KnitHag

So I’m aware I haven’t really posted anything in a while but I hope this reaches someone. My brother’s name is Efren. Growing up he used to tease and make fun of me, but among all the teasing he also helped raise me along with our mom. When he was little he wanted to be an architect. But his is the story that a lot of Mexican American working class families face: either take the opportunities available to you to attain your dreams, or curtail those in order to take care of your family. He chose his family. After graduating high school he turned down full ride scholarships in order to stay and work to help pay the bills. It was just him, my mom, and me. After a couple of years we got stable enough economically that he was able to go to college, but after graduation we fell on hard times again and instead of finding work in his field or applying to architecture school like he always dreamed, he decided to stick around and help us again. It’s because of his choice to help our family that I was able to go to college too, something that for a time I didn’t think was possible. It’s because of him that I was able to apply to and get accepted into a PhD program in the hopes of becoming a professor. It’s because of him that my mom has a house to call her own. My mom and I owe him everything. Yesterday, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). He’s uninsured. I’m a student, our mom works in childcare. There’s a high success rate for remission if he gets treatment, but we can’t afford it. He’s all me and my mom have, and we can’t lose him. He chose family growing up, and it’s my turn to choose him. Please, any donation helps. I just want him to come home.

I know times are tough with covid and everything so if anyone could please just spare a dollar or a reblog thatd be great. I can’t lose him.

paypal.com/Yulenni

cash.me/$pastandfuturequeen

venmo: @Yulenni

Dumyat is the name of this hill, but really it is named after a hillfort, which is located near the top.

The hillfort itself is the small bump on the far left-hand side.

It is associated with a tribe called the ‘Maeatae’. The area they lived in is known as ‘Manau Gododdin’, which includes Clackmannanshire and most of Stirling and Falkirk. The Antonine Wall cuts through these areas and the Maeatae are well known for their rebellion against the Romans during their attempted conquest of Scotland. The hillfort is Iron-Age-style and while it hasn’t been excavated, it is recognised by archaeologists.

Remains of two distinct walls can be seen around the top, one larger wall around the bottom and another wall up at the top. You can see some of the bottom wall here:

And this is part of the wall at the top:

At the flat top, very typical for hillforts, you get a great view across the River Forth, which stretches all the way to Edinburgh.

Across, you can see the top of Dumyat Hill and the rest of the Ochil Range.

It’s a sheer drop towards the cliffs, but the view was stunning.

On the way up to Dumyat Hill we could see the hillfort from another angle.

You can clearly see the two walls here:

Finally, we made it to the top. However, by that point there was a viciously strong and cold wind blowing and we didn’t manage to stick around longer than a few minutes.

On the way back down the sun came out once more to give a lovely display. Here it is illuminating the area around the Wallace Monument, a tower built in memory of Scottish Folk hero William Wallace.

Behind the Wallace Monument you can see Stirling Castle, where Mary Queen of Scots spend the early years of her childhood.

The potter put a mask on his head when he sells his products at the fair. Beșlii, Romania. 1960s.

native american rights fund

heyday berkely roundhouse

news from native california magazine

national indian child welfare association

california indian legal services

native american food sovereignty alliance

meskwaki food sovereignty initiative

friends of pine ridge reservation

first nations development institute

A peaceful, Indigenous demonstration against the border wall in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument ended with demonstrators in a stand off and physical altercation with U.S. Border Patrol agents and National Park Service officers Monday [21 September 2020] afternoon.

Construction was brought to a halt for most of the day. […] The action was put by together the O'odham Anti Border Collective and Defend O'odham Jewed, a network of Akimel O'odham, Tohono O'odham and Hia-Ced O'odham organizers — not all of which are federally recognized tribes.

Ancestral O'odham land spans the Phoenix area and Tucson and continues across the border into neighboring Sonora. Speaking in front of a huge canvas panel reading “Borders = Genocide, no wall on O'odham land,” one Akimel O'odham demonstrator said they’ll keep returning to protect it. 

Before it became a part of Organ Pipe in the 1950s, Quitobaquito and the man-made pond it drains into was home to generations of Hia-Ced O'odham communities. Trenching for the border wall could be seen in the area in front on the thicket of trees surrounding Quitobaquito. Bollard panels lay flat nearby. […]

Demonstrators spent more than five hours at the site praying, singing and chanting over the hum of stalled machinery. Private security personnel and National Park Service were on scene.

Two National Park Service officers approached the group twice throughout the morning and asked them to move to the side, citing safety concerns.

