11:09am July 27, 2013

“

It reminds me of the “bike to work” movement. That is also portrayed as white, but in my city more than half of the people on bike are not white. I was once talking to a white activist who was photographing “bike commuters” and had only pictures of white people with the occasional “black professional” I asked her why she didn’t photograph the delivery people, construction workers etc. … ie. the black and Hispanic and Asian people… and she mumbled something about trying to “improve the image of biking” then admitted that she didn’t really see them as part of the “green movement” since they “probably have no choice” –

I was so mad I wanted to quit working on the project she and I were collaborating on.

So, in the same way when people in a poor neighborhood grow food in their yards … it’s just being poor– but when white people do it they are saving the earth or something.

”

comment left on the Racialious blog post “Sustainable Food & Priviledge: Why is Green always White (and Male and Upper-Class)

THIS THIS THIS.

I thought growing food in your yard if just what people do. My family had money but we were from a poor background and my parents did exactly what my grandparents did. And we had chickens. It wasn’t about being green, it was about growing food. Which I always thought was kind of…normal? My mom says when her dad was between jobs they always had canned food they’d grown, and my grandparents always had a huge food garden when I visited. Nobody talked about being green, it was just…food?

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