“Kreyol pale, kreyol komprann.”
Speak plainly, don’t try to deceive.

On January 12, 2010, the shifting tectonic plates beneath the Haitian peninsula snapped from centuries of built up tension, bringing earthquakes, pain and misery to this already impoverished island. The fault lines of poverty, starting with the already-a-mess health care system, followed by urban building construction practices, only exacerbated the suffering and loss. (See emergency relief sites following article.)  According to the mayor of Port-au-Prince, 60% of the buildings in the city were shoddily constructed and unsafe in normal conditions, and they were only worsened by severe hurricanes in 2004 and 2008.  There are no building codes in Port-au-Prince, built on the geological fault line, despite recent foreign investment that President René Préval has secured and that benefit some in Haiti.  These free trade agreements heightened the rural exodus to the city that first began following the 1950s when Port-au-Prince was a small town of 50,000.  The pressures to leave the countryside have brought the capital’s population to 2 million, many of whom come to work now in sweatshops.
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Local Control, Democracy, and Health:
The Growing Food and Justice Initiative, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2009

Last year, The Growing Food and Justice Initiative (GFJI) gathering in Milwaukee brought together urban agriculturalists from around the country. The conference was hosted by Will Allen’s Growing Power of Milwaukee and Chicago. African American urban farmers, Native American food sovereignty activists, and affiliated allies were the participants. The conference featured workshops and facilitated discussions on social justice, community food systems, and dismantling racism trainings. Dona Yahola gave an “Unlearning Indian Stereotypes” presentation, and Ben Yahola gave workshops on Food Colonialism in relation to Native nations and on Mvskoke Food Sovereignty initiatives in Oklahoma. As part of one workshop with the Yaholas, I did a power point presentation on Chippewa treaty rights as a food sovereignty issue. The movie Food Fight, a documentary by Chris Taylor, premiered at this 2008 gathering in Milwaukee. (see www.foodfightthedoc.com )

This year the urban agriculturalists and allies return to the Milwaukee area, Friday, October 29, through Sunday Nov. 1, 2009 (pre-conference training take place, Wednesday, Oct. 28 and Thursday, Oct. 29) at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds (Tommy Thompson Youth Center). Our Native American friends also return. Dona Yahola will be leading a grandmother moon ceremony for GFJI participants on Saturday night. (Friday night she leads a sweat lodge ceremony about 7 PM at the Indian Community School in Franklin.) Ben Yahola will join Cice Charles and Jim Embry on the Spirit & Culture Committee at the GFJI conference and have 15 – 30 minutes to open some of the GFJI sessions during the gathering.

Please see the GFJI website for complete information on their gathering this week at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, 640 S. 84th St., West Allis (Milwaukee south side) just off Highway 94, 84th St. exit (south). https://www.growingfoodandjustice.org/

As the GFJI website says:
“Growing Food and Justice for all Initiative is striving to create a network of activists who are working toward a just food system and world. We are a group of individuals, organizations and institutional partners aimed at dismantling racism and empowering low-income and communities of color through sustainable and local agriculture, but also linking with parallel social and environmental movements.

This comprehensive network views dismantling racism as a core principal which brings together social change agents from diverse sectors working to bring about new, healthy and sustainable food systems and supporting and building multicultural leadership in impoverished communities throughout the world.

The vision for this initiative is to establish a powerful network of individuals, organizations and community based entities all working toward a food secure and just world.”

I urge you to continue supporting your local farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) projects (in southeast Wisconsin, see www.urbanecologycenter.org/csa), the Natural Step (www.naturalstep.org) and Green City (www.planetdrum.org) models, and the multi-cultural, environmental justice approach of the GFJI. Or check them out and get involved.

Rick Whaley, Milwaukee Rivers Watershed
October 2009