Last week, President Joe Biden signed a declaration marking Juneteenth (June 19th) —the day in 1865 enslaved Black people in Texas found out they were freed, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation—a federally recognized holiday. In the same week, however, the teaching of critical race theory in Texas was banned, with other state bans making their way through the courts. The week before that, a Wisconsin judge issued a temporary restraining order against the USDA to stop the payment of much-needed debt relief to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color farmers (see the statement from the HEAL Food Alliance here). And as we write this, GOP opposition is using the filibuster to block Democratic attempts to pass voting rights legislation, arguing it tramples upon “states’ rights”—an argument used to suppress Black peoples’ rights since the 19th century.    

These actions serve as a chilling reminder that the quest for liberation is ongoing. And, that any day that celebrates freedom (federally recognized or not), is a celebration of the possibility of true liberation and a recognition of the work that many are doing to create a future filled with opportunity for all. At Real Food Media, we get to collaborate with folks who are working towards a future of possibilities, groups like: the Food Justice League in Gainesville, FL, working to get prison slavery out of their university’s food system; the National Black Food & Justice Alliance following in the steps of Black freedom fighters before them in the struggle for liberation through food and land justice; and the Food Chain Workers Alliance whose members have been organizing for dignified working conditions across the food chain. 

We hope you will join us in supporting these coalitions, and the many others that center abolition, anti-racism, and Black liberation in their work. We also invite you to join us in insisting that policies in celebration of Black freedom must be accompanied by structural changes that channel resources, land, and safety to Black communities.

Yours in co-creating futures of nourishment, abundance, and joy,

Tiffani, Anna, Christina, and Tanya

 
Read the full issue of the Real Food Scoop

Featured image: Black Futures Farm of Portland, Or. Photo by Noah E. Thomas
 

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Gazan cuisine, says cookbook author Yasmin Khan, is known for its abundant use of dill. The fragrant herb joins garlic and chillies to form a “holy trinity” that gives its fish and seafood-centered dishes a distinct flavor palate.

It’s easy to view the occupied Palestinian territories only as a battle zone. And it’s important to highlight the routine indignities of living in a colonized land. But Palestine is also a place where peasant farmers and seedkeepers manage precious ecosystems and resources and where ordinary people find ways—through food, music, and daily life—to preserve and celebrate culture. In Khan’s book Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen, Gazan blogger and journalist Omar Gharib shares:

“People in Gaza really love life… We don’t take life for granted. If there is darkness, we manage to find some light; if there is ugliness, we manage to find some beauty; if there is despair, we find or create some hope. It is something that we have developed, like a skill. This is the image of Gaza I would like people to know about. It’s not just a place of death and destruction and bombs and dying and Hamas and Fatah and Israel and war and borders, we are not only that. We are two million people, just humans like everyone else in the world, waking up to life every day and looking for the chance to be happy.”

The best antidote to the daily barrage of tragic news from around the world—from the colonial occupation of Palestine to Covid-19 devastation in India to violent repression in Colombia (bound by a common thread of racial capitalism & imperialism)—is not to shutter ourselves from these tragedies, but to find meaning in connection.

In the US, many of us regularly enjoy the flavors of the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America through restaurants, food trucks, and cookbooks from the diaspora. Instead of disconnected consumption, we can choose to be in relationship with the places we enjoy through food… and that means solidarity: holding our policymakers accountable for US foreign policies (like arms sales) and supporting mutual aid, grassroots media, and activist groups when we can afford to do so.

We’ve listed a few actions you can take, and Palestinian organizations to follow and support, below (let us know of others we can share by tagging @realfoodmedia). 

In global solidarity,

Tanya, Tiffani, Christina, and Anna

 
Read the full issue of the Real Food Scoop

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