FERGUSON AND THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
DC: The violence that Black people face in this country is a web of violence rooted in a system of anti-Black domination, destruction and repression. It is the same system that instigates our food quality, our lack of access to our own means of production, the theft of our land, our health outcomes, the exploitation of our labor, our air quality, disproportionately high asthma rates, the privatization of our water and is the same system that drives predatory policing, the criminalization of Blackness and the continuation of our enslavement via the prison industrial complex. It’s important we understand the system of state violence and all of the ways in which it targets Black life and progress.
If we look at mapping in Chicago for example, the same maps of neighborhoods without access to food retailers can directly overlay with maps indicating high rates of heart disease, which directly overlay with maps of school closings which directly overlay with rates of high homicide. All of which directly correlate to race—specifically Black communities in Chicago. We can see similar patterns all over the country as we look at health, food, education, economic exploitation and incarceration conditions of Black communities in the U.S. And this is not all by accident but in fact an entire system of racist policies, practices and legislation rooted in white supremacy and violence.
In Ferguson specifically, we see a city that relies heavily on preying on and profiling mostly Black people for their city revenue with a largely white police department (understanding Black people and people of color can also be agents of white supremacy, however), and a largely (disempowered/ underemployed) Black population that responded defiantly against the police murder of young Michael Brown with what we now know as an incredible spark with national implications. Intergenerational resistance— largely young people on the front lines (with the presence of critical organizing institutions like Organization of Black Struggle) resisting anti-Blackness, mass incarceration, state violence, economic violence and refusing to allow one more murder of one more Black body to be sanctioned by police and with impunity. We hear the chants and cries “the whole damn system is guilty as hell” and know that our people are clear that this system is larger than sanctioning the killing of one Black body. It is the systematic attempted destruction of all of our bodies.
According to Dr. Monica White, "police shootings are modern day lynchings and lynching was the tool used by white supremacists to drive black folks off their valuable land and out of Mississippi." We know that this happened and continues to happen in various ways and in various places in addition to Mississippi. Dr. White goes on to say, “We still see a systemic failure to value black lives, in terms of policing, access to food, education transportation, etc. The issue is privilege and oppression. It’s the same communities dealing with policing issues and bad food.
MORE BELOW:
If we look at mapping in Chicago for example, the same maps of neighborhoods without access to food retailers can directly overlay with maps indicating high rates of heart disease, which directly overlay with maps of school closings which directly overlay with rates of high homicide. All of which directly correlate to race—specifically Black communities in Chicago. We can see similar patterns all over the country as we look at health, food, education, economic exploitation and incarceration conditions of Black communities in the U.S. And this is not all by accident but in fact an entire system of racist policies, practices and legislation rooted in white supremacy and violence.
In Ferguson specifically, we see a city that relies heavily on preying on and profiling mostly Black people for their city revenue with a largely white police department (understanding Black people and people of color can also be agents of white supremacy, however), and a largely (disempowered/ underemployed) Black population that responded defiantly against the police murder of young Michael Brown with what we now know as an incredible spark with national implications. Intergenerational resistance— largely young people on the front lines (with the presence of critical organizing institutions like Organization of Black Struggle) resisting anti-Blackness, mass incarceration, state violence, economic violence and refusing to allow one more murder of one more Black body to be sanctioned by police and with impunity. We hear the chants and cries “the whole damn system is guilty as hell” and know that our people are clear that this system is larger than sanctioning the killing of one Black body. It is the systematic attempted destruction of all of our bodies.
According to Dr. Monica White, "police shootings are modern day lynchings and lynching was the tool used by white supremacists to drive black folks off their valuable land and out of Mississippi." We know that this happened and continues to happen in various ways and in various places in addition to Mississippi. Dr. White goes on to say, “We still see a systemic failure to value black lives, in terms of policing, access to food, education transportation, etc. The issue is privilege and oppression. It’s the same communities dealing with policing issues and bad food.
MORE BELOW:
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"Criminalizing Blackness: A Mississippi Community College's School-to-Jail Pipeline"
"The terror that any family member - especially a member of a Black family - endures when discovering their loved one has been captured by an unjust criminal legal system is horrifying. My turn came when I discovered that my baby brother - my beautiful, incredible, sweet, smart, loving, brilliant baby brother, Akinola Gonzalez - had been arrested on his campus at Hinds Community College where he is studying engineering in Raymond, Mississippi. I called my mother immediately. Her voice sounded so worried, at times so powerless, so frantic ... so exhausted. Our worst nightmare, being forced to face our inability to protect him and keep him safe, was happening. Our illusion of successfully getting him to "safety" via a college campus rapidly dissipated.
Criminalization, Race and Food Access in a Time of Hyper-Afrophobia
Excerpt: "So as we continue to march against injustice, let us raise our voices and oppose discriminatory public policies that instigate inequality (such as Sen. Vitter's outrageous farm bill amendment and any cuts to food stamps) in addition to those that instigate (or justify) racist vigilantism (such as the "Stand Your Ground" law).
Let the real crimes of hunger, disenfranchisement and discrimination be attacked through policy. And let blackness and browness be as beautiful as it deserves to be without incessant racist assaults of assumed criminality."
Let the real crimes of hunger, disenfranchisement and discrimination be attacked through policy. And let blackness and browness be as beautiful as it deserves to be without incessant racist assaults of assumed criminality."