Our Thoughts on Recent Tragedies and our Role in Social Injustice, Systemic Racism

At Groundswell today our hearts are heavy with the ongoing murder of Black people by police officers. Tyre King, a 13 year old child in Columbus, Ohio, Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlottesville, North Carolina were murdered within days of each other by law enforcement officers over the past two weeks. Their deaths have left people around the country reeling, heartbroken, terrified, enraged, and wondering what it will take to end the violence against Black and Brown people that has plagued the United States since its inception.

In my new position at Groundswell I have been asking the same questions, and what our role is as a farming organization in contributing to an end to this violence. What are the connections we must draw between injustice in the food system and murders of Black people by police? What is the connection between the small percentage of farmers of color in Tompkins County and the land theft/labor exploitation that built the foundation of this country? Farmers and food justice activists of color have been drawing the connections for years, urging the food movement to genuinely grapple with systemic racism and how it undergirds all of our work when left unacknowledged.

 

I have also recently been inspired by the National Young Farmers Coalition statement “Ending Violence Against People of Color in Food and Farming”. It is a document created by a predominantly white organization recognizing the need to affirm and center that Black Lives Matter in their advocacy work for young farmers. More predominantly white organizations must address racism as a central barrier to creating a vibrant and sustainable food and farming movement, and commit to action steps to dismantle it. All of our lives depend on it. The NYFC statement makes me hopeful that this will continue to happen.

 

To further our own learning on these topics, tomorrow the Groundswell Staff head to Soul Fire Farm in Petersburg, NY. Soul Fire is a family farm committed to ending racism, injustice and food apartheid in the food system. With a focus on training and empowering Black, Latino and Indigenous farmers, they are doing the crucial work of ensuring food is being grown by and for, farmland owned and operated by people of color. I am excited to learn about how we can support this work in the Finger Lakes Region, and how we can better recognize the interconnectedness of all of our issues in a food system that serves the interests of so few people.

 

We will share more in the upcoming weeks on our reflections from Soul Fire Farm and about the work we are doing concretely as an organization to address injustice. For now, we say the names of Tyre King, Terence Crutcher, and Keith Lamont Scott. We send our love and solidarity to their families and to those who organize around the U.S. for a country free of racist violence, from the cities to the fields, from Columbus to Tulsa to Charlotte to Ithaca.

 

– Kate Cardona 9/23/16

 

ADDENDUM: If others would like to join us on our trip to Soul Fire tomorrow, 9/24, we have available space. Current traveling cars are full, but if somebody can drive their own car, is willing to take others, Groundswell will cover the mileage.  Please email us if you would like to come along.