In conversations about food sustainability, individuals must account for the different issues present within the dialogue of achieving a sustainable future. For example, there exists an unequal distribution of food access across the United States, coined as food apartheid. Food justice activist Karen Washington defines food apartheid as the systemic inequities that make it possible for communities of color to be less likely to have reliable access to food.
...the only way to change the systems that have created food access inequities and have exacerbated environmental damage is to engage our communities together.
Food justice activism urges to reframe food sustainability with food apartheid and community care in mind; arguments highlight that the only way to change the systems that have created food access inequities and have exacerbated environmental damage is to engage our communities together.
A webinar hosted on February 22, 2021 by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health titled “Black Femmes in the Fight for Food Justice” strived to answer the critical food justice questions of: What is the role of community in the struggle for food sovereignty? What efforts and organizations are leading the fight for food justice?
The panel featured two Black-led organizations that are fighting the food apartheid crisis in their communities: Feed Black Futures and Land Based Jawns. Panelists from both organizations spoke about their work in food justice and food sovereignty, along with highlighting the importance of community action. Below, I will be spotlighting both organizations: their goals and inspirations.
Feed Black Futures is a mutual-aid organization focused on supporting Black mothers and Black caregivers that have been impacted by incarceration. Ali Anderson, MPH (she/her) and Lyric Zhané (she/her) discussed their mission to build a future “where Black people have access to high-quality fresh food and the means and skills to produce it.” Founding Director, Ali Anderson described her inspiration to be the need she saw to not only to work in areas that are devoted to challenging oppressive institutions and systems, but to construct caring spaces that “create and support the nourishment for Black families most directly impacted by COVID-19, food apartheid, and state violence.”
The inspiration cultivated a supportive organization aiming to uplift Black mothers and caregivers. Since the organization began in June, Lyric Zhané highlighted that Feed Black Futures has distributed sustainable produce to 25 households in the greater Los Angeles Area. Feed Black futures has not only accomplished investing $20,000+ to community-based organizations and Black farmers, but they have established nurturing ties within communities that are systemically denied access to nutritious food.
In the East Coast, Ashley Gripper (she/her) founder, future farmer, and PhD candidate, introduced Land Based Jawns as an educational organization providing agriculture instruction to Black women and nonbinary folks in Philadelphia. Land Based Jawns focuses on forming spiritual and meaningful connections with each other, the Earth, and ancestors through agricultural training to empower and heal. For Land Based Jawns, teaching in community aims to build a set of tools and skills for Black women and non-binary folks to create self-sustaining communities.
Ashley Gripper cites Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower series as her inspiration (Pomona College first-years can relate to the inspiring words of Octavia Butler as it was our Orientation book!) because Butler outlined a community centered on mutual care and support. Land Based Jawns has developed a series of skill share workshops mirroring Butler’s “Earthseed” community focusing on self-defense, gardening, and centering land in relationships.
The webinar and the words of the panelists remind us of the work and contribution Black women and non-binary folks are doing for food justice. In the closing, Ali Anderson, MPH traces the history of food to be led by Black women and femme folk: “It is Black women and femme folks that are nourishing our communities.”
Below, I have added additional resources to support the work of Black and Indigenous-led organizations working to rebuild the food system. As Ali Anderson, MPH, Lyric Zhané, and Ashley Gripper all noted, we must create ties based on community care and support to make change and fight against food apartheid.
Organizations:
- Feed Black Futures
- Land Based Jawns
- Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative
- Soul Fire Farm
- Oko Farms
- Oyate Teca Project
- Navajo Ethno-Agriculture
- The Black Yard Farm (GoFundMe)
- Acres of Ancestry Initiative
- Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance
- HEAL Food Alliance
- Black Farmer Fund
- Black Church Food Security Network
- Patchwork City Farms
- Black Urban Growers
- The National Black Food and Justice Alliance
- Cheyenne River Youth Project
- Dream of Wild Health
- Sierra Seeds
Guides:
Maria Duran Gonzalez is currently living in Miami, Florida, and is a first-year prospective Environmental Analysis major. She is passionate about food justice, gardening, and intersectional environmentalism.