The demonstration continued without incident until around 1pm, when more than a dozen U.S. Border Patrol agents, some armed with paint ball guns and rifles, arrived on ATVs and in SUVs. Two National Park Service officers charged the line of demonstrators, breaking into a brief scuffle trying to forcibly break through the human chain before pulling back. […]

The protesters faced off against a line of Border Patrol agents and Park Service officers for almost an hour as O'odham organizers continued to speak and sing. One Tohono O'odham speaker described how living along the border has shaped her community.

“We cannot move without you all over us, we cannot walk through our desert without these cameras filming everything we do, you don’t have that in your community,” a Tonono O'odham speaker said. “But then you come here, thinking you can take whatever you want.” […]

Another scuffle broke out when park service officers backed by Border Patrol agents moved in on the line again. For several minutes, officers and agents shoved protesters and attempted to pull them away from each other as they crumpled to the ground.

—

gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/defend-oodham-land-bail-fund

cashapp: $ defendoodhamjewed

paypal: DefendOodhamJewed

Amber Tamm has been fundraising for the future farm fund that would go in Central Park to pay tribute to the Seneca Village + Lenape People, Dey up food sovereignty in NYC and introduce biodiversity to the local soil.

Unfortunately, she has been seriously misrepresentaed by the New York Post - they’ve used her trauma for sensationalism, have twisted her originals goals and have now put her under siege across social media. She’s not even being compensated for this piece.

DIRECTORY OF CRIMINAL SYSTEM BAIL FUNDS

National organizations funding bail across the U.S.

National Bail Out

The American Bar Association

Queer Detainee Empowerment Project

Freedom for Immigrants

Local organizations funding bail for immigrants

Arizona Tucson Second Chance Bail Fund Colorado Colorado Freedom Fund California Bay Area Immigration Bond Fund Immigrant Families Defense Fund The Orange County Justice Fund Connecticut Connecticut Bail Fund Immigrant Bail Fund Florida LGBTQ Freedom Fund Hawaii Hawaii Community Bail Fund Illinois Champaign County Bailout Coalition Chicago Community Bond Fund Iowa Eastern Iowa Community Bond Project Kentucky Louisville Community Bail Fund Louisiana New Orleans Safety & Freedom Fund YWCA Greater Baton Rouge Community Bail Fund Massachusetts Massachusetts Bail Fund Minnesota Minnesota Freedom Fund Nebraska Omaha Freedom Fund Nevada Vegas Freedom Fund New York City Bronx Freedom Fund Brooklyn Community Bail Fund Lorena Borjas Community Fund WSLS Bail Fund New York State Columbia County Bail Fund EOC of Suffolk Inc. Charitable Bail Fund OAR of Tompkins County Bail Fund Syracuse Jail Ministry North Carolina Southern Coalition for Social Justice Bail Fund Alamance County Community Bail Fund North Carolina Community Bail Fund of Durham Oregon Portland Freedom Fund Pennsylvania Dauphin County Bail Fund Philadelphia Community Bail Fund Philadelphia Bail Fund Tennessee Hamilton County Community Bail Fund Memphis Community Bail Fund Nashville Community Bail Fund Texas Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee Fianza Fund Community Bail Fund of North Texas Virginia Richmond Community Bail Fund Roanoke Community Bail Fund Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund Washington Northwest Community Bail Fund Wisconsin Free the 350 Bail Fund

DIRECTORY OF IMMIGRATION BOND FUNDS National organizations across the U.S.

Freedom for Immigrants National Bond Fund

Haitian Immigrant Bond Assistance Project

LGBTQ Freedom Fund

RAICES Bond Fund

CALL TO ACTION: Black urban farmer Jeffery Webb has been repeatedly harassed in his town, and as a result both his livelihood and life are at risk. We need to be supporting black farmers now more than ever, as key members of the community providing an essential service to it!

articles/lists

“Black Communities Have Always Used Food as Protest” by Amethyst Ganaway

“Restaurants Must Use This Moment to Change, Too” by Amethyst Ganaway

“Cooking Up Change: How Food Helped Fuel The Civil Rights Movement” by Nancy Schute

“How to Eat to Live: Black Nationalism and the Post-1964 Culinary Turn” by Jennifer Jensen Wallach

“There were nearly a million black farmers in 1920. Why have they disappeared?” by Summer Sewell

“The Great Land Robbery: The shameful story of how 1 million black families have been ripped from their farms” by Vann R. Newkirk II

“Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.” by Lizzie Presser

@/NFUDC (National Farmers Union): How to fight racism in agriculture (twitter thread dated June 2, 2020)

Want to See Food and Land Justice for Black Americans? Support These Groups.

