Whadupdoe!* Exploring Food Justice in the Heart of Detroit
* “What Up Doe, Whadupdoe, Waddupdoe: It’s a greeting, a phrase, a word with multiple spellings, yet one meaning — home.” —Natasha T. Miller, Detroit Poet
We’re shaking things up a bit. I'm taking y’all with me to Detroit! I know we usually focus on local happenings and we will do that too, but sometimes it’s fun to see what’s going on beyond our backyard. So buckle up for some exciting stories from my travels. 🗺️✈️
As a grantee of the Feeding America Food Security Equity Fund, the San Diego Food System Alliance was invited to meet up with our fellow grantees for a summit in Detroit. Our Co-Executive Director Elly Brown and I hopped on the chance to attend and be inspired. We knew that the community food system in Detroit is a beacon of Black leadership and community ownership, and we couldn’t miss an opportunity to see it and feel it for ourselves.
The Night Before the Summit - In the Heart of Detroit
Social hour and having dinner with the Alliance’s wonderful Board member Melanie was our first order of business. Since the summit organizers had us staying smack dab in the middle of downtown Detroit, we got to explore and experience all the art and vibrations and joy.
Being in the heart of Detroit was wonderful. The art scene was amazing and abundant. Downtown Detroit felt inviting to walk, it just felt good and welcoming. Community was out on display: families playing with their kids, people walking, bikes with ten or 15 people on them, they were partying. I’ve never seen that before! It felt beautiful.
Summit Day 1
Greeted by Ancestors
When I got to the summit on Day 1, what I felt immediately was welcomed. We were picked up by a charter bus, and before we even got into the Main Hall of the Detroit Food Commons where the summit was taking place, there was a Community Altar. The altar was what we were all greeted by. Seeing this beautiful symbol of community, full of treasured objects and loved ones, set the tone for the day. It made me feel even more confident in our decision to have our own Community Altar at this year’s Annual Gathering. This altar was inspired by communities like the Black farmers in Detroit, who have created beautiful ways to honor cycles, plant seeds of resilience, and raise each other up.
Heading inside for the start of the summit, I noticed the organizers had done such a wonderful job being intentional about the space, making sure everyone felt welcomed. It was set up beautifully and we shared breakfast. Events Noire was the partner who helped organize the details of this event and their excellence shone.
I felt ready for the day, to learn and meet people.
Polaroid Portraits & Mapping Our Collective Impact
As one of the first activities, we all took our own polaroid pictures and added ourselves to a map, showing where we came from and the communities we represented, all over the country.
Next to the photo, we answered the question, “What are you nurturing and growing in our community?” It was nice to read everyone’s answers and to put these answers to a face. This activity might be one we need to replicate at our next social hour or at the Annual Gathering!
Fireside Chat with Malik Yakini
We sat down to have a fireside chat with Malik Yakini, and with a community leader from Forgotten Harvest Farms. I don’t know how else to explain this besides that it felt good. Malik is a powerful voice in the food justice movement, embodying wisdom, passion , and a deep commitment to Black food sovereignty. His insights on the intersection of community, land stewardship and racial justice left us both inspired and challenged to think and move intentionally in our work.
Forgotten Harvest Food Bank
We got to see their new mobile food pantry and see contributions by the Ford philanthropy foundation. The new mobile food pantry is getting ready for their new distribution route in a few weeks. More opportunities to mix and mingle at the Food Bank.
Summit Day 2
The Detroit Food Commons—A Store in the Arms of Community
All summit participants received $5 gift cards to shop in the Detroit Food Commons, which just opened earlier this year, after many years of organizing, and generations of visualizing a beautiful, sovereign space like this for nourishing community. Just being in the food commons itself—I don’t even know how to explain that part. This isn’t just a grocery store, it’s very purposeful. It’s in the arms of community and it’s built and made for community.
Above the grocery store is a commons area, which folks can rent and use for events. There was a hot food bar that was delicious and affordable. There was compost that you could take. The food commons was set up to help you remember to garden. So many of our big box grocery stores conceal the fact that food comes from the Earth, and creates a separation between us and the source. The Detroit Food Commons, on the other hand, highlights this relationship. It got me thinking about how getting food to feed our families could be such a different experience.
I couldn’t help but draw similarities between the Detroit Food Commons and the impending plans for a Good Food District here in Southeastern San Diego, led by Project New Village. It’s good to know that a model exists out there, and affirms the dreams and visions for a Good Food District in our own neighborhood. I can’t wait to see our own community-led food commons open up its doors.
Radical Racial Farming and Land Stewardship at D-Town Farm
On Day 2, we had the opportunity to choose a local farm to visit: Forgotten Harvest Farms, D-Town Farm, and Avalon Village. I went to D-Town Farm, and it was an amazing experience.
D-Town Farm is a regenerative farm, they’re currently using one tiller and have plans to get an ox soon, among many other methods they’re using to ensure that they farm in good relationship with the Earth.
Small-scale farming is hard work. Like the flooding that we in San Diego saw in our Southeastern neighborhoods and small farms in the Tijuana River Valley, this is a place that now floods every year. Every year, they flood and yet we see that the farmers don’t give up; they continue to steward the land.
