Grand Openings and Transitions: Detroit Food Commons
Baba Malik Yakini speaks to the community at the Grand Opening of the Detroit Food Commons in Waawiyatanong (Detroit), MI on May 18, 2024. Photo by Tabia Lisenbee-Parker.
“Most folks try to hold on to power for dear life. I’m trying to give this away! I’m so happy to have someone to pass the baton to,” exclaimed Malik Yakini, activist, organizer, co-founder and executive director of Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCFSN), as he announced his transition of leadership and well-deserved break. “I want to introduce Sista shakara tyler, PhD, and Gi’Anna D. Cheairs who will be working together as co-executive directors as a tag team to expand on the incredible work of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network,” Malik shared as the crowd erupted with applause and cheers. Gi’Anna and shakara followed Malik, acknowledging the sizable shoes to fill in addition to sharing their excitement to step into leadership. If the reception, support and energetic excitement in the room were any indication, there was no doubt from the audience that DBCFSN will remain strong and steadfast under this new leadership.
shakara tyler, PHD, Gi’Anna D. Cheairs, and Baba Malik Yakini on stage at the fundraising dinner in the Detroit Food Commons. Photo by Dara Cooper.
The news was shared during the fundraising dinner in the brand new Detroit Food Commons celebrating the grand opening of the new Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC), a Black-led community-owned grocery store in Waawiyatanong (Detroit)’s historic north end. Hours earlier that day, thousands gathered for the ribbon cutting, paying homage to ancestors (gratitude to DBCFSN’s own Mama Hanifa Adjuman for leading a powerful libation) and celebrating the official grand opening of an endeavor that has been 14 years in the making, according to DPFC organizers. Speakers and visitors from all over the country came to offer congratulations and blessings to the new grocery store. One speaker, Detroiter Meredith Freeman, reminded the crowd that the opening of this cooperative grocery store is not the first and indeed builds on a legacy of Black cooperative work in Detroit. According to Freeman, her grandfather was board president of a co-op called Sojourner Food Co-op in 1946.
Archival photo of Sojourner Food Co-op, circa May 1946. Courtesy of Meredith Freeman.
Despite what has perceivably become an overwhelming whiteness of cooperatives in the U.S. over the years, Meredith--in the vein of Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s work in the book “Collective Courage”--reminds us that Black people have always been cooperators. For this reason and so many more, DBCFSN and the National Black Food and Justice Alliance (NBFJA) have worked to sponsor and grow a Black-led day during the Up and Coming Food Co-op Conference every year, in order to increase the visibility, reclamation of and support for Black leadership in cooperative spaces. Too often in this work we hear “that’s for white people” or “that’s white people’s stuff.” Not only is this untrue--it’s also very dangerous.
The work of reclaiming our heritage, traditions and lineages is important, not just for the sake of visibility or nostalgia, however. This reclamation work is essentially a roadmap, an important pathway for our collective ability to thrive and be well. While the system of racial capitalism affords a small percentage of us to maybe find ways to do well financially, we know a) that financial well-being is temporary, not secure and ultimately relies on a system of exploitation and b) the majority of Black people are not able to thrive and be well overall in this economy. So cooperative work and building economies that center the care and needs of the whole (including the planet) are crucial to our survival.
NBFJA Blackademic Dr. Monica White and Baba Malik Yakini stand inside the newly opened Detroit People’s Food Co-op as community members browse the aisles. Photo by Dara Cooper.
Building cooperatively owned institutions such as DPFC that meet our basic needs is a monumental step towards what NBFJA terms “self-determining food economies,” building a thriving economy rooted in Black leadership and self-determination that meets the needs of the people with resources from community-owned institutions circulating to continue meeting the greater needs of the people. It is about building and controlling all parts of the systems that meet our needs instead of pleading to have access to something that we don’t control or have any say in its governance. Having access to a grocery store is okay; but collectively owning a grocery store with all of the resources going to our collective needs (instead of extracted out) as we build greater economies is so much better.
