Day 10 - Devita Davison

“We don't use the words “food desert.” What we use is a more appropriate term, “food apartheid.”- Davita Davison says. A desert is a natural phenomenon but a lack of access to healthy affordable food in Black and Brown Communities is intentional through inequities in existing structures which result in a lack of resources.

Having a lack of resources is a reality for Black and Brown Communities across the nation including, Detroit, Oakland, Bronx, Baltimore, D.C. and more. Revolutionary women like Davita Davison recognized the intentionality of food apartheids. She uses her platform as the Executive Director of FoodLab Detroit to provide resources to local food entrepreneurs in the City of Detroit. Their goal is to provide increased access to healthy affordable foods for Detroiters. Her work decreases the dependency on the government and places the power of the food system in the hands of the people that need the system to sustain their livelihood. 

Food is personal, we all bond over food at holidays and to sustain our everyday life. Our ancestors used the scraps that they were given and made gumbo to heal their bodies after 12+ hours under the hot sun. Then some participated in the Great Migration which helped cultivate land through practicing sustainable agriculture in the North. African Americans brought skills with them from the South which included growing their own food. Today, growing your own food can be known as a lost art. Go to your local farmers market and talk to the farmers that poured love and care into their crops. Support your local Black farmers and know where your food comes from. Ask your grandmothers, aunties, great aunts how they provided for themselves with food that was grown in their backyard. We must continue to have these conversations to sustain the food system and the movement.