A warm and wide THANK YOU to everyone for being part of our 17th Annual Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere Dinner!
The room was buzzing! – our first full, in-person dinner since 2019! From all the many volunteers, to silent auction and dessert dash donors, to sponsors, community partners, table captains, attendees, and everyone in between – we are SO grateful for your support celebrating and building food sovereignty here in the Northwest and across the globe. Special thanks to Shpilkis for opening the night with their old school yiddish grooves! And immense gratitude especially to the farmers, food producers, kitchen staff, and all the hands who made it possible for us to share a meal together.
Together, SLEE raised nearly $25k! Thank you for making CAGJ’s organizing possible and for being in community with us. If you were not able to join us, and want to donate, it’s not too late! You can help us reach our goal with a one-time or Monthly Sustainer gift: tinyurl.com/FundCAGJ
What a gift it was to hear from our keynote speaker Malik Yakini, who came all the way from Detroit! Watch and share his keynote, “Black Food Sovereignty: Local to Global” here! Thank you to Ed Mays for recording, and to Prenz Sa-Ngoun for photographing the event. Check out more photos in CAGJ’s Facebook albums (1 and 2).
TAKE ACTION!
JOIN CAGJ’S AGRA WATCH CAMPAIGN!
WED Dec 6, 7PM: Tim Schwab, author of The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire, in conversation with AGRA Watch. Get your sliding-scale tickets and learn more from Town Hall Seattle! townhallseattle.org/event/tim-schwab/
SUPPORT BLACK FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Save the Black Lives Memorial Garden!
The Black Lives Memorial Garden was founded during the 2020 protests against the police murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in Cal Anderson Park. Seattle Parks Department plans to destroy the garden for “turf renovation”. Follow Black Star Farmers (@blackstarfarmers) for updates and more ways to support. Go to https://blackstarfarmers.org/saveblmg
REPARATIONS NOW!
The most important action that people with resources can take to uproot racism is to enact reparations, to quite literally give back what was stolen […] We are talking about true reparations, which have the following three characteristics:
- “Nothing about us, without us” – Dispossessed people get to define what reparations look like
- “No strings attached” – transfers of land and resources without oversight or conditionality
- “The whole pie” – give the land, money, and jobs away, even and especially when it entails personal and organizational sacrifice
Source: Soul Fire Farm Institute 2018: Food Sovereignty Action Steps
Donate to Black Farmer Land Funds
Northwest region:
- Black Food Fund: www.blackfoodfund.co
- Black Oregon Land Trust: www.blackoregonlandtrust.org
National:
- Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund: www.detroitblackfarmer.com
- Black Farmer Fund (NE region) www.blackfarmerfund.org
Raw Kale Salad
Served at SLEE 2023: This recipe was offered by Aba Ifeoma, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, when she gave the keynote at the 2011 SLEE Dinner. Featured in 2nd edition of CAGJ’s publication, Our Food, Our Right: Recipes for Food Justice
5 heads curly kale
1 Large onion
5 Cloves garlic
½ cup Breggs Amino liquid
1/3 cup Olive oil
¼ cup Lemon juice
3 tbs Toasted sesame seed oil
Cayenne pepper to taste
Chop kale into small pieces and blend the rest of the ingredients in a food processor. Pour this liquid over the kale in a stainless bowl. Let sit two hours before serving.
The trick to this salad is preparing it in a stainless steel bowl. Not aluminum – check it with a magnet. Some bowls are a stainless steel blend but stamped stainless steel. The magnet should stick firm, not easily slide around. Anyway, stainless steel helps the greens break down super fast, while you toss actually. Toss for about 7-10 minutes and they will be significantly more tender. Sprinkle some pine nuts on top for texture. Note: The longer the salad is in the bowl, the more tender the greens become. Change bowls at your preferred tenderness.
By all means experiment with this recipe! I toss it with different kinds of mushrooms, carrot ribbons, even quinoa. (Of course it’s not 100% raw if you use quinoa). Enjoy.