So, the weekend of May 18th, 2024--the grand opening for the Detroit People’s Food Co-op-- was a huge deal. And it is no accident that the grand opening coincided with the birthday of el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X)-- our shining prince and beacon of Black self-determination. This same birthday, coincidentally, is shared by the Japanese activist, Yuri Kochiyama, who fought for Black liberation and solidarity until her last breath and was with Malcolm when his life was taken. Black leadership and self-determination are important--as is solidarity from groups all facing the same forces of oppression. Rosebud Bear Schneider of the Indigenous Anishinaabe nation and co-director of Keep Growing Detroit, leading the land acknowledgment at the grand opening was a beautiful embodiment of this solidarity-honoring the land in addition to Indigenous sovereignty, Black self-determination, as she emphasized the importance of solidarity.
Themes among the remaining speakers included the importance of community, sustaining a long-haul vision, cooperative leadership and the need to have and recognize the many hands that go into making work happen. Similar to the Ella Baker quote “strong people don’t need strong leaders,” there is a caution against the focus on a single, lone charismatic (often male) leader and focusing rather on the many hands that contribute to leading and sustaining a powerful movement. The effort to share the spotlight and lift up the many hands that went into launching this important institution was clear.
Dara Cooper speaking at the Detroit Food Commons Grand Opening. Photo by Tabia Lisenbee-Parker.
On a personal note, I was invited to speak on behalf of NBFJA and shared the following quote from activist, freedom fighter and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal regarding the successful revolution of Ayiti (Haiti):
“During the darkest nights of American bondage, millions of Africans, in America, in Brazil, in Cuba and beyond, could look to Haiti, and dream.” — Mumia Abu Jamal
I shared this quote because in the midst of a sea of white domination in the food movement at one point, I could always look to Detroit, knowing there was a Detroit Black Community Food Security (now Sovereignty) Network and dream of the possibility of having those spaces for Black people all over the country. I would later go on to co-found (with Baba Malik and Beatriz Beckford) the National Black Food and Justice Alliance to make sure we had a space to organize regionally and nationally as our members organized our people in their respective local communities. It is important to note that because of this formation, we were able to attract and mobilize resources (through various means) to help fund the Detroit Food Commons and invest in the leadership work of DBCFSN.
Members of the community enjoy local performances during the Grand Opening celebration of the Detroit Food Commons. Photo by Tabia Lisenbee-Parker.
This moment is monumental--both the grand opening of the Food Co-op and transition of leadership for DBCFSN, who has arguably been one of the greatest beacons of light for the food movement. And while the excitement is high, it is also important to note the sobering reality that it is going to take an incredible amount of support, organization, infrastructure and mindset shifts to protect, sustain and grow this important success. Shifting from consumers and subjects to owners and leaders takes work and serious intentionality. Warding off sabotage and attacks will take diligence. It’s a shift from looking to someone else to fix or do a thing to that of stepping up with your neighbors and fellow community members and making that thing happen for yourself.
Power can be scary to many, but it is critical that we learn how to embrace and manage it. Together.
Cheers to Baba Malik Yakini for his amazing contributions and may he find the much-needed rest that he absolutely deserves. And salute to the whole DBCFSN squad for their leadership and the incredible road ahead.
— Dara Cooper, co-founder, senior advisor and vibe curator for the National Black Food and Justice Alliance, Kataly Foundation Environmental Justice Resource Collaborative (EJRC) member, and Strategic Consultant for Liberating Investments in the Food and Farm Ecosystem (LIFE)
If you would like to donate to this important work, please go to www.dbcfsn.org and mark in the comments where you would like your donation to go (ie Detroit People’s Food Co-op or sustaining DBCFSN’s new leadership support).
Please click through this gallery to see more photos from the Grand Opening of the Detroit Food Commons and Detroit People’s Food Co-op.
