Black Lives Matter.
We grieve and mourn the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others. These murders are not isolated incidents, but a continuation of our country’s long history of white supremacy -- a legacy of oppression and violence that treats Black lives as expendable.
At Common Good City Farm, we know that the work of Black Lives Matter is inextricably tied to what we do. If we are committed to food justice, we must be committed to racial justice. We acknowledge that the land we farm is land stolen from indigenous people, and the agricultural system that we work in is rooted in the enslavement of Black people. These injustices continue today as Black farmers are denied loans and have lost ownership of land at double the rate of white farmers.
Our mission is to create a vibrant, informed, and well-nourished community through urban farming. That is not possible until Black lives are valued. The LeDroit Park neighborhood is a historically Black community, home to Mary Church Terrell, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Anna Julia Hayward Cooper, and many others. We re-commit ourselves to ensuring that our work centers Black voices, celebrates Black lives, and that racial equity is foundational in all of our work.
Accountability is key to making sure our words don’t ring hollow. Here is our promise to you. We commit ourselves to:
Continuing anti-racist work for the long haul, dedicating staff time and organizational resources to this work, and increasing the ways we listen to and act on the leadership and demands of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Reviewing our organization annually based on the Anti-Racism and Equity Rubric from SoulFire Farms, and using that analysis to inform the creation of explicit organizational racial equity goals, in addition to including goals within each of our programs.
Evaluating how we spend our money as an organization, creating a procurement policy that is aligned with our values—including prioritizing purchasing from local, Black/people-of-color owned, and environmentally sustainable businesses—and drafting a budget that allocates sufficient funds to implement the procurement policy.
Creating a community advisory board to formalize how we get and act upon input from the community. In the meantime, we continue to welcome all feedback from members of the community, and if you think we are missing something important in these goals, we would love to hear from you.
We know that we aren’t the voice that needs to be listened to right now; we will be listening to the voices of Black leaders and hope you will join us. White folks: pay attention to generations of Black, Indigenous, People of Color who have been speaking up. We acknowledge that non-Black people of color have different relationships to whiteness and your work is different. We know that this work is nuanced and messy, and we are in this with you.
Here are just a few recommendations of organizations you could follow:
Dreaming Out Loud, Soilful City, Three Part Harmony Farm, The Green Scheme are all Black-led organizations working on food and farming in Washington, DC
Soulfire Farms has many resources and actions you can take to combat racism in the food system
Civil Eats has a list of organizations working on food and land justice for Black Americans
Black Lives Matter. We stand in solidarity with people and organizations fighting for Black Lives and creating a world where racial equity is possible.
In Solidarity,
Common Good City Farm Staff
Photo Credit: Black Lives Matter