HAFA-DC (Healthy Affordable Food for All) , a coalition of advocates, service providers and local food advocates in Washington D.C. neighborhoods hosted a Black/Land presentation by webinar. On July 17, local host Zachari Curtis of Bread for the City facilitated discussion among fifteen people in five locations for a 90 minute exploration of how black people describe their many relationships to land. The discussion was emotionally deep and lively, and focused on how listening to black people’s narratives might change how we frame issue-based community organizing.
Of course, many people in the D.C. have long been thinking about black people’s relationships to land and place. This slide show, excerpted from the webinar, raises some of the questions we considered.
We discussed the unique issues that shape black relationships to land and place in the District, where the challenge of gentrification raises different issues than those faced by depopulating black-majority cities in the Midwest.
This Black/Land conversation in the neighborhoods of D.C. is just a beginning. It continues in many virtual and real-time spaces, and you are invited to join in!
– Join the conversation here on the Art in Praxis blog
– The conversation continues live and in person on Monday nights from 6pm-8pm at the Center for Green Urbanism, as part of the HAFA-DC Work Group.
– Read reflections about the webinar on the Food for All blog. And if you have your own black land story to tell, the DC Food for All Story Bank is waiting to hear from you.