What does a connection to land mean to you? Answering this question for me as a Black American is beautifully complex.
Connection to the land is a means of connecting with our ancestors.
Black Americans have a deep history of stewarding the land within this country. Our ancestors tended the land, first by force, then by necessity, and eventually to sustain their family’s income. Then, more than 13 million acres of land were taken. While some of this land was taken by force, the majority was systematically removed from Black familes through unjust government policies.
In fact, the House Committee on Government Operations reported that the USDA “systematically denied minority farmers access and full participation in the multitude of federal government programs designed to assist them” and therefore is “directly responsible for the loss of land and resources these farmers have experienced.”
The intergenerational trauma of Black farmland loss cuts so deep, but Black connection to land persists. I spent many summers as a child tending land alongside my grandparents. With dirty hands, I learned the value of sowing, pruning, and growing. And since I have shared these experiences with many of the youth who cross my path, I’m excited to have my daughter get her hands in the dirt as well. I’m not alone in this cycle of learning. Black Americans continue to farm and grow in their spaces as they pass down experiences from one generation to the next.
Connection to the land is a commission to be a purposeful steward.
We care for, tend to, and love the land as it does the same for us. And as the land so freely and abundantly gives, we do the same. Stewarding land is also about stewarding community, sharing and providing for one another, and living with our hands open. Being good stewards of the land empowers us to actualize a more sovereign community where everyone has a right to fresh food.
Connection to the land means freedom.
Simply put, connection to land means abundance and freedom from want; with it, we have everything we need. As always, I marvel at our community and how it rallies together to bring that freedom and the right to food to everyone.
In solidarity,
Julius
P.S. Your support makes Growing Hope’s Solidarity Shares possible and ensures that everyone can access fresh produce, especially those most negatively impacted by the food system.