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TRADITIONS ...
can be a wonderful thing. The action of marking time, or categorizing events or experiences, not only helps us to ritualize things, but it also has the potential to make life a little easier, so we do not have to reinvent the wheel every day. It can also become part of how we relate to one another as humans - we're thinking of etiquette guidelines as a good example of that.
In the context of food and family, rituals and traditions have helped us feel connected and rooted to something real. They are a beautiful pathway forward through our own lives, and backward through our ancestors, and we're grateful for these tools that have been cultivated over years, decades, generations.
But another true thing about traditions is that they can become invisible to us, over time, and on a daily basis - travel to any foreign country, or even sometimes a different state, and you'll see how different etiquette guidelines can become suddenly and clearly apparent. This is why it's important to periodically ask ourselves about the origins of our traditions - from holiday celebrations like Thanksgiving to our everyday language choices - and about how they are serving us now. Because when you know better, you can 'do better', as Rachel Ricketts writes.
In our conversations on wage equity for all workers, we've thought particularly hard about agricultural workers. The field of agriculture is fraught with and inseparable from the legacy of enslaved labor that the United States was founded on, so it shouldn't surprise us that there are many layers to unpack.
To be completely honest, as White women, we at times have not felt equipped to speak on the hard realities of racism's impact on agricultural work. We must continue to seek balance between our own power to speak up and use our platform, and all that we don't know and can never speak from experience on.
All along the way, people have called us in and held us accountable. One of the most impactful parts of engaging in these conversations has been the connections we make with others who have thoughts, questions, and perspectives to share. Some of those connections have been through outreach from folks in the GFJ community, and others have been through the work of people we've never met, but feel continually called back to and inspired by.
One of those people is Ashtin Berry (aka @thecollectress), a hospitality activist and sommelier whose lectures and teachings have prompted us to question some specific traditions around work / employment / labor, and to look at what's behind the idea that 'it's just the way it is' in some jobs or fields. The amazing thing about examining those things is that once you see them, you can't un-see them. We are including lots of links below in these highlights from her teachings, and we hope you'll step into Berry's work a little, or a lot, and support her work through Venmo or Patreon.
- Berry's work continually connects the dots between the current issues of oppression in hospitality and agriculture back to the 1865 labor laws (for a brief video breakdown, listen at 11:07 onward).
- The origins of farm apprenticeships - and the idea that they come with minimal pay and include room and board - have roots in child labor. Post-slavery, wealthy White land owners provided room and board in order to make the case that they could provide a better life for Black children, which in turn provided the land owners with a source of discounted labor.
- As you read through job descriptions, notice when an employer designates 'other duties as assigned', which has ties back to slave labor. The modern day adaptation creates a culture where all employees must be shape shifters, always willing to pitch in outside the realm of their designated job duties. While there can be a practical need for this in many organizations, we invite you to consider where healthy boundaries can be set, and what other language or cultural values can be used to eliminate exploitation.
- Designating labor as 'unskilled', as is often the case with farm apprenticeships or part-time hospitality work, equates to lack of protections for health and wellness - i.e. jobs that lack sick day pay, vacation time, and other benefits of salaried work.
When we neglect to question the roots of these traditions, we perpetuate White supremacy culture.
If you want to learn more, we recommend following Radical Exchange and participating in their Resistance Served digital symposium on Underground Economies on April 5th + 6th.
Yours in food, justice, and food justice,
Dor + Tay
photo by Christine Han for GFJ Stories
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tidbits...
resources on anti-racism, environmentalism and food culture AKA stuff we're reading / listening to / watching / noticing / thinking about / captivated by this Tuesday . . .
"There is nothing more political than the food we eat and the bread we break together." - Padma Lakshmi on Brittany Packnett Cunningham's amazing podcast, Undistracted.
This message from Shalom & Polepole is short and sweet, but packed with practical tips on reducing screen time, approaching slow-cooked meals differently, and includes a recipe for slow cooker chili, because who doesn't want that?
From the Equal Justice Initiative, a 3-minute, beautifully animated clip of conversation between Wynton Marsalis and Bryan Stevenson on the value of art and identity.
Join us in contributing to Rachel Ricketts' fundraiser for Black Women and Femmes' Healing Liberation.
As we approach the one year anniversary of initial shutdowns in parts of the US, @phillydeathdoulas are hosting online grief circles on March 14th.
got a tidbit? drop it here for us and we'll share it in next week's newsletter.
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