The food justice movement is one of the most promising political developments of the last generation. It has broadened and deepened environmentalism by knitting together concerns about economic inequality, labor rights, environmental health, and sustainable agriculture. But what often goes unmentioned in our discussions of food justice is that it all begins with land—who owns it, how they own it, and how it gets passed down from one generation to the next. This is something Savi Horne never forgets: Food justice requires land justice.
As executive director of the Land Loss Prevention Project, Savi Horne helps use the power of the law to keep African Americans farmers in North Carolina from losing their land to indebtedness, legal challenges, and gentrification, while offering technical support for farmers to make their enterprises economically viable and environmentally sustainable.
I spoke with her on Nov. 4 during the Tales from Planet Earth film festival in Madison, Wisconsin.
[For more on this story by Monica White, go to http://www.yesmagazine.org/pla...ood-justice-20171220]
Photo: Dairymen and brothers, Peter and Joe Smith stand around talking at James City County Bible and Agricultural Training School in Williamsburg, Virginia. Their father, Marion Smith, bought the dairy and crop farm in 1946, and now they work and manage the family business. Rev. Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux purchased the farmland in 1936 intending to train African Americans in farming. The farmland has been worked by African Americans since 1619, originally serving the Jamestown colony. By Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images.
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