(Re)Imagining Food Systems: From Charity to Solidarity

Abstract

(Re)Imagining Food Systems: From Chariy to Solidarity Copyright Information: All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Contact the author or original publisher for any necessary permissions. eScholarship is not the copyright owner for deposited works. Learn more at http://www.escholarship.org/help_copyright.html#reuse (RE)IMAGINING FOOD SYSTEMS From Charity to Solidarity SURF Conference Panel Session 10 By: Hussin Javier Kordi Mentor: Dr. Clare Talwalker, International and Area Studies In 1966, the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California. Through fundraising and community organizing, the Black Panthers gave birth to a series of community programs to meet the material needs of people in neighborhoods marginalized by political oppression and poverty. By the end of 1969, the most successful of these programs, Free Breakfast for Children, was feeding ten thousand children across the United States daily.1 The Black Panther’s “Survival Programs” (as they were formally called) were distinct from the dominant ideological and economic practices of the time because they were based on cooperation instead of competition, interdependency instead of individualism, and empowerment instead of charity. The Black Panthers sought to challenge the structural causes of poverty through the solidarity and social organizing of their own communities. This summer, I conducted ethnographic research in the birthplace of Free Breakfast for Children—the food deserts of Oakland, where many residents without physical or financial access to grocery stores and farmer’s markets cannot get enough calories or nutrients to sustain a healthy life.2 Because of the dire state of food access, many nonprofit and charity organizations are located in these neighborhoods. However, unlike the Survival Programs that challenged poverty through community engagement, most of these organizations conduct independent, charitybased operations. As an examination of community empowerment, my research question asks: how can we use the charity spaces in today’s communities—a vast network of food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters—to transform the local food system through an approach based on solidarity? I define solidarity as an interdependent relationship that extends beyond the economic relations of charity; solidarity is an intimate community undertaking based on shared struggles and shared purpose. 1 George N Katsiaficas and Kathleen Cleaver. Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party: A New Look at the Their Legacy. Routledge. pp. 87–89. (2001) 2 Serena Unger and Heather Wooten. A Food Systems Assessment for Oakland, CA: Towards A Sustainable Food Plan. Oakland Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. (2006) (Re)Imagining Food Systems 21