Friday, May 6, 2016 - Intersection of #blacklivesmatter and #foodjustice
If we are to create a society that values black life, we cannot ignore the role of food and land. The Movement for Black Lives is about ending state sponsored violence against black and brown bodies. While police violence is one manifestation of institutional racism, diet-related illness is also destroying Black lives at unprecedented rates. At this same time, Black farmland ownership is on a steady decline. Soul Fire Farm, Grafton, NY is a black-owned organic farm committed to dismantling the oppressive structures that malign this food system and reclaiming our ancestral right to belong to the earth and have agency in the food system. We have trained hundreds of new farmers of color in a culturally-relevant program that integrates ancestral spirituality and trauma healing. Our farm also provides 80 families with weekly doorstep deliveries of fresh farm produce and provides food to incarcerated people and their loved ones through the Prison Bus Project. Join us to find out why Malcolm X believed that “land is the basis of all freedom, justice, and quality.”
Saturday, May 7, 2016 - Undoing Racism in the Food System
Some of our country’s most cherished sustainable farming practices - from organic agriculture to the farm cooperative and the CSA - have roots in African wisdom. Yet, African-American farmland ownership has declined to less than 1% and Black communities suffer disproportionately from illnesses related to lack of access to fresh food. What is the story of land loss and food injustice? What work is being done to reclaim ancestral rights to belong to the land and have agency in the food system? How are we using food and land as tools to end mass incarceration and institutional racism? Join us for a passionate and reflective conversation about the work of Soul Fire Farm and the Black farming community to advance food sovereignty. We will also explore concrete strategies to work together as allies in the movement to undo racism in the food system.