees into better parents, distributing Narcan, facilitating rehabilitation classes for domestic abusers, home visits, and advocating for harm reduction.
This work examines big questions, like how to measure emotional violence. "It's complicated, because people are people," she says with a laugh. But her approach has one guiding light: the connectivity of the Yurok community. And at the end of the day, "We don't give up on people if they do wrong ... we always take people back," she says.
Transcript:
Tom Jackson:
Hi, I'm Tom Jackson of Cal Poly Humboldt with my dear friend and colleague, Doctor Keith Flamer, president of the College of Redwoods. Good to see you, Keith.
Keith Flamer:
It's good to see you, too.
Tom Jackson:
It was nice driving up here. Where is here?
Keith Flamer:
We’re here in the Yurok Tribal administration building. Correct?
Lori Nesbitt:
Correct.
Keith Flamer:
Just gorgeous here. It's just beautiful.
Tom Jackson:
And it is beautiful. And we are talking to Laurie Nesbit, the wellness program manager for the Yurok Tribe. Good to see you, Laurie.
Lori Nesbitt:
Thank you.
Keith Flamer:
What are the main problems that you have to deal with as the Wellness Program manager?
Lori Nesbitt:
Well, the ones that we take care of the most are drug issues. Along with those comes domestic violence, theft, vandalism.
Tom Jackson:
And those all go into the diversion program?
Lori Nesbitt:
Pretty much, Domestic’s kind of still in the thought process. Because how to measure violence is still a big question.
Keith Flamer:
What do you mean? Explain that.
Lori Nesbitt:
Well, how does one person measure another person's violence? Because you can't read people's minds. Going into the court system, do you believe everything the victim said or do you believe everything the violator said? It's kind of complicated because people are people.
Keith Flamer:
Tell us about the connectedness of the community here.
Lori Nesbitt:
Yurok people care. Yurok people take care of each other. Growing up, I have a non-Native dad and a Native mom. And so my dad made connections with the Natives more than my mom did because my mom went to boarding school. He learned more Yurok than my mom knew. So he ingrained in us that we are family.
So in society, we’re brought up where it's none of your business what happens in that household. So how do you negotiate life by caring and then dismissing people? That person may be doing a wrong thing, but they're still a person.
Keith Flamer:
And so how does that community feeling translate into the work that you do?
Lori Nesbitt:
Connectedness is how our Wellness Program works. So Judge Abby [Abinanti] was introduced to me years ago, and she was the first Native attorney in California. She's Yurok Tribal member, and she has taught all of us in Tribal court what it is to be Yurok. So in Judge Abby's lead, we don't give up on people if they do wrong, and if they're ashamed or afraid or don't want people to know, we wait for them to come back.
We always take people back.
Tom Jackson:
What are some of the other jobs that you do in your role here?
Lori Nesbitt:
Prevention and harm reduction. We distribute Narcan. We distribute xylazine test strips. We distribute fentanyl test strips.
Tom Jackson:
Do you mind talking a little more about the impact that drugs have had on this Tribe? Can you share a little bit more about what you've observed over the years?
Lori Nesbitt:
It's a lifestyle of tolerance. Learning from other people what the lifestyle should be. So if you take it back to the neighborhood, they're doing what they were taught: survival. You look at how our society is today with money, why wouldn't we be drug dealers?
Tom Jackson:
So you described earlier, given those recent comments, that something has to change something.
Lori Nesbitt:
Yeah, yeah. So back to the neighborhood. I mean, we learn what our family does. When I first got here, Judge Abby goes, ‘Go check on that guy. I sent him to jail, and I care about him. He's come home out of prison and let's take care of him now.’ So I go to his house, and he invited me in, like we're family and got to the living room.
And his little daughter is a toddler. And I said, well, I'm sorry that I have to do this, but you come back home and you said that you're going to be alcohol free and drug free. So on the coffee table is about four empty Budweiser cans.
And I said, I can't leave because that toddler is holding on to that table. And what does she see? What is normal for her to see? And he goes, it's normal for her to see her dad drinking. And I said, so what is going to be normal for her? ‘I never did think about that,’ he said.
He's a great dad today. He's an insightful dad today. His child is going to school. She's a good girl. He makes sure she's safe. He's a great dad today.
Keith Flamer:
You know, that story tells me we try to educate people to what else is out there besides what they've learned to do from the past.
Lori Nesbitt:
So from the Batterers program, I have another story. He was a parolee. He was on his ninth and tenth child, and they were both toddlers. And he was really disgusted with himself that he had to be home taking care of little kids, cleaning the hous. He would sweep the floor. And, of course, the toddlers would have great fun shuffling through the dirt that he swept up.
And he couldn't make payment. He can't go to work. And so I brought it back to [Judge] Abby, and she said, ‘Well, let's have him read books to his children as payment.’ This is restorative justice. He would check in and he goes, how am I going to prove it to you that I am reading to my children? And I said, well, we all have cell phones.
So every week he brought in his picture. He would check in and say, ‘They're asking me now, Dad, can you read to me? Dad? It's time to read a book.’
Keith Flamer:
That's powerful.
Lori Nesbitt:
I have a little bit extra part; he goes ‘I am so excited about Christmas’. I say ‘What's going on?’ And he goes, you'll never believe what my wife and I found for Christmas presents. We found miniature brooms. So now we clean the house together.
Tom Jackson:
We're here with Lori Nesbitt. Thanks again.
Keith Flamer:
Thank you.
Lori Nesbitt:
It's fun. I could go on forever, though. You know.
