In Praxis

Albino Garcia is the Executive Director and Founder of La Plazita Institute. Over the last 18 years, La Plazita has been serving New Mexico's communities through economic, cultural, agricultural and community revitalization through organizing and power building. In this episode, Albino gives a rich history of how La Plazita came into existence. He discusses La Plazita's philosophies of "La Cultura Cura" and how they are healing formally incarcerated youth and families through connecting them to the land. Albino also takes time to dive deep into what it means to build organic community power. He encourages organizers and movement workers to continue to take care of your community first, and the rest will follow.

Dr. Ashley Gripper is the co-creator and co-director of Land Based Jawns, a Philly based organization committed to reclaiming ancestral, earthly, and spiritual relationships with Mama Earth and land for Black folks. In this episode, Ashley tells an in-depth story of her life—sharing all the interconnected moments, memories and experiences that brought her to the land work that she does daily. Through joy, grief, sorrow, and healing, all things return back to the earth and so should we. Land Based Jawns' mission and work is deeply inspired by Octavia Butlers' books: "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents" as foundations to building communities of people rooted by establishing a healthy relationships with the land. Ashley, discusses her research around building "Agricultural Community Power" and the ways we rethink measuring success to align with Black ways of knowing that captures the practice of Ubuntu and interdependence.

Nuestra lucha por la justicia alimentaria debe incluir a los que trabajan más cerca de nuestros alimentos. La organizadora de trabajadores agrícolas, Lupe Gonzalo, de la Coalición de Trabajadores de Immokalee (CIW) comparte el profundo poder que se encuentra dentro de las voces de los trabajadores agrícolas. Como trabajadora agrícola, Lupe arroja luz sobre las condiciones abusivas en las que están sujetos trabajadores agrícolas, desde el robo de salaries, la agresión sexual, y condiciones similares a esclavitud moderna. Los intentos fallidos de responsabilizar a los propietarios de granjas por las atrocidades en curso llevaron a Lupe y sus colegas a recurrir al poder de la responsabilidad social. El programa y la campaña Fair Food de CIW amplifican las voces de los trabajadores agrícolas para promover el cambio y fomentar la responsabilidad entre las grandes corporaciones de alimentos para establecer un código de conducta entre sus proveedores. Yendo más allá de establecer protecciones y garantizar que las políticas de seguridad se implementen y hagan cumplir, CIW ha luchado para construir poder, voz y agencia entre los trabajadores agrícolas en Immokalee, FL e inspirado a defensores en todo el país.

Our fight for food justice must include those working closest to our food. Farmworker organizer, Lupe Gonzalo, of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) shares the profound power that lies within farmworker voices. As a farmworker herself, Lupe sheds light on the abusive conditions farmworkers work and live in everyday—from wage theft to sexual assault to modern-day slavery. Failed attempts to hold farm owners accountable for on-going atrocities led Lupe and her colleagues to turn to the power of social responsibility. CIWs Fair Food Program and campaign amplifies farmworker voices to advance change and foster responsibility among large food corporations to establish a code of conduct amongst their vendors. Going beyond establishing protections and ensuring that safety policies are implemented and enforced, CIW has worked to build power, voice, and agency among farmworkers in Immokalee, FL and inspired advocates nation-wide.

Bevelyn Afor Ukah believes that youth power holds the key to our survival and collective freedom. Only through our ability to be in multigenerational relationships with one another in our organizing efforts, will we be able to achieve the just world we know we deserve. Bevelyn's work at the Food Youth Initiative (FYI) at the Center for Environmental Farming System, centers their work in the Food justice space. Food Justice for FYI is more than just about food access, their organizing efforts span across interconnected issue areas leading us towards liberation. Bevelyn speaks to us as a person ever learning from the wisdom and leadership that youth have to offer, sharing the stories of her student organizers and all the ways they are working to transform our communities for the future.

In this episode of In Praxis, we are joined by Donne Gonzalez and Emily Arasim from New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA). Donne is the Farm Trainer/Farm Manager and Emily serves as the Youth Education Coordinator. Both Donne and Emily are deeply committed in serving as caretakers, and passing on knowledge about intergenerational farming and the larger systems impacting people living in the area. They discuss the importance of returning our hands and hearts to the land starting with the land in our backyard. Through building our relationships back with the land, the cascading consequences builds and heals our communities.

amaha sellassie is a public-sociologist working to transform communities through a love ethic. In this episode, amaha shares the story of how Gem City Market, a worker owned cooperative, came into existence. Gem City Market is the first full service grocery store in West Dayton, Oh. amaha shares his insight and perspective on the socio-political and economic dynamics that sparked the necessary change in his community. West Dayton is becoming a place that provides for one another with a deep sense of care and commitment to being a thriving community and Gem City Market is one of the first steps in this transformation. As listeners, we are asked think about what unlimited resources are already abundant with us and our communities that will fuel our fights in justice.

As a second generation Pan-Asian American, Angela Patel (she/her) uses her cultural history to shape and influence her work at Danny Woo Community Garden as the Sustainable Community and Educational Coordinator. Danny Woo Community Garden is situated in the heart of Seattle's Chinatown-International District stewarded, cultivated, and cared for by the local community of Asian elders, transient neighbors, and lovers of the land. In this episode, Angela discusses what food sovereignty means and how to combat scarcity mindset in immigrant communities by cultivating a culture of abundance.

Kyle Tsukahira is the Co-Director of Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement (APIFM) based in Los Angeles, CA. In this episode, Kyle shares his journey into food justice work, starting with a memory of foods that remind him of home. Kyle tells us about his lineage and the ancestors that brought agricultural practices from the East and adapted them in western soil, passing down knowledge from one generation to the next. Through their Food Roots program, APIFM partners with local Asian American farmers and other farmers of color growing culturally relevant food, and supports food distribution to local businesses and communities. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Food Roots program has worked to provide over 180,000 lbs of fresh produce and over 150,000 eggs to thousands of families in need across Los Angeles County.

Co-founder, co-director, and lead artist of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production, Carlton Turner works at the intersection of arts, culture, and agriculture. Carlton comes from a long lineage of workers of the land and believes in the power of storytelling through food. In this episode, Carlton tells his food story—a deeply compelling tale that tells the socio-political and economic history of Utica, Mississippi as it connects to the current day. Through the unfolding interconnected history between power and agency, Carlton makes the case for community investment, empowerment, and access to food and our story as we journey back towards regenerative food practices for the generations to come.

Space Curator, Facilitator and conjuror of spaces for freedom, Emanuel H. Brown (he/him), Executive Director and Steward of Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom, life's work centers around the question of How can people get free? How can people feel free? In this episode, Emanuel explores ideas of freedom through our ability to access healthy and health promoting food and our connection to the land. Food is a story. Food is restoring. Food is a mechanism for our healing. Our collective relationship to food and its source can transform not only our bodies but our world as we strive for liberation.