Who We Are
The National Black Food and Justice Alliance represents hundreds of Black urban and rural farmers, organizers, and land stewards based nationwide working together towards an intergenerational, urban/rural movement to map, assess, train and deepen the organizing, institution building and advocacy work protecting Black land and work towards food sovereignty.
Together, we are designing, building and protecting the nourishing, safe and liberatory spaces our communities need and absolutely deserve.
“In order for any people or nation to survive, land is necessary. Down where we are, food is used as a political weapon. But if you have a pig in your backyard, if you have some vegetables in your garden, you can feed yourself and your family, and nobody can push you around.”
-FANNIE LOU HAMER
What’s New At the Alliance
modes of focus
SOVEREIGNTY & GOVERNANCE
We work as Black people to have the right and the ability to control our food, through means including but not limited to the means of production & distribution. Community self-governance of our food systems allows for healthy & culturally-appropriate food produced through ecologically regenerative methods, and the right to define our own food ways. Still, we know we must assert our rights through action. Our framework of community self-governance leverages the power of those working and consuming at all points of the food chain, over the demands of corporations & markets..
SELF-DETERMINING FOOD ECONOMIES
Centering the principles of self-determination in building our collective power, we work to reclaim our economies within the food system. We understand the need to radically shift from a white dominant power paradigm that is dependent on the extraction of Black wealth and labor for the purpose of resourcing a corporatized food system. We must move towards one of Black ownership over all parts of our labor, businesses and systems of monetization including the utilization of alternative economies including but not limited to cooperatives and shared economies.
LAND JUSTICE
Land has been the root of dominion and thus the root of revolution and self-determination. Displacement pre- and post-colonialism continues to thwart our ability to take root, reclaim, and liberate exploited land to call it home. Our relationship with and access to land is an essential source of our healing, power and ultimately our liberation. As land based indigenous people, Black communities have a deep connection to the earth with land as a source of spiritual, economic, cultural and communal grounding. We work to build healthy, ecologically sound connections to the land in all its manifestations.
See Our Impact
We can show you better than we can tell you how we’re building Black leadership, supporting Black communities, organizing Black self-determination, and building institutions for Black food sovereignty and liberation.