21 Individuals and Organizations Building Stronger Black Communities and Food Systems

The Ultimate List of Black Owned Farms & Food Gardens

LISTS OF BLACK-OWNED FOOD BUSINESSES

books (**full text available for free)

**Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement by Monica M. White

**Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability ed. Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman

**Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C. by Ashanté M. Reese

**Dispossession: Discrimination against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights by Peter Daniel

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty

Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power by Psyche A. Williams-Forson

In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World by Judith A. Carney & Black Rice by Judith A. Carney

Recipes for Respect: African American Meals and Meaning by Rafia Zafar

Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution by Frederick Douglass Opie

Every Nation Has Its Dish: Black Bodies and Black Food in Twentieth-Century America by Jennifer Jensen Wallach

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman

podcasts / television

Sporkful – When White People Say Plantation & When Black Chefs Created Plantation Food

The Kitchen Sisters / Hidden Kitchens – Hercules and Hemings: African American Cooks in the President’s Kitchen – King’s Candy: A New Orleans Kitchen Vision – Georgia Gilmore and the Club from Nowhere: A Secret Civil Rights Kitchen

1619 – Episode 5: The Land of Our Fathers, Part 1 & Part 2

Chef’s Table – 6x01: Mashama Bailey (on Netflix)

further reading lists

A Reading List For Learning About Anti-Black Racism and Food

A Black History Month Reading List Centered Around Food and Farming

47 Food Studies Books, Not Just for Black History Month

“My name is Brianna Meeks, and I have an offbeat but clear-headed dream. It has been on my mind since the death of my beloved grandfather in 2007. After thirteen years of wishing, I have the chance to make it come true.

My grandparents were named Arthur and Annie Stone, and they were the children of sharecroppers. They too were sharecroppers until the 1960s, when they were able to purchase their farm outright. They raised three daughters there, including my mama.

When Papa died, Nanny could not run the farm on her own, and my mom and her sisters made the choice to sell it. I was 17 at the time, and the longing for that farmhouse with the dark green shutters has stayed on my shoulders all these years since.

Simply put: I am going to try to buy it back. Miraculously, the current owner is looking to sell it.

This is the one chance I’ll ever have to do this.

For me, the story begins in 1995, the first of countless times I remember piling in the car with my siblings and parents, driving the three and a half hours from Atlanta, GA, to Nanny and Papa’s house in Petersburg, TN. This farmhouse was where we spent countless happy Thanksgivings, Christmases, and summer holidays.

But for Arthur and Annie stone, the story starts 150 years before that. To the period just after the American Civil War called Reconstruction.

Quick history lesson if you need one: Agriculture was the economic force of the Southern United States, and the enslavement of people descended from stolen Africans kept the economy afloat. After the enslaved became freedmen, General Sherman proposed that the land seized from former Confederates should be divided among the freedmen, as repayment for their treatment.

This is commonly referred to as Forty Acres and a Mule, and it was a promise that wasn’t kept. Instead, the land was returned to the former Confederates who previously owned it.

The land needed to be worked. And there was an entire population -- only recently considered citizens in their own right -- who needed work and food and security. Enter: sharecropping.

Sharecropping was an exploitative model. It worked like this: a tenant would live on and work a portion of a landowner’s plantation, farm, or land. In exchange, that tenant kept a (usually small) portion of the crop come harvest time. Sharecroppers had very little agency. They didn’t own their own equipment, they were forced to accept the prices the landowners were willing to pay, and if they stuck up for themselves they risked their livelihood and family home.

In the last years of her life, Nanny told me that she had taken to being pen pals with the son of the landowner she sharecropped for. He apologized for the ways he and his family had wronged my grandparents. It is no small feat that these people -- my people -- born not even 60 years after the dissolution of slavery, broke the mold of their families and somehow overcame admitted wrongdoing. That feels like another miracle.

If all I ever accomplished in my life was buying back my grandparents’ farm and restoring it to something they would be proud of, that would be enough. I want to live a life where my siblings and our children can go back there for holidays. I want my mama to spend more Thanksgivings or Christmases there in her life.

So I am asking you to please help me get my ancestral home back. I would appreciate anything you can contribute. And if you are not in a position to donate, all I ask is that you share the link to this campaign with everyone you can think of.

Nanny and Papa spent their entire lives in the picturesque state of Tennessee; living through the roaring twenties, the great depression, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement, and so much more.

Their lives make up the history of that land. It’s now on me to determine the future of it.”