TO FREE OURSELVES WE MUST FEED OURSELVES

Statement from Juneteenth Broadcast Presenters

In 1965, James Baldwin wrote to his nephew: “The country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon.” In the 55 years since, as anyone with eyes can see from the storm which continues to rage about our heads, very little has changed. We continue on a steady, centuries-long course, of systemic exploitation.

The U.S. Industrial food system is a direct descendant of the agriculture-based plantation system. It was built on land stolen from Native Americans, forcibly labored by enslaved Africans, and protected by a legal system designed and evolved to privilege land ownership and citizenship to white people.

Over the last hundred years, Black farmers have lost over 90% of their farmland. They have faced and continue to face formidable odds, from covert denial of financing and legal resources to overt land theft. And yet, Black farming in the U.S. persists and continues to grow food to nourish our communities despite the systems constructed to destabilize them.

How do we create a clear alternative to the current “conventional” industrial agriculture model? In order to decompose the existing “conventional” system based in land theft, enslavement, and white supremacy, we must build and adopt a new one. One that regenerates as much land as “conventional” agriculture degrades. A new system that creates the political pressure necessary to redefine our food system, so “conventional” industrial agriculture may go extinct.

This new system, as we see it, will be recognized by three defining features:

1. ADVANCE BIPOC LAND OWNERSHIP
   Today, land ownership rests in white hands while labor rests on the backs of people of color. A just system sees land ownership and access to resources in the hands of BIPOC laborers.
2. DECENTRALIZE FOOD ECONOMIES
   Our current food system is designed to consolidate wealth. We are calling instead for cooperative community infrastructure, democratized production, and mutual ownership. This ensures that diverse and robust agrarian economies can thrive.
3. END FOOD APARTHEID
   Ecologically and culturally appropriate food is a right, not a privilege. Food must be available at greatly reduced prices without…