Increasingly, district leaders are turning to a community-based alternative to suspension called restorative practices (RP's). While they correlate with lower suspension rates, Black, Latinx, and Native students continue to be more frequently and harshly disciplined than their White peers (Office of Civil Rights, 2014). The Kirwan Institute (2015) found that Black students comprised 18% of the total United States K-12 public school population, but comprised 35% of the total number of students suspended. The current study uses data from a year-long ethnographic multi-case study of three New York City high schools using RP's to improve school culture and reduce suspension rates. My analysis uncovers the mechanisms by which these practices, presumably democratic and egalitarian, reproduce traditional forces of power unless the staff facilitating them already happen to have a strong relationship with the students involved. Findings lead to recommendations for how staff can be more equitable and culturally responsive in their implementation of restorative practices.