How to Fight Injustice in the Food World

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During the past week, protests have erupted in New York and around the country following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Just blocks away from where I live in Brooklyn, largely peaceful protests have taken over the streets every night. However, there have also been some cases of violence by police, protestors, and looters, leading to a tense environment in New York.

Protests to address inequality in criminal justice and other parts of society have erupted around New York and other cities. (Photo via Wikipedia)

Protests to address inequality in criminal justice and other parts of society have erupted around New York and other cities. (Photo via Wikipedia)

The anger, pain, and frustration of protesters have been heard and felt in communities all over the United States. Not only are protesters highlighting inequalities in the criminal justice system, but they have also shined a new light on racial inequality across all walks of American life. There is clearly much more work to be done to address systemic problems, many of which were exacerbated by a pandemic that has affected people of color disproportionately.

One aspect of racial justice that is often overlooked is occurring in food and agriculture. The world of restaurants and food production is one of great diversity. And yet, more should be done to ensure all food-based businesses have a chance to succeed and food security can be had by all people.

Harlem Grown is a local non-profit that provides mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition. (Photo via Harlem Grown / Facebook)

Harlem Grown is a local non-profit that provides mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition. (Photo via Harlem Grown / Facebook)

Inspired by this great list of food justice programs by Civil Eats, here are several organizations you can donate time or money to that promote food access, food justice, and land justice.

  • Black Church Food Security Network — Works to connect Black communities and other urban communities of color with Black farmers in hopes of advancing food and land sovereignty.

  • Black Urban Growers (BUGS) — Committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings.

  • Food Chain Workers Alliance — A coalition of worker-based organizations whose members plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food, organizing to improve wages and working conditions for all workers along the food chain.

  • Harlem Grown — A New York-based non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire youth to lead healthy and ambitious lives through mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition.

  • HEAL Food Alliance — Brings together groups from various sectors of movements for food and farm justice to grow community power, develop political leadership, and exposing and limiting corporate control of the food system.

  • National Black Food and Justice Alliance — Organizes for Black food and land, by increasing the visibility of Black leadership, advancing Black people’s struggle for just and sustainable communities, and building power in our food systems and land stewardship.

  • The Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust — Advances land sovereignty in the Northeast (including New York and New Hampshire) through secure land tenure for Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian farmers and land stewards.

  • Restaurant Opportunities Centers United — Fighting to improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce.

  • Soil Generation — A Philadelphia-based Black- and Brown-led coalition of growers building a grassroots movement through urban farming, agroecology, community education, and more.

Each one of these organizations is a worthy cause to donate time or money to if you care about addressing serious inequalities in our food and agriculture systems. This is just one piece of the puzzle of how we can fix structural inequality, but it’s an important piece.

Please stay safe out there everyone.

Sean Ludwig
Founder, NYC BBQ

EAT ALL ABOUT IT

Here are the top BBQ and related food news stories you need to know about this week:

Many New York restaurants struggling due to COVID-19 will soon be able to open up new outdoor dining on sidewalks and streets throughout the city. Here is the awesome outdoor seating at Morgan's in Brooklyn.

Many New York restaurants struggling due to COVID-19 will soon be able to open up new outdoor dining on sidewalks and streets throughout the city. Here is the awesome outdoor seating at Morgan's in Brooklyn.

  • A bit of good news for NYC restaurants: New York City government has released a plan to open up more dining spaces outside of restaurants. Due to COVID-19, dining rooms are still closed and when they do open up, they will be at limited capacity. So this will potentially create many new spaces on sidewalks, parking spaces, and closed streets for people to dine.

IRL BBQ

NOTE: Given the coronavirus crisis, we will be leaving this events section blank until things get back to normal. Many events have been canceled entirely while others have been postponed to the fall. Events are now up in the air, but I’ll be doing my best to keep the website up to date with events and dates that have been confirmed.

Check out the full up-to-date NYC BBQ calendar here.

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Sean LudwigNYC BBQ Weekly