Dear Friends,
We join you in extraordinary anger and grief with the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others that have lost loved ones as a result of police brutality and violence. It should not have taken a week of outrage like the one we’ve just experienced, but it is not too late to start addressing the structural racism that underlies our work.
The work of our program is to bring fresh, locally grown food into school meals. We see this as part of a broader effort to make high quality meals universally available to all school children. But this goal is not possible without dismantling racism in our food, agricultural and educational systems. As long as resources are not shared equitably and people of color do not share the same rights, we cannot reasonably hope to succeed.
We recognize that, as a program, we have benefited from broad institutional power built on white supremacy. We have privilege and agency to challenge systemic racism as it exists in farm to school. We must be better allies to the communities we serve.
As our inboxes fill with pledges to do better, we are struggling to find the right words. As a white-led organization that is heavily driven by partnerships and relationships, we commit to listening and reevaluating who we work with and how to amplify the cause of BIPOC-led organizations. We need your partnership to hold us accountable and we will be reaching out in the coming weeks for your support.
As participants in the National Farm to School Network, we also want to share with you their statement on why we will not achieve the food justice goals of the farm to school movement if we do not speak up and act boldly for racial justice.
Finally, we recommend you explore the Racial Equity Resources assembled by Food Solutions New England. There is never a wrong time to get educated about the history and legacy of racism in our country and in our food system.
|
|
|
|
