LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 

By Liza Gabriel, Editor

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Author Naomi Klein explains in her book The Shock Doctrine that using chaos and crisis to push radical changes causes people to be too disoriented to resist effectively.  The current political climate inflicts fear and confusion. 

 

-Reversal of birthright citizenship.

-Opening the Arctic for drilling.

-Freezing trillions of dollars of Federal grants and loans.

-Undoing progress on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. 

-The pardoning of nearly 1600 people involved in the Capital attacks on 1/6/2021.

-The erasure of protections for trans people and denial of gender identity.

-Recommitting to a policy of the systemic and mass detention and deportation of immigrants. 

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As if we weren’t scared anyway…

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-Record-breaking floods in North Carolina (among other states). 

-Historical fires in California.

-PFAS is a more significant health and environmental threat than DDT. 

-The bird flu outbreak continues to spread.

-2024 was the hottest year on record by 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

What do we do when the ground beneath our feet is no longer solid?  When the fabric of our democracy and the freedom of so many is at risk?  

 

The thing is, the ground was never solid. So many have not been and are not free. Generation after generation faces unprecedented challenges and seemingly impossible trials. These patterns of unrestrained power and directed oppression have been designed to work precisely as they have. The country is built on them. Centuries later, here we are, climbing many of these same mountains.

 

“Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.” - MLK

 

The thing also is that generation after generation overcomes. Human ingenuity evolves.  Love persists. 

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-Africans braided seeds into their hair to survive the Middle Passage, which enabled a significant agricultural economy in the US.

-'Personhood' to nature is a growing movement.

-80 years since the liberation of the concentration camps at Auschwitz was just celebrated.

-There is a ceasefire in Gaza.

 

When we started preparing for this TNF issue on Farmers of Color earlier in 2024, we set the intention to educate on uncomfortable topics, to share stories of celebration, and to highlight the stories and voices of Farmers of Color. We didn’t know our country would be under the leadership of a cruel and racist demagogue and that the safety and lives of People of Color in our communities would be under increased threat.  I rage at the thought of immigrant children being split up from their parents.  I cry for the Farmers of Color who feel they must increase security in their homes and farms.  I fear what the loss of Federal resources means for communities of color stuck under food apartheid.  

 

Whether these are unprecedented times or not, the time is now.  We must come together to disrupt the system and support each other not only to live but to thrive. 

 

To free ourselves, we must feed ourselves.”  Leah Penniman.  

 

Organic farmers are revolutionary. They are grounded in the good of the people, the land, and the earth. We must stay rooted in what gets us up every morning — the sun will rise. We must remain grounded in what we know to be true — the seeds will sprout.  

 

Do what you do best. Meet your neighbors and make sure they are warm, fed, and cared for. Join efforts of mutual aid in your community.  Investigate efforts of reparations in your region.  Learn about your ancestors, the history of the land you live on, and the stories of the food you grow.  As chef and author Michael Twitty says in The Cooking Gene, let your taste be political.  Make sure the food you grow is a part of a revolution.  

 

Because the time is now.

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“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily, and I must return the gift.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

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