Planting and cultivating over 100 edible community gardens in Inglewood / South Los Angeles is urgent work. Families here really need the vegetables and fruits every day.
In these neighborhoods, too many people eat what’s convenient and available, which means they too often eat poorly, or not enough.
The area is a stereotypical food desert, lacking good grocery stores with abundant produce and other healthy foods.
So we started by planting healthy food to eat.
But making it happen community-wide– at homes, schools, parks and vacant lots, became a process that eventually led us to Sacramento.
Our neighborhoods have more(?ck?) apartment buildings than single-family homes, so we realized we needed a change in law to make it possible for people renting apartments to cultivate a garden on the grounds.
A group of students at the Social Justice Learning Institute initiated that, and won that legislative battle. Learning about navigating the state’s political system was part of what it took to make our gardens grow.
Here’s why we focused on the gardens:
Lack of access to good food, healthy lifestyles and basic healthcare are symptoms of racism, reinforced by decades of redlining, lack of opportunity and investment in poor, Black neighborhoods.
But we are also living and dying with the invisible, daily stressors of simply being Black.
FACTS:
Racism weathers our bodies, ages our bodies more quickly. Research makes it clear. Healthcare data shows the systemic racism Black Americans face from birth to death.
- More Black mothers die in childbirth. Four times more than white women.
- More Black babies don’t survive childbirth. Three times more than white babies.
- More Black children fail to thrive, get proper nutrition and hit their developmental milestones compared to white peers.
- More Black Americans live in neighborhoods where healthy food is scarce.
- Disease is more prevalent in Black Americans: Diabetes, asthma, lung cancer, and strokes disable and kill more Black Americans than any other group.
- And we die younger, too.
The American Medical Association has declared racism a public health crisis.
Work with me on FOOD JUSTICE and HEALTH ISSUES