A highlight from the visit was when a participant asked, “Who owns this plot?” And D-Town’s leaders replied, “We don’t really believe in ownership — we are the stewards, we are stewarding the land.” While I think the technical or legal ownership is with the city, we loved the very intentional naming of this difference. The true natural stewards of this land is (look up the name of unceded territory original stewards).
Another highlight from the visit was hearing about radical racial farming - intentionally cultivating food and spaces for serving Black folks. This includes having Black folks take care of the land, educating Black folks, ensuring that the produce is accessible and affordable for Black folks. The farm could sell to other markets, but they have no plans or aspirations to do so. Building Black food sovereignty is their highest priority.
This place is special
Watching and being with the young folk, the care and the work that they put into the land, was so special. It was so nice to be with a woman who had her baby strapped to her; she was nursing her baby on the land as the day went on. That baby is a part of that farm. All the children who are there, they are a part of the farm. These children grow up in that atmosphere, on that land, learning from literal roots, learning how to nurture land.
Finally, I loved that at D-Town Farms, the farmers were raising beehives for the pollinators, not necessarily to harvest the honey. They said, “the honey is the bees’ food.” They are also working on other spaces for hosting more events, and bringing in more funding for education and youth programs like Food Warriors. I love the vision here for so many ways to raise up the next generation immersed in Black creativity and sovereignty.
Leaving with a feeling of Home
Overall, I’m leaving Detroit knowing that I was experiencing the feeling of home, in a way.
Even though this wasn’t my home, I felt at home. It was so warm.
Land is our ancestral home, it’s our natural home to be with the earth.
No matter where we’re at, that’s the feeling you have when you are with the earth.
Truths at the Core of this Experience
The beauty, the warmth, and joyful resilient moments I witnessed from this experience have emerged from heavy truths, like fruits and flowers out of deep, complex soil. While some of these truths could be hard for some folks to confront, they are the most important takeaways. I so appreciate the people of the summit and Detroit’s community letting these truths shine plainly.
Supporter perspectives must be uplifted. You have these people who are funders, who run these big food banks, going to events like this all the time. But then there are the people who SUPPORT — the interns, the hourly wage paid staff, who are doing the daily labor. We need these worker and laborer perspectives, they are so important for deciding how things work in society. How do we get these different perspectives, understandings, and stories, if we don’t uplift these voices? If we don’t meet them face to face? These supporters are the voices we need in decision making and convening spaces.
Proximity does breed care. When we see each other face to face, we have to listen and recognize each other’s humanity. Let’s continue to create opportunities to be in proximity with one another.
How did we get here? A line I heard at the summit and can’t stop replaying: “Why do we have to bring people down so low that they have to stand in line for food?” There are people who get to say who gets food and who doesn’t get food. All of us who are working to transform the food system and have the power to feed communities, we must recognize the “us” vs “them” that comes out, the savior complex.
Recognize the low frequency parts of ourselves. Communities like Detroit, like Southeastern San Diego, are rising out of deep and intentional oppression. It’s been said to the folks in power that they are “lucky we only want equality, and not revenge.” You can’t give back all these fathers who were stolen and put into the prison industry. You can’t give back all the pain over centuries, which can be extreme. Leaders from places like Detroit Food Commons have chosen the high frequency road of healing, cultivating community, building sovereignty. It’s never about the payback, we do not want to become them. We should all learn from this example of recognizing what choices we make come from a low vs high frequency place in ourselves.
Meet Some Inspiring Folks from the Conference
Finally, I want to thank the people of the Detroit Food Commons, D-Town Farms, for this incredible experience, as well as so many more individuals I met during the summit. It was so nice to see people really in community, doing the work together, learning, building and vibing off of each other was a gift.
Bruce and Rena Harrell, seasoned Black farmers who have been stewarding the land for decades. They have plans to continue to grow their farm and to teach young folks about farming. An open book of information for those who wanted to listen. “Harrells don’t sell land.”
Mona Jenkins of Queen Mother’s Cooperative in Cincinnati. Bringing contagious energy, deep commitment to community, and determination to realize food sovereignty in her community through Queen Mothers Cooperative Market.
Cindy Salaway of FAST Blackfeet. Ō’yō’·ṗ’ Pantry Manager and member of the Blackfeet Tribe, Cindy was so incredibly warm. Working tirelessly to reclaim and build food sovereignty within her homeland of the Blackfeet Nation.
Shazel Muhammad, founder of African Link Initiative. Moving from the corporate world to leading a local food bank, Shazel brings layers of lived experience and love for her community of South Jersey. It made me realize it’s never too late to make a change. For your people. Even if it feels like what you did before didn’t have a place, it does.
Bruce Thompson of Sankofa PVD, doing heart work in Rhode Island. There are so many layers to his work, helping unhoused youth get grounded and connected to the earth. Transforming lives one connection at a time, and keeping our next generation of leaders off the streets. He spoke passionately, and I listened deeply.
Final Reflections
We’re not alone in doing this. It takes a community, it takes a giant alliance. It takes multiple alliances and organizations and all throughout the country to get this together.
