Habari Gani? Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)!

Kwanzaa Day 2

It’s time to light the second candle for Kwanzaa, the first red one to be exact.

Growing up my grandmother and grandfather grew food in their backyard garden. Mrs. Rosemary was their neighbor to the back. She had a massive set of urban plots to work on throughout the year. Grew anything the mind can imagine. In this way I learned how to behave with the land, because it is exceptionally strict. Nevertheless each year it forgives its stewards for their inevitable faults and allows us to seek redemption.

My relationship with the land is complex and beautiful. It is where I choose to seek self-determination for myself and the communities that have been disconnected from what it provides. We are nothing without the ripe soil on which we stand. Learning from indigenous practices for what has become “American” soil, while holding the ancestral knowledge of African farming systems allows for abundance. Learning to work with the land has set me free from many weights holding me down. I’ve seen it do the same for many others.

When I first got to London I began volunteering at an afro-heritage community garden in southeast. Eventually, I began working their, guiding volunteers in handling the earth’s gifts where they reside. We set up systems that allowed us to grow different food year round, feeding ourselves and working with organizations we cared about. We once grew the vegetables that were pickled for a demonstration at the migration museum about Eastern European pickling methods.

Solidarity in small tangible ways is much easier when you are self-sufficient, but the process is slow and has seasons, just as the soil.

Today, I urge you to think about the ways in which you have been involved in self-determination. Did you enjoy it? What would you change about your experience? How can you take those lessons into creating self-determination for your communities, as to not depend on systems that don’t have your best interests?

Let us begin to nourish our communities together. If not us then who? If not now then when? If not here then where?

- Carma